Monday, November 24, 2008

Sioux split series against defending national champs

After a disappointing Saturday game where UND lost 6-2 at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center against Minnesota Duluth, the Sioux bounced back with a 4-0 shutout over the defending national champions.

It was the first WCHA road series for the Sioux who needed a win to remain in a strong position to finish the season in the top half of the WCHA standings for the first time ever.

Freshman goaltender Stephanie Ney came up big in the win with her first career shutout while stoping a career high 45 saves against the Bulldogs.

Senior Melissa Jaques scored her seventh and eighth goals of the year on Sunday moving her closer to topping all three of the programs major scoring records in a career. Jaques needs five points to become the school’s all-time leading point scorer. Liz Funk (2002-06) currently holds the record with 67. She can also become the school’s all-time leading goal scorer. She has 30 career goals, seven shy of Stasia Bakhit’s (2002-04) school record of 35 and trails Funk’s record of 35 career assists by two.

Derek Koenen's full game recaps can be found here:
Saturday / Sunday

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

UND Sweeps OSU, Earns First National Top 10 Ranking

UND Sweeps OSU
UND's sweep of Ohio State was the first in the programs' history. The Sioux won Friday 4-2 and Saturday 5-4 on OT. Women's Hockey SID Derek Koenen's OSU Game Recaps can be found here: Friday - Saturday.

Series video highlights can be found below.



Sioux Enter Top 10
With WCHA series sweep #2 of the season over Ohio State, the Sioux gained their first ever national ranking in the programs' seven year history. The Nov. 4th USCHO.com poll had UND tied for 10th along with upstart Northeastern and in the Nov. 5th USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll, UND was all alone in the #10 slot.

There has been a bit of a buzz since the Sioux started to 'receive votes' in both national polls this season. Brad Schlossman included a nice recap about the programs' first national ranking on the UND men's hockey blog. Derek Koenen also ran a story on Fightingsioux.com. What many are surprised by is how short a time it took Idalski to actually get IN the top 10. Many thought it would take years before that ever happened. Idalski acknowledged how people viewed his team's recent success when asked about being in the top 10 for the first time.

"I personally struggle with the fact that expectations were so low here that every time we come over a little hill, people get all giddy and expect me to jump for joy. I didn't come here to be 10th in the country".

UND Swept by Badgers
After a weekend off, the Sioux returned to action and faced the #1 ranked Wisconsin Badgers. Wisconsin won both games 5-1 and 4-0. Derek Koenen's game recaps can be found here: Saturday -- Sunday.

Were it not for Wisconsin goaltender Jessie Vetter, the Sioux may have handed the Badgers their first two losses of the year this past weekend. Vetter, who came off a Team USA 4-Nationas Tournament gold medal shootout win over Canada, picked up right where she left off, turning away just about every chance UND had. Saturday, the Sioux out-played and out-chanced Wisconsin with several breakaways, odd-man rushes and point-blank scoring attempts. UND even managed to hit two posts as well. But Vetter was fantastic saving everything UND threw at her. And it was more of the same on Sunday. With the score tied 0-0 in the firsst period, Vetter made some HUGE saves to keep the game scoreless. Vetter's best may have come in the second period with Wisconsin up 2-0 as Steph Roy broke in alone on a breakaway. UND continued to get it's chances but did not convert. It was the first time all year the Sioux have been shutout all year.

Series video highlights can be found below.



Up next for the Sioux is a date with the defending National Champion Duluth Bulldogs.