North Dakota 4 - Denver 3 FINAL

(above) Tyler Ruegsegger runs into North Dakota goalie Brad Eidsness on Friday night

The University of North Dakota did everything possible to take the Pioneers out of their rhythm on Friday night and won a thrilling 4-3 game in St. Paul. DU fell behind in the first period and spent the rest of the game playing catch up.

Miami lost to the University of Michigan 5-2, so DU is still #1 overall in the Pairwise Rankings.

DU will face Wisconsin at 1 PM MST tomorrow. The game will be televised on Fox Sports-North live and tape delayed in Colorado on Fox Sports-Rocky Mountain.

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1st Period

7:59 UND 1 - DU 0 Goal: Chris VandeVelde (15) PP Assists: Knight (6), Frattin (7)

2nd Period

4:41 UND 2 - DU 0 Goal: Evan Trupp (7) Assists: Malone (14), Frattin (8)

18:25 UND 2 - DU 1 Goal: Matt Donovan (7) Assists: Ostrow (10), Martin (8)

19:14 UND 3 - DU 1 Goal: Evan Trupp (8) PP Assists: Marto (12), Kristo (21)

3rd Period

4:15 UND 3 - DU 2 Goal: John Lee (2) PP Assists: Philllips (4), Shore (12)

13:59 UND 4 - DU 2 Goal: Brad Malone (10) SH Assists: Trupp

19:23 UND 4 - DU 3 Goal: Knowlton (3) SH

48 comments:

Anonymous said...

Of course Anderson and a Shepperd are both refing...can the WCHA not get it through their heads that these two guys ARE SHIT?!

Anonymous said...

During is getting owned.....flameout has begun

Anonymous said...

sleepwalking through the first as usual, we flat out suck in the first period, and that's going to bite us in the butt in the NCAAs ... Refs f'ed up that goalie interference call.

But we've had some solid chances, just a matter of time before ours go in. Chevy got whupped fair and square on that ND goal, but ours will go in, it's not going to end 1-0, I promise that.

Important thing tonight is to emerge healthy, but I'd love a tourney win to ensure us a first rounder vs. Huntsville (ie: a bye)

-- chase

dggoddard said...

DU needs to crank it up in the 2nd.

Also be careful not to give up a quickie to start the period.

Anonymous said...

Anyone know a place to watch the game online?

Anonymous said...

Pios suck so far tonight. Ugly....

dggoddard said...

Maiani out with a hand injury suffered early in 1st Period.

He will not return tonight.

Anonymous said...

DONOVAN!!! 2-1~

Anonymous said...

TRUPPPPPP!!!!!

Anonymous said...

anyone know how Air Force is doing?

Anonymous said...

air force was beat by scared heart 2-1

dggoddard said...

Maine 3 - BU 0 Midway through 2nd.

dggoddard said...

Michigan 2 - Miami 1 End 2nd Period

Anonymous said...

Jesus christ...what the hell Wiercioch?! You've got the jump on the guy and you get both outskated and outmuscled. Wiercioch should just become a converted center...his defense is shitty.

dggoddard said...

Michigan 5 - Miami 1 9 minutes left in game.

DU remains #1 overall.

Anonymous said...

After the hit Lamoureux put on Wiercioch he didn't have the juice to beat Trupp to the puck. We owned this period until that hit.

Anonymous said...

37 seconds to make some magic

Anonymous said...

That hit had nothing to do with Wierchoke not getting that puck. He hasn't been skating hard at all this season.

Ottawa may as well sign him up now for all I care. I'd rather have an injured Nutini on the ice who will at least work his ass off.

DU has played terribly tonight. The only positive I can take from this is that at *hopefully* the Pioneers come away from this with one big wake-up call. They've got a week to get their ass in gear before the NCAAs.

Anonymous said...

Hate playing the Sioux this time of year. But I'm afraid the better team won tonight.

Anonymous said...

"They've got a week to get their ass in gear before the NCAAs."

Yeah, but they had a week to get their asses in gear for tonight. They're toast.

Anonymous said...

I'm saying that this loss should hopefully give them a big kick in the ass.

Winning against Michigan Tech never was going to get their asses in gear...they played only decent and won against a bad team. Tonight they lost against a good team while playing like shit.

Anonymous said...

Wiercioch should play center. If he wants to go pro- have fun flaming out in the minors after a few years. The guy is terrible at defense for a defenseman. UND owned the game tonight but that was the deciding goal.

Anonymous said...

How it's done me boys....when it matters!!!

Anonymous said...

Well, we didn't put forth the effort that was needed to win that game. I don't know what it is with these guys. When there on, no one can stop them. When they're off it hurts to watch. You know, if they put 60 minutes worth of effort in & lost, I could live with that but this game & the series against MT last weekend... we looked sad.

puck swami said...

Hard to beat UND 5 times in the same season.

DU showed some stones in the third, but UND was full value for the victory - they scored on great shots and made the big plays.

First line for DU was not very good tonight, and 1 for 6 on the PP is not a recipe for winning.

That said, I think DU will learn from this one.

Twister said...

Very disappointing game. Too little, too late for DU tonight. The Pios are burned (once again) by a slow start and some flat uninspired play. I know the Pios have bigger fish to fry starting next weekend, but this was a bad loss.

It's just baffling to me why our guys are so inconsistent when it comes to effort.

puck swami said...

A few bright spots were Knowlton, Dewhurst and Philips, who all played very well.

