North Dakota gets rare sweep of Bears Dominant second period sparks win

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ORONO – Four years ago, classy North Dakota hockey coach Dean Blais had his players wear jerseys with the name “Walsh” on the back of them for their Friday night game in Orono to honor Maine head coach Shawn Walsh, who was in California undergoing treatments for kidney cancer.

Walsh would lose his battle with the disease just under a year later.

On a night when Walsh’s shamrock was hoisted to the rafters during pre-game ceremonies to join the retired jersey numbers of Paul Kariya (9), Jim Montgomery (19) and Scott Pellerin (8), the Sioux of first-year coach Dave Hakstol turned in a performance in a 3-1 win that certainly would have warranted praise from Walsh if he was still behind the Maine bench.

North Dakota received goals 1:08 apart from freshman right wing Rastislav Spirko and sophomore left wing Drew Stafford (power play) during a thoroughly dominant second period and senior center Quinn Fylling notched an insurance goal early in the third as UND completed a weekend sweep at Alfond Arena.

It was the first time Maine has been swept at home during a regular season series since New Hampshire took a pair 2-1, 5-0 on Jan. 16-17, 1998. UMass took two from Maine in the Hockey East quarterfinals two years ago.

Maine is now 1-2 and UND is 2-0.

“Their overall work ethic took over the game,” said Maine junior co-captain Jeff Mushaluk. “The way they sustained the puck in our zone and supported the puck was tremendous.”

North Dakota outshot Maine 13-4 in that decisive middle period and the Bears didn’t muster their first shot on goal until there was 4:35 remaining.

“They came out with more intensity in the second period,” said Maine junior right wing Greg Moore, who scored with Maine’s first shot on goal 1:11 after the opening whistle. “All weekend they did a really good job chipping the puck behind our ‘D’ and making our ‘D’ chase it and beating them to the pucks in the corner. And once they got it into our zone, we had trouble getting it out.

“They had really good team cycling and with the new rules we have this year of not being able to hold guys up and pin guys against the boards, it really creates a tough job for us defensively,” Moore added.

Spirko, who assisted on the other two goals, said the “main key was we stayed out of the box. We dominated five-on-five.”

The Sioux took the game’s first four penalties, including giving the Bears a two-man advantage for 1:28, but gave the Bears just three power-play chances the rest of the game.

“Penalty trouble put us back on our heels in the first period but we regained our composure and played a solid hockey game the last 40 minutes,” said Hakstol. “We were able to roll our four lines and six defensemen and play with high intensity. Everybody played well.”

The Sioux had eight seniors in the lineup to Maine’s four and their edge in experience and strength were pivotal factors.

Spirko tied the game 3:19 into the second period by deflecting home a Matt Greene wrister from the point.

“I got open for a second and called for the puck. I wanted an easy shot from Greeney and I just tipped it,” said Spirko.

Stafford’s second game-winner in as many nights came off a nice little touch pass from Spirko as he snapped a 12-footer over Maine goalie Jimmy Howard.

“Howard stayed up and there was kind of a screen in front. I saw an opening over his shoulder and it went in off the crossbar,” said Stafford.

Fylling scored from a near-impossible angle to Howard’s right following a sustained forecheck. His wrister hit Howard’s body and dropped behind him.

UND senior goalie Jake Brandt made a couple of important momentum-saving stops off Michel Leveille and Travis Wight later in the final period and his mates did an excellent job limiting Maine’s scoring chances.

Moore opened the scoring on the power play by taking a pass out from behind the net by Ben Murphy and snapping a wrister to the far side over Brandt’s glove.

Brandt finished with 18 saves while Howard stopped 24.

“They’re going to be one of the top teams in the country. This was a big wakeup call for us,” said Maine senior defenseman Mat Deschamps.

FIGHTING SIOUX 3, BLACK BEARS 1

North Dakota (2-0) 0 2 1 – 3

Maine (1-2) 1 0 0 – 1

First period – 1. Maine, Moore 2 (Murphy, Leveille), 1:11 (pp). Penalties: UND, Genoway, hooking, :24; UND, Prpich, cross checking, 4:27; UND, Smaby, roughing, 7:32; UND, Jones, hooking, 8:04; Maine, Deschamps, holding, 11:51; Maine, Deschamps, holding, 18:14.

Second period – 2. UND, Spirko 1 (Greene, Jones), 3:19; 3. UND, Stafford 2 (Spirko, McMahon), 4:27 (pp). Penalties: Maine, Deschamps, holding, 3:41; Maine, Mushaluk, obstruction-holding, 5:12; UND, Prpich, slashing, 7:50; UND, Schneider, contact to the head-high sticking, 16:27; Maine, Leveille, contact to the head-elbowing, 18:17.

Third period – 4. UND, Fylling 1 (Spirko), 3:48. Penalties: Maine, Jankus, 10-minute misconduct, 7:17; Maine, Ronan, obstruction-holding, 9:01; UND, Kaip, charging, 11:49.

Shots on goal: UND 7-13-7-27; Maine 8-4-7- 19

Goaltenders: UND, Brandt (19 shots-18 saves); Maine, Howard (27-24)

Power-play opportunities: UND 1-of-6, Maine 1-of-7

High-percentage scoring chances: UND 8-10-4 – 22; Maine 7-5-4-16

Attendance: 5,641 (sellout)