Sioux Fall As Ferris Wheels To 5-2 Victory
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March 28, 2003
By JOHN GILBERT
MINNEAPOLIS, MN. - The breaks that were with North Dakota through the first 26 games this season, and cruelly abandoned the Fighting Sioux over the last 17 games, haunted them again Friday in when their season ended in with a 5-2 loss to Ferris State in the first semifinal of the West Regional at Mariucci Arena.
The Sioux seemed to get all the good bounces and deflections while running off to a start that registered 19-1-3 and 21-2-3, boosting North Dakota to the No. 1 national ranking. Since then, the Sioux had trailed off to a 5-10-2 closing record, but the sensational start left them ranked highly enough to assure a spot in the 16-team NCAA field. However, the pucks that hit pipes and glanced out, the loose pucks that seemed to remain just out of reach, and the deflections that went the wrong way continued to plague the Fighting Sioux Friday, forcing them to take a 4-8-2 finish into summer vacation.
Ferris State, the CCHA regular-season champion and playoff runner-up, didn't have anything handed to them against North Dakota. In fact, the Sioux outshot Ferris 45-27, and played a tune off the goal posts. But a power-play goal by Derek Nesbitt gave Ferris State a 1-0 lead in the first period, and a pair of late goals in the second period by Simon Mangos on a power play at 15:42 and by Jeff Legue on a speedy rush at 18:04 gave the Bulldogs a 3-0 cushion.
It wasn't until the third period, when Sioux coach Dean Blais juggled all his lines and changed goaltenders from Jake Brandt to Josh Siembida, that North Dakota came to life, outshooting the Bulldogs 19-7. David Lundbohm circled out to score at 7:25 to trim the deficit to 3-1, but Greg Rallo scored for Ferris at 9:11 to make it 4-1. Ryan Hale, who started the game on defense, moved up to center and scored with a slapshot from the right circle with 4:26 left to close the gap to 4-2, but goalie Mike Brown stopped everything else, and Trevor Large hit an empty net with 18 seconds left to clinch it.
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Ferris State (31-9-1) will face Minnesota in today's 4 p.m. Regional final for a berth in the NCAA Frozen Four in two weeks.
"We had 17 quality shots and hit six pipes," said Blais. "When we hit two pipes on the same shift at the start of the third period, I knew it wasn't our day. Brandon Bochenski hit the post on one shot and I thought the puck might split, because he shoots 100 miles an hour."
Bochenski said: "I think their goalie won the game for them. We hit six posts, and whenever the puck came loose in front, it never came to our sticks. At the start of the season, finishing where we did looked pretty good, but with the group we had, and the way we played the first half of the season, it's disappointing. We had championship hopes, and it hurts."
Blais agreed that a 26-12-5 finishing record looks good, but blamed bad penalties at critical times for unraveling the Sioux. "We can't afford to take bad penalties, but we didn't have the discipline to stay away from them. We haven't had the discipline for quite a while, actually."
When asked how upset he was after the loss, Blais smiled.
"That's why they have a 10 or 15 minute cooling off period after games," he said. "Losing hurts, and losing in the national tournament hurts worse."
