The number of penalties, shots and available players weren’t in their favor, but North Dakota, playing its third game in three days, got the job done nonetheless.
North Dakota claimed third place in the WCHA Final Five Saturday afternoon with a 4-2 victory over Minnesota in front of a paid attendance of 14,730 at the Xcel Energy Center.
The Sioux scored three times on their first 11 shots on Minnesota goaltender Kellen Briggs, including a third-period tiebreaker by defenseman and captain Matt Greene. The Gophers outshot the Sioux 27-22 but found themselves another victim of UND goaltender Jordan Parise’s recent stellar play.
There was little to be gained by the Sioux except for pride, which was all the motivation they needed to persevere.
“We were here. There was a game,” Greene said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s three in three nights or five in five, we’ve got to do our job. We’ve got to come out to play. We’re a team that wants to win every game.”
Parise improved his personal unbeaten streak to eight games going into the NCAA tournament by making 25 saves, including 10 in each of the first two periods. He allowed one power-play goal but shut the Gophers down on seven other man-advantage attempts, on which they got 10 shots on goal.
“He did his job,” UND coach Dave Hakstol said of Parise, who has allowed just 12 goals in his last eight games. “When you get those type of performances back to back, over and over again, sometimes you start to just expect them. But he was a huge part of this win tonight, and really he just built on what Phil Lamoureux did last night and what Jordan did on Thursday.”
Greene broke a 2-2 tie just over three minutes into the third period with a shot from the right point that went past Briggs, who appeared to be screened by Gophers defenseman P.J. Atherton at the top of the crease. It was Greene’s first career game-winning goal.
That was indicative of North Dakota’s balanced offense, which has been a team feature when it has been successful recently. Two of the Sioux’s goals Saturday came from defensemen, while a third came from fourth-line center Quinn Fylling, who was playing with two new linemates.
The Sioux (22-14-5) were without forward Brady Murray, who appeared to suffer a shoulder injury Friday, and Robbie Bina, who remains hospitalized with what sources said was a broken neck. Also, forward Mike Prpich was out of the lineup for a second straight day.
Without those players, North Dakota made some significant line changes, putting Lee Marvin and Scott Foyt on the wings of the fourth line. Each registered an assist.
Freshman Rastislav Spirko’s second-period shorthanded goal tied the game and gave the Sioux a spark. Fittingly, the UND players call Spirko “Sparky.”
On the fourth of five Minnesota power plays in the second period, Spirko took the team goalscoring lead at 16 goals by eluding Minnesota defenseman Chris Harrington in the Gophers zone for a breakaway, then sliding the puck around Briggs’ outstretched right pad.
“Sparky really gave our team a lift to help us out there,” Greene said. “We just rode on his back with that momentum. Getting a shorthanded goal is huge no matter what you’re doing. … You can’t ask for anything more than that.”
The Gophers (26-14-1) went 0-2 in the tournament after winning the Broadmoor Trophy the last two seasons. Minnesota played without leading scorer Tyler Hirsch, who Gophers coach Don Lucia said had personal issues and was not in the building. In an odd display after Friday’s game, Hirsch charged into the goal after everyone else had left the ice, then laid his stick inside the center faceoff circle.
Minnesota also lost defenseman Alex Goligoski to a hand injury during the course of Saturday’s game. Lucia said his availability for next week’s NCAA regional is in question.
“I don’t think we came out and competed as hard as we could,” Minnesota’s Danny Irmen said. “In a game like this, that’s what it’s comes down to, who’s going to go out there and do whatever it takes to win.”
Fylling put the Sioux ahead midway through the first period, but Irmen answered 67 seconds later. North Dakota took six second-period penalties, which Hakstol credited to tired legs, and the Gophers took a 2-1 lead on a power-play goal by Mike Howe.
But Spirko’s shorthanded goal negated that, and the Sioux killed off Minnesota’s seven other power plays.
“Look at the positive of that, and the mental toughness you need to win in the playoffs, I thought we showed it and we survived those areas,” Hakstol said. “Not only survived them, but it seemed like it turned the momentum in our favor once we got to the third period.”
And in their ninth period of regulation of the weekend, the Sioux got things done. Not a bad way to go into the national tournament.
