University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Suffers 4-1 Setback at North Dakota
1/16/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Hockey
A day after earning a gritty win over second-ranked North Dakota, Minnesota dropped a 4-1 decision to UND in the weekend series finale in Grand Forks, N.D. on Saturday night. Kent Patterson played strong in goal, making a few highlight-reel saves, but the Gophers were unable to come back from a first-period deficit.
Minnesota fended off a fast North Dakota start and opened the scoring when Mark Alt notched his first collegiate goal by chipping a shot from the point past UND goaltender Aaron Dell 8:54 into the game.
North Dakota answered quickly, however, when Evan Trupp converted a Minnesota turnover into a breakaway goal just 34 seconds later.
UND took its first lead of the weekend just under five minutes later. Working on a lengthy five-on-three advantage, Brad Malone buried a cross-ice feed from Chay Genoway to put North Dakota up 2-1 heading into the locker room. The Gophers were outshot 17-5 in the period.
Both teams tightened up defensively in the second, as only 11 shots were taken and no goals were scored.
North Dakota’s best chances of the middle frame came toward the beginning, when Jason Gregoire was denied by Patterson on a shorthanded breakaway and Matt Fratin nicked the post with a shot later on the same Gopher power play.
The Gophers seemed to have tied the game later in the period when Jake Hansen tipped a Cade Fairchild power-play shot from the point past Dell, but the goal was waived off because Hansen knocked the puck down with a high-stick. Minnesota would come up empty-handed on the man-advantage and enter the third period down 2-1.
Just 4:12 into the final stanza, Brett Hextall fired a shot that deflected off Corban Knight, off the right post and past Patterson to give UND a two-goal edge. Danny Kristo iced the game ten minutes later when he backhanded home a Trupp rebound on the power play to put North Dakota up 4-1.
The loss was Minnesota’s first in five games against opponents ranked in the top ten of the USCHO.com national rankings on the season. The Gophers dropped to 9-2-2 on the year when scoring the game’s first goal and 10-3-3 when scoring a first-period goal. It was their final regular-season matchup against WCHA-rival UND in 2010-11.
Minnesota returns to action in two weeks when they take on Alaska Anchorage on Jan. 28 and 29 at Mariucci Arena.
