Grand Forks, N.D. – A poll in the local newspaper here showed the University of Denver has become one of the chief rivals of North Dakota Fighting Sioux fans.
Makes sense, considering the Pioneers have eliminated the Sioux in the past two NCAA Tournaments en route to winning their sixth and seventh national titles, tying North Dakota for the second-highest total.
The rivalry was just as the local fans expected Friday night in a physical confrontation at the $104 million Ralph Engelstad Arena, unquestionably the most decadent setting in college hockey.
Before a fired-up crowd of 11,045, the Sioux started fast and rallied around goalie Jordan Parise late in a 3-1 victory that ended their losing streak to DU at five games. The two-game Western Collegiate Hockey Association series resumes Saturday night.
North Dakota (5-1-1, 1-0 WCHA) scored its goals in the first period off the sticks of Kyle Radke, Travis Zajac and Jonathan Toews. The Pioneers (2-3, 0-1) played better the rest of the way and made it 3-1 late in the second period on freshman Chris Butler’s goal.
But they couldn’t capitalize on any of their eight power plays, albeit the No. 1 unit was missing its two outside triggermen for much of the game.
“We had our opportunities, and we worked hard to create those opportunities to go on the power play,” said DU coach George Gwozdecky, whose team had back-to-back power plays in the final seven minutes. “We are going to get better at taking advantage of those opportunities, but it’s disappointing that we weren’t able to climb into this game a little closer and see how they handled the change of emotion and momentum.”
Despite two five-minute major penalties and the loss of 20 percent of its power-play personnel to injury (Brock Trotter) and game misconduct (Paul Stastny), DU trailed just 3-1 heading into the third.
Trotter, a freshman forward who has a team-leading two power-play goals, suffered a deep cut to his right leg early in the first period and was carried off on a stretcher. Stastny departed midway through the second on a controversial checking-from-behind major. He skated toward the puck against the wall and got the better of 220-pound Sioux defenseman Matt Smaby. It appeared the players collided shoulder-to-shoulder, but Smaby went into the boards headfirst.
“Definitely, we hated to lose guys like Paul Stastny and Brock Trotter, but it was something we had to deal with,” DU co-captain Matt Carle said. “We have a lot of young guys who haven’t played in this building before, but even all of us that had came out flat-footed. They were ready to go and we weren’t.”
That was the difference, Sioux coach Dave Hakstol said.
“We just wanted to come out of the dressing room ready to play, and I thought we did that,” he said. “I give that credit to the leaders coming out of the locker room.”
DU’s first major penalty occurred in the first period, when junior forward Steven Cook crashed into Parise. Cook, a Denver native and transfer from Air Force, was making his first appearance with the Pioneers.
Mike Chambers can be reached at 303-820-5453 or mchambers@denverpost.com.
