First period

No scoring.

Second period

Wisconsin 1, UND 0 – Derek Stepan (Patrick Johnson) 1:54. Fienhage turned the puck over behind UND’s net to Johnson, who centered it to Stepan. Wide open in the slot, the former Shattuck player put it between Eidsness’ pads.

Wisconsin 1, UND 1 – Brad Miller (Chay Genoway) 6:53. Genoway flipped a high backhand down the ice just to get the puck out of the zone. Miller skated under it along the right wing and came in the zone with a 2-on-1. He took the shot himself and beat Connelly high to the near side.

Third period

Wisconsin 2, UND 1 — Brendan Smith (Michael Davies, Jamie McBain) 2:00 (pp). Davies controlled the puck in the middle of the left circle and found McBain at the top of the right circle. McBain one-timed it past Eidsness.

Wisconsin 2, UND 2 – Andrew Kozek (Darcy Zajac) 3:54. Zajac fought off a check as he carried the puck along the left wing. Zajac managed to get a backhand off and Kozek was waiting in the slot for the rebound.

UND 3, Wisconsin 2 – Jason Gregoire (Evan Trupp) 14:45. The Sioux go forward with a faceoff at neutral ice. The puck went to Gregoire at the left circle and he put it between Connelly’s legs.

Pregame

During the pre-game the zamboni has broken down on the ice. There are five people out there looking at it right now. It’s been at the blue line for a good five to 10 minutes. This is the third straight hockey game I’ve been at now where we’ve had a zamboni malfunction. Update: The zamboni has been towed by the third-string zamboni. You can see where the other one got stuck, though. Hopefully it doesn’t mean any ice problems.

Halloween costumes so far: Someone dressed as Tim the Tool Man Taylor’s Neighbor, Wilson, complete with a fence to hold over his face. Someone else dressed as a blind ref with sunglasses and a guide stick. On the back of the ref jersey: D. Shepherd.

UND’s lines

16 Ryan Duncan–29 Chris VandeVelde–26 Brett Hextall
20 Matt Watkins–11 Darcy Zajac–10 Andrew Kozek
19 Evan Trupp–22 Brad Malone–21 Matt Frattin
17 Jason Gregoire–8 Ryan Martens–14 Brad Miller

24 Ben Blood–5 Chay Genoway
6 Zach Jones–25 Jake Marto
3 Derrick LaPoint–4 Corey Fienhage

31 Brad Eidsness
30 Aaron Walski

Wisconsin’s lines

9 Michael Davies–5 Blake Geoffrion–18 Jordy Murray
10 Patrick Johnson–12 Matt Thurber–21 Derek Stepan
24 John Mitchell–16 Sean Dolan–8 Podge Turnbull
11 Andy Bohmbach–15 Tom Gorowsky

17 Ryan McDonagh–2 Jamie McBain
19 Jake Gardiner–20 Ryan Little
7 Brendan Smith–27 Cody Goloubef
4 Eric Springer

35 Shane Connelly
1 Scott Gudmandson

If college hockey interests you more than Halloween and Dia de los Muertos, read up on what to watch for this weekend.

Wisconsin at UND

Sioux, Badgers try to turn the ship around. More on that in this Herald notebook, which also features a chat with Bruce McLeod on how coaches are liking the new rules.
Four questions with Jake Marto.
The Badger blog says that Wisconsin has brought an interesting mix of players to Grand Forks.
Here is a feature on Wisconsin’s Jordy Murray, who is the brother of former Sioux Brady Murray and son of St. Louis Blues coach Andy Murray.

Colorado College vs. Denver

This in-state showdown is one the nation will have its eyes on. Denver is trying to win the Gold Pan, which has recently eluded the Pios.
The Colorado Springs Gazette has three things to watch for in the series.
The Denver Post did a Q&A with Pioneer captain J.P. Testwuide, who has a brother playing for Colorado College.

Alaska-Anchorage at Michigan Tech

Anchorage is trying to improve on its 1-0-1 start, which is the best since it joined the WCHA. No story links because I can’t find any and you won’t read them anyway.

