Nelson, Forbort keep rolling as UND rolls RMU

One could understand Brock Nelson and Derek Forbort being a little tired.

The two returned to Grand Forks Thursday around noon, tasked with getting back to their normal hockey schedule with UND after helping Team USA capture bronze at the 2011 World Junior Championships in Buffalo, N.Y.

The two didn’t miss a beat in their return to the ice as Sioux players.

Nelson had two goals and Forbort had a solid defensive performance in his return in UND’s 8-0 dismantling of non-conference opponent Robert Morris (12-6-2) Friday night at Ralph Engelstad Arena.

It was the biggest margin of victory for the Sioux (15-5-2) since a 10-1 victory over Harvard in 2008.

For Nelson, missing the series wasn’t really considered.

“I just wanted to get back here and get in whenever I could,” Nelson said.

“We had a game today, I said I was ready, and it worked out.”

UND was on the board before the 11,074 fans who came back early from winter break could settle into their seats. Corban Knight’s centering pass attempt hit the stick of Robert Morris forward Colin South and went right into the net.

“There’s nothing much you can say about that,” Knight said. “I’ll take it, but I’m pretty fortunate that it went in.”

It certainly wasn’t the last time UND would get a fortunate bounce. Later in the first, Knight found Nelson in the slot with the puck, which caromed off Nelson’s skate and into the net. It was ruled a goal since Nelson’s foot was planted and did not redirect the puck into the net purposefully.

Knight, who added his third point and second goal of the game at 16:12 of the first, admitted there were some lucky bounces but it was well deserved for the second-ranked Fighting Sioux.

“Once in a while you get those nights where everything seems to go in, but you have to credit our team. We’ve been working really hard since we got back from break, so I don’t think it’s pure fluke that those goals started coming.”

Nelson’s second goal of the night came in the third, off of a pass from Carter Rowney.

For Nelson, who doubled his goal total for the season with four, he seemed to bring something home with him from Buffalo.

“He seemed to have a lot of burst to his game and he seemed to have a new air of confidence to his game,” coach Dave Hakstol said.

Hakstol admitted he didn’t get to see all of the World Juniors, but from what he did see, Nelson had that extra gear going.

“That’s how I saw him play [at the World Juniors], so he seemed to be able to carry that over to his play here.”

Brett Hextall punctuated his return from an injury with a breakaway goal at 5:43 of the second, and just fifty seconds later, senior Jake Marto added another goal off of a rush to make it 5-0. Marto’s goal chased Robert Morris goaltender Brooks Ostergard from the game early. The backup, Eric Levine, played the final 33 minutes.

Matt Frattin added his NCAA-leading 19th goal of the season at 8:27 of the second. Frattin is now three goals ahead of anybody else in the nation.

Evan Trupp scored his eighth goal of the season to round out the scoring in the third. His goal was set up nicely by Danny Kristo, who had three assists Friday night.

UND outshot RMU 38-32.

Goaltender Aaron Dell stopped all 32 shots he faced for his third shutout this year. He stopped Colonial forward Nathan Longpre on a breakaway attempt and turned away Robert Morris’ every scoring chance.

Dell was happy to get his fourth career shutout in front of the home crowd. “It’s nice to do it in front of the home crowd, but I’ll take it any chance I get. “

It has been over eight periods – 164:51 of time to be precise—since Dell has given up a goal, which has dropped his goals-against average to 1.97.

“He’s something else right now. He’s playing like a madman,” Knight said.

“He’s playing his heart out for us and that’ll help us down the stretch.”

UND 6, SCSU 2: Black-clad Sioux sweep Huskies

Matt Frattin walked into the Fighting Sioux locker room like always, ready to put on the iconic white home jersey and attempt to sweep the St. Cloud State Huskies for the first time since 2008.

Only when he walked in, all he saw was black.

“This is my fourth year and we’ve never worn the blacks at home,” said Frattin.

The 11,941 attendees at Ralph Engelstad Arena who probably didn’t expect to see the alternate black uniforms also probably didn’t expect to see Frattin and the Fighting Sioux break out with five goals in the first period en route to a 6-2 dismantling of the Huskies, either.

“I guess we were all pretty jacked up, and it showed in the first period.”

Frattin, the game’s first star, had a goal and two assists in North Dakota’s (11-5-2, 9-3-0 WCHA) sweep-clinching victory over St. Cloud State (5-9-2, 3-6-1 WCHA). Typically, North Dakota has won this season with point shots that find the net, but Saturday night saw the Sioux score all five goals below the dots – an area that coach Dave Hakstol said the majority of quality scoring opportunities come from.

“It’s fun to score pretty goals, but there aren’t many of those out there,” said Hakstol. “You gotta get to the scoring area and get some rebound goals and some tip goals. You have to get to some tough areas if you want to create scoring opportunities regularly.”

Thirteen different Sioux players had points, and a trio of Sioux – Derrick LaPoint, Brent Davidson, and Mario Lamoureux – all earned their first goals of the season.

Without top forwards Jason Gregoire and Brett Hextall, Hakstol said the production up and down the lineup was huge. “When you look at the entire situation going into the weekend, we needed that. It was nice to see some guys get their first.”

The Sioux jumped on the Huskies early and often. The senior forward Frattin found Evan Trupp in the short left slot and Trupp buried it for his fifth goal of the season five minutes into the game.

Only a few moments later, LaPoint got on the board off of another rush and a rebound that came off the pad of Huskies goaltender Dan Dunn.

Brent Davidson, who replaced Joe Gleason in the lineup for Saturday’s game, buried his own rebound on yet another rush to make it 3-0. The goal chased Dunn from the game, though he came back in the third to finish.

For Davidson, it was just his third career goal in his 34th career game.

Frattin would score his 15th goal to keep pace with Niagara’s Paul Zanette for the national goal lead, and Corban Knight punctuated the dominant first period for the Sioux by taking a seeing-eye pass from Danny Kristo and depositing it into the wide open net.

From there, UND went into cruise control to squash any hope of a Huskies comeback. Goaltender Aaron Dell kept building on a breakout season and allowed just the two goals in the third period. Dell had 13 saves and also collected his second career assist, on Frattin’s goal in the first period.

SCSU’s Mitch MacMillan – the brother of UND recruit Mark MacMillan – and Travis Novak provided the lone goals for the Huskies.

Lamoureux broke a 23-game streak without a goal, burying one top shelf in the third. After ringing one off the crossbar in the first, the gritty hometown forward wasn’t sure if tonight was his night.

“It was still frustrating but you have to stick to the grindstone, stick to what makes you successful. Thankfully in the third I popped one in.”

For Lamoureux and  Fighting Sioux, who close out the first half of their season next weekend in Mankato against the MSU – Mankato Mavericks, getting the sweep meant getting down to business, and that started with the attire.

“When we wear blacks, it’s all business. The boys know that it’s a must-win game. We’ve had some trouble completing the sweep at home so we knew tonight was crucial for us. It was definitely a message sent.”