North Dakota spotted St. Lawrence a 2-0 lead early, then scored five unanswered goals for a 5-2 victory and a sweep of its series with the Saints at Appleton Arena Saturday night.
North Dakota improved to 7-9-1 on the season while the Saints dropped their seventh straight and will take a 3-12-0 record into nearly a month off.
The Sioux exploded for three second-period goals in a span of just over eight minutes to overcome the early deficit, then tacked on two third-period goals, the last one into an empty net, to record their second straight win.
Freshman Chris Fournier netted the eventual game-winner with 1:20 to play in the third period as he broke in on net and snapped a wrist shot which Saint freshman goaltender Mike McKenna got a glove on, but couldn’t keep from trickling over the goal line.
“North Dakota put on a clinic as to how to play with the lead,” said Saint coach Joe Marsh. “They did it well last night, but were even better tonight. We couldn’t get anything going down low in the third period when we were still in it, and they blocked a ton of shots.
“They’ve got a lot of talented young players and are just going to keep on getting better. Hopefully we can bounce back after our break and get things on a better track than the one we’re on right now. We played a very good first period, but just couldn’t sustain it.”
The Saints grabbed an early lead for the second straight night as freshman forward Stace Page flipped a backhander through traffic in front at 3:08 of the first period that got past Sioux freshman goaltender Jake Brandt.
Page then scored the second goal of the night for the Saints when he snapped a shot from the point on a power play that hit skates in front at 10:17 and ended up behind Brandt.
Tim Skarperud started the Sioux comeback at 10:23 of the second period when he scored on a breakaway just as a Saint power play had expired.
Sophomore Ryan Hale tied the game at 16:32 when his shot through traffic from the left faceoff circle eluded McKenna, and Fournier put the Sioux in front just 2:08 later.
Freshman Brian Canady made it a 4-2 game at 4:30 of the third period when he pushed the puck through a Saint defender and had it trickle through the pads of McKenna for his third goal of the year. Finally, senior defenseman Aaron Schneekloth scored his third goal of the season — and the series — when he took a faceoff win by Skarperud and snapped a shot into the empty net from just outside the Saint blue line.
Brandt made 27 saves for his second straight win, while McKenna finished with 25 saves for the Saints.