Minnesota Hockey Showcase

Minnesota hosts MSU-Mankato on Friday night in a regular league game, then plays the Mavs at Xcel Energy Center on Saturday in the Showcase. St. Cloud State and Minnesota-Duluth play in the other Showcase game Saturday. They do not play Friday.

CHN takes a look at the attempt to re-create the Beanpot in Minnesota.

The Mankato Free Press recalls the fantastic playoff series between Minnesota and the Mavs in last year’s first round.

And Minnesota-Duluth hopes that Mitch Ryan isn’t Dan Kronick 2.0.

The Fargo Force played their home opener Thursday night in the new Urban Plains Center.

If they want fans to keep filling the 5,000-seat arena like they did Thursday, they got off to a great start. Those that were there saw:

–A fantastic new hockey arena, possibly the nicest high school rink in the country. TRF, you have competition now.

–Four local standouts (Chad Demers, Ryan LaDouceur, Mike Lee, Nick Oliver) playing against worthy competition.

–Dean Blais back behind the bench.

–The home team’s captain bloody an opponent in a second-period fight.

–The home team’s captain score a game-winning goal in the third period.

I don’t think anyone left disappointed. The Forum sent an army to cover the event. So if you want to read/look at more, here you go:

Photo gallery

Game story

Column

For those who don’t subscribe to the NHL Center Ice package, the NHL is offering a free trial tonight for its streaming video feed on NHL.com.

You should be able to go there and watch any game tonight. There are several former Sioux in action, for those interested:

Tampa Bay at Buffalo (Drew Stafford), 6 p.m.
Carolina (Ryan Bayda) at St. Louis (T.J. Oshie), 7:30 p.m.
Columbus (Mike Commodore) at Colorado, 8 p.m.
Pittsburgh at Phoenix (David Hale), 9 p.m.
Vancouver (Ryan Johnson) at Los Angeles (Matt Greene), 9:30 p.m.

For the jersey collectors out there, UND has released information on jersey auctions for this season.

Kyle Radke and Taylor Chorney jerseys will be auctioned off this weekend at the Wisconsin series.

For a full list, go here.

At today’s weekly meeting with the media, Sioux coach Dave Hakstol said that Matt Watkins is 100 percent and is ready to go against Wisconsin this weekend.

He also said defenseman Joe Finley is listed as day-to-day. Freshman David Toews, who missed the first weekend due to injury, also is healthy.

Wisconsin will be missing forward Ben Street, who will be out three to six months.

Watkins said he thinks the team stayed sharp during the off week.

"All last week we practiced Monday through Thursday real hard. On Friday, we had a scrimmage session with different situations — power play, penalty kill, 5 on 5… I think the coaches did a good job keeping us sharp and keeping us in shape. We had a couple of real sharp practices on Monday and Tuesday this week, too," Watkins said.

This week’s college hockey polls:

USCHO.com

1. Colorado College (37)
2. Boston College (7)
3. Boston University (1)
4. Denver (3)
5. Minnesota (2)
6. New Hampshire
7. Miami
8. Michigan
9. Northeastern
10. Princeton
11. Michigan State
12. Minnesota State-Mankato
13. Notre Dame
14. Vermont
15. Clarkson
16. Cornell
17. Air Force
18. North Dakota
19. St. Cloud State
20. Harvard

USA Today poll

1. Colorado College (30)
2. Boston College (3)
3. Boston University
4. Denver
5. Minnesota (1)
6. Miami
7. New Hampshire
8. Michigan
9. Northeastern
10. Princeton
11. MSU-Mankato
12. Michigan State
13. Notre Dame
14. Clarkson
15. Vermont

Inside College Hockey

1. Colorado College
2. Minnesota
3. Boston College
4. Boston University
5. Denver
6. New Hampshire
7. Northeastern
8. Princeton
9. Miami
10. MSU-Mankato
11. Michigan
12. Michigan State
13. St. Cloud State
14. Notre Dame
15. Cornell
16. Air Force
17. Vermont
18. Clarkson
19. Alaska-Anchorage
20. St. Lawrence

If you didn’t catch it, here’s what happened this weekend in the WCHA and around the country.

