GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- At 6-foot-3, 197 pounds, University of North Dakota junior wing Cole Smith would never be classified as the player with the best shake-and-bake moves on the Fighting Hawks' roster.

Yet Smith decoyed Minnesota State rookie goalie Dryden McKay into a misplay with the puck behind the Maverick net, a mistake Smith turned into the winning goal in UND's first win of the season, 4-3 Saturday night at Ralph Engelstad Arena.

'"I tried to fake like I was going to his backhand side and jumped to his forehand,'' Smith said of his thought process as he closed in on McKay behind the net. "He kind of had some iffy plays with the puck under pressure this whole weekend. He happened to just leave that there for me.''

The win enabled UND (1-2-1) to avoid its worst start to a season since the then-Fighting Sioux went 0-4 to start the season in 1994-95, the first year under coach Dean Blais.

UND coach Brad Berry said the victory gave everyone a "100 percent'' boost in confidence heading into a single game against Minnesota next weekend in Las Vegas.

"All of us coaches had our different meetings today and I thought coach (Dane) Jackson said it well,'' Berry said. "Back when he was with the Rochester Americans (of the AHL), their team didn't get off to a great start. They had a lot of talented players. They ended up winning the Calder Cup (as league champs) that year. They had the message of going through a process, going through the hard-hitting games and getting calloused and hardened. This team, this weekend, these two games, calloused and hardened us. It's going to help us get better as a team.''

A talented Minnesota State, coming off a 7-4 win over UND Friday night, rallied from behind twice, overcoming 2-0 and 3-2 deficits, tying it at 3-3 with 4 one-hundredths of a second left in the second period on a shorthanded goal by Marc Michaelis, the goal coming at 19.59.6 of the period.

 Smith, who had his first college 3-point game and was named the game's No. 1 star, scored his first goal off a right wing rush with his shot banking past McKay off the skate of a Maverick defenseman. His strong rush to the net at 2:10 of the second period set up a goal by defenseman Gabe Bast as he followed up the play, giving UND a 3-2 lead with Smith collecting an assist.

UND had a chance to build on that lead, but Ludvig Hoff missed a penalty shot about a minute after Bast's goal. He attempted to sneak a shot 5-hole on McKay, who closed the hole on him easily.

But with anxiety building in the air of a crowd of 11,438 at the Ralph, Smith came up with one of the biggest goals for the veteran wing from Brainerd, Minn.

Berry had high praise for UND rookie goalie Adam Scheel, who earned his first college win, making 20 saves against one of the most veteran teams in college hockey, with nobody under 21 years of age on the roster.

"Knowing there was urgency and desperation on our part,'' Berry said, "for a first-year guy coming in, he did a really good job''

UND caught breaks on its first two goals, both going on on deflections off a stick or skate. Grant Mismash scored on a power-play slap shot at 5:59 of the first period, his shot going off the stick of a Mankato player and deflecting past McKay. Smith's goal 38 seconds later went in off a Mankato skate for a 2-0 UND lead.

But Julian Napravnik, one of three players from Germany on the Maverick roster, scored on a power-play at 11:16 of the first period and Max Coatta scored his fourth goal of the weekend at 13:22 on another power play, tying the game at 2-2.

Then after the exchange of goals in the second period, Smith made the play of the game to get UND a much-needed first win of the season and drop the Mavericks to 3-1 on the year.

"The last two weekends, we've been working hard, and the results haven't gone our way,'' Bast said. "Tonight, we just stuck to the process, we got our balance, and it turned out to be the game-winning goal there.''

That UND pulled out a win late in the game didn't go unnoticed among the players. "That was kind of our demise last year,'' Bast said, who was named the game's No. 2 star by the media. "We couldn't finish out games. I think this year, we're playing the right way, and we weren't getting our bounces. To finish tonight's game was huge, especially into Gopher weekend.''

Game notes: UND was 1-3 on the power play with 6 shots, Minnesota State 2-for-6 with 8 shots ... Rookie Mark Senden led UND in shots on goal with 4, followed by Bast, Matt Kierstad and Smith, with 3 each ... Connor Mackey led the Mavs with 5 shots on net ... UND won the faceoffs 30-24, led by Rhett Gardmer with 12 of 17 and Nick Jones with 11 of 17 ... The Mavericks finished with a 23-22 advantage in shots on goal ... UND went into the game allowing an average of just 18.33 shots on goal per game, best in the nation.





Virg Foss covered UND hockey for 35 seasons for the Grand Forks Herald, including 5 NCAA title teams, before his retirement. Since his retirement, he's reported on UND hockey games exclusively for FightingHawks.com. This marks his 50th season since he began covering UND hockey in 1969.