A Huge Win

Yes, it is huge. Don't sugarcoat beating the number one team in the nation on their home ice. It's a big deal. Especially the way the Sioux got it done last night. Stingy defense that rarely let CC get any good opportunities, good goaltending in Brad Eidsness, and contribution from the freshman allowed UND to take down top ranked CC 3-1.

I was at the game last night. Things started off pretty well for the Sioux. UND was applying pressure and CC didn't register their first shot of the game until 5 minutes in. Then almost 10 minutes in, the Sioux were cycling the puck down low and Darcy Zajac wrapped it around, freezing Richard Bachman on the near post and put it in far side, giving the Sioux a 1-0 lead.

In the 2nd period, the freshman contributed. Brent Davidson was in position to poke a rebound in 8:14 of the period. 14 seconds later Brett Hextall backhanded a Ryan Duncan rebound to give the Sioux a 3-0 lead.

The 3rd period started off not good. The Sioux took some stupid penalties and were in a 5x3 situation for 1:25. But they did a great job killing it off and coasted to a victory. CC got a meaningless goal with 1:27 left in the game, ruining Eidsness's chance for a shutout, what would have been the first shutout of his young career.

Interesting line combinations last night for sure. Hak had Hextall playing with Duncan and VV. Zajac, Watkins, and Kozek all were cycling the puck very well. Brent Davidson, Mario Lamoureux, and Ryan Martens looked to be on the same page, and
Jason Gregoire, Evan Trupp, and baby Toews saw good ice time as well. It was great to see that Hak can run 4 lines confidently. Matt Frattin was scratched and Brad Miller was moved to D.

We'll see if they can get it done again tonight. Bachman is not a wall. He can be beaten.