GRAND FORKS -- Brad Miller is used to putting on a show every week in Ralph Engelstad Arena. Friday night's had nothing to do with his Internet-hit talk show, though.
The forward-turned-defenseman scored a pair of goals in the first period and led the University of North Dakota to a 4-1 win over Minnesota State-Mankato in a sold-out Ralph Engelstad Arena.
The Sioux (17-11-3, 12-6-3 Western Collegiate Hockey Association) improved to 12-3-2 since the start of December and inched within striking distance of first place.
A win in the series finale at 7:07 tonight would move the Sioux (27 points) into a tie atop the standings with Denver (29 points). Both the Pioneers and second-place Wisconsin (28 points) have Saturday night off.
"It doesn't matter what happens out of town," UND coach Dave Hakstol said. "We control one thing. We're battling for two points. Every team in the league knows what their situation is and what they are fighting for and what the big picture is. You can look at those things Sunday and Monday. Right now, there are two points on the line tomorrow. It's a heck of a tough battle and that's what we're going to prepare for."
ADVERTISEMENT
Special teams and timely bounces were the key in getting a Round One victory against the eighth-place Mavericks (13-14-3, 9-12-2). The Sioux scored twice on the power play, while holding the Mavericks scoreless in six chances.
One of the big moments came when the Sioux were able to kill off a 74 second 5-on-3 power play for the Mavericks midway through the opening frame. In the following 10 minutes, Miller buried a pair of power-play goals to give the Sioux a 2-0 lead.
Those goals broke a personal 15-game drought and helped put Miller in the spotlight -- something he's used to since he started hosting the Brad Miller Time talk show for FightingSioux.com.
MSUM 0 0 1 - 1
UND 2 1 1 - 4
FIRST PERIOD: 1, UND, Brad Miller (Jake Marto, Ryan Duncan) 15:26. 2, UND, Miller (Brett Hextall, Chris VandeVelde) 19:39.
SECOND PERIOD: 3, UND, Evan Trupp (unassisted) 6:05.
THIRD PERIOD: 4, MSUM, Geoff Irwin (unassisted) 0:59. 5, UND, Andrew Kozek (Joe Finley, Brad Malone) 10:28.
ADVERTISEMENT
SAVES: MSUM, Mike Zacharias 11-20-5-36. UND, Brad Eidsness 11-4-10-25.