Minnesota takes three points from Wisconsin: The Badgers are bound to come to Ralph Engelstad Arena this weekend as desperate as can be to get points. They are now 0-5-1, which is the worst start in the school’s modern era. Let’s put this in perspective, though. The Badgers opened the season with this schedule: at Boston College, at New Hampshire at Denver twice, home against Minnesota twice and at UND twice. It doesn’t get much tougher than that. Minnesota, meanwhile, is 3-0-1 to start WCHA play, which is a lot different than last year’s 0-4 start.

Anchorage takes three points from Duluth: The Seawolves made the most of their 14 shots on goal in Friday’s 4-3 win. After Saturday’s 1-1 tie, Anchorage finds itself 1-0-1 in WCHA, the best WCHA start in school history. The Bulldogs have only won three of their last 12 in Sullivan Arena now.

Colorado College tied Clarkson twice: Clarkson did a pretty good job holding Colorado College’s powerful offense down this weekend. CC scored only three goals. Clarkson goalie Paul Karpowich stopped 61 of 64 shots on the weekend. The Tigers still maintained the No. 1 spot on INCH’s power rankings.

St. Cloud State split with Bemidji State: After taking five penalties in the first four periods of the weekend, Garrett Roe stayed out of the box in the final 40 minutes and helped St. Cloud salvage a split in Bemidji. The Beavers won 4-2 on Friday night behind a goal and an assist by Matt Read. The Huskies got a goal and an assist from Roe in the second period of Saturday’s 5-3 win. Warroad’s Aaron Marvin had a goal and an assist in that game, too.

Denver split with Ohio State: The Pioneers looked like they were headed for a sweep, but Ohio State rallied for three straight goals Saturday night in escaping with a 4-3 win. The Pios won the opening night 3-1 on two goals by Kyle Ostrow. Former Sioux Hunter Bishop didn’t factor in the scoring.

Denver Post writer Mike Chambers had an interesting blog entry from the game. What happens if a player is injured and then the puck is iced before he gets off? Well, he has to stay on, apparently. CHN’s Adam Wodon read the rule book and says there is language in the NHL rules for injured players but there is not in college hockey.

A few other notes from around the country…

BU 7, Mich 2: UND isn’t the only team to have trouble with BU’s prolific offense. The Terriers hung seven goals on Michigan on Saturday night. Michigan goalie Billy Sauer was yanked after two periods but backup Bryan Hogan didn’t fare any better.

Air Force sweeps: Jacques Lamoureux (Grand Forks) and Brent Olson (Baudette) are tied for the national lead in scoring. If you got the Herald’s preseason hockey preview, there are stories on both guys. AFA tried to keep Lamoureux out and tried to kick Olson out. Frank Serratore has got to be happy his guys don’t give up easy. Air Force is 6-0 now, best start in school history.

Fargo Urban Plains Center ready for opening: The Fargo Force play their first-ever home game on Thursday night. The Forum posted some pictures of the new venue.

And a few former player stories to read:

Phil Lamoureux had a 48-save shutout for the Alaska Aces of the ECHL.

Mike Commodore talks about why he was in boxer briefs and throwing money in the air. He says it’s not normal behavior for him.

T.J. Oshie and Chris Porter talk a little bit about going against their old teammate, Jonathan Toews, in the NHL… although it’s mostly an Oshie article. And speaking of Oshie, they are selling his bobblehead at SiouxShop now.

Ryan Bayda has secured his spot with Carolina.

The retro jerseys that will be worn at the NHL Winter Classic were unveiled. The Hawks had Jonathan Toews and Pat Kane model their sweaters. Imagine that.

USA Hockey will announce on Monday that Buffalo is going to host the 2011 World Juniors.

Grand Forks and the Twin Cities also were finalists.

For further updates, check GrandForksHerald.com.

I’ve finally gotten around to taking pictures (apologies for my sorry photo skills) and posting what the new NHL wall looks like in the basement of Ralph Engelstad Arena.

It starts with a look as you walk down the hall from the coaches’ locker room to the players locker room. This is the hall the players walk down each day after they enter the building and they head toward the locker room.

The first images are of the NHL dedication, including a look at how it has been updated with the two Sioux players who have made debuts this fall. Then there are looks at the Stanley Cup, NHL awards and NHL draft tributes.