Becca said...

do you think they were really giving 100%? or are they thinking past it, since it doesn't really matter if they win, and staying healthy?

dggoddard said...

They wanted this game to be sure. They played hard, but Sioux played smarter. The Sioux also answered back immediately every time DU scored.

Once again Ryder layed out some massive hits.

The Maiani injury has to be a big concern right now. He's critical for the 2nd line success. Hope he can go next week.

Either way DU is going to be in a very winnable bracket, but they'll need to step things up next week.

achsdu17 said...

That was one lame effort on the Pioneers part. Weak all round and didn't seem to really care until it was almost all but over. I hope this loss has tough this team a lesson in playing a full 60 min. game because next week is what really matters. This team is built to contend for a national title. Going 1 and done like the previous two years is not acceptable.

Anonymous said...

Funny how the Susies play like thugs during the regular season and then play good relatively clean competitive hockey in the post-season. Coincidence? I think not.

DU played poorly in the 1st 1/2 of the game but picked it up in the second 1/2. While it would have been nice to have won the WCHA, the NCAA's are what matters.

Wakeup call for the Pios. You have to play hard for 3 periods.

The Susies will probably win the WCHA hardware but will flameout in the NCAA's like they have done since Blaise left. I was in DC last year and watched them cave at the FF. Same old same old - start poorly, build momentum and then flame out at the end.

puck swami said...

DU is not a healthy team right now with Nutini, Wrenn and Maiani out of the lineup. Can't afford any more injuries.

puck swami said...

Stats for DU's top line:

Ruegsegger 0 SOG, even
Colborne, 0 SOG, one pipe, minus 1
Rakhshani, 3 SOG, minus 1

For DU to have success, especially with Maiani out for a while, the big guns have to do better. John Lee and Chris Knowlton and Matt Donovan can't be the ones to carry the offense...

Anonymous said...

Anon @ 1:26-

"I was in DC last year and watched them cave at the FF. Same old same old - start poorly, build momentum and then flame out at the end."

You do realize that UND wasn't in the F4 last year, right? So I doubt you watched them in DC.

Anonymous said...

Well, whatever - it's showtime now!Lose the next game and you're done! That Scares me for DU. You cannot play a 60 minute game in 3 minutes, and your goalie isn't the only guy out there.
How they play at the Regional might define this team - for the next couple years.......
George = be the Coach. Thett = be the Leader

dggoddard said...

No matter what goes down today between DU & Wisconsin and in the other conference finals, DU and Miami are going to be in incredibly "soft" Regionals.

The #7-10 teams in the Pairwise will be Bemidji, Yale, Cornell & Northen Michigan.

Miami & DU are are guaranteed to be playing either Alabama-Huntsville, Sacred Heart or Rochester Institute of Technology in their first games.

Meanwhile Sconnie, BC, SCSU &UND will be slugging it out with each other & some other bigtime programs.

Anonymous said...

I’m not surprised at all that a DU fan watched UND flame out at the FF in DC. He/she probably saw: DU win it all, three Hobey's being handed out (all to DU players), and the Ralph burning to the ground. Anything is possible when you’re disconnected from reality.

Humor, people humor

I agree that DU didn't give 100% in this game and DU was still in it until the very end, whatever that tells you. I don't agree that this game was played any differently than the regular season, with the exception of DU's intensity level. Officiating still leaves much to be desired, but will give them credit for getting a few very difficult call right.

Kahazi

Anonymous said...

Broadmoor Trophy - check

Anonymous said...

Gwoz we're flaming out, we're heading out to sea....

dggoddard said...

Wait until UND fans see the NCAA Brackets on Sunday. "The Group of Death" will have new meaning. :-)

Anonymous said...

This group of players seem to have an incredibly slow learning curve. Showing up is not enough. Full credit to Sue,played better than Pios.

Anonymous said...

We were getting The Sioux announcers last night? Those guys need to be put out to pasture.Woog seems to be on the onset of Alztheimer's. Frank seemed to be licking Sue taint all night!

Anonymous said...

You do realize that UND wasn't in the F4 last year, right? So I doubt you watched them in DC.

I stand corrected. The Susies got their ass handed to them in Denver the year before (2008). I attend the FF every year and sometimes the years tend to blend together :)

Anonymous said...

Hold on here everybody.... are forgetting that CC SUCKS????

Anonymous said...

It's pretty simple - we're not going to win the big games with 16 forwards and 2 defencemen. Defence have got to start playing defence! Regarding Wiercioch, make sure Brookwell is out there with him. He can then go about doing what he does because you know Brookwell will not take chances and will cover the back end. The defence lines were juggled continually last night and I think that caused some of the problems, when offensively minded d-men out together.

Anonymous said...

Can't you just admit you got your ass kicked by a red hot UND team. The playoffs are when you need to step it up. You stinkin PIO's are not hungry. When your not hungry you don't eat, you just suck. At least you know you are good at something!...toad

Tim in Los Angeles said...

North Dakota - WCHA leader in court appearances and jail time.

tt said...

Oh how the mighty have fallen. Good job Pios. I think you got to drunk on your own arrogance. You guys suck. The Sioux beat you and Wisconsin kicked your a@@ out the building. Go back to the rocky mountain high and lick your wounds. You probhably will have a easy road to thne Frozen Four but I have a prediciton for you pieholes. ONE AND DONE! HA HA

Way to show up at the Final Five. What a joke. I think this team lost a lot of respect from people.