The shock of hearing goalie Mike Lee was injured and didn’t travel to Grand Forks with the St. Cloud State Men’s Hockey team quickly turned into awe at the performance of Lee’s replacment. First-Year goalie Ryan Faragher’s first start in the WCHA was something to be remembered as he stopped 44 North Dakota shots, and St. Cloud State blanked UND 4-0 Friday at Ralph Englestad Arena. It was the Huskies first win at UND since November 14, 2009.

It was revealed only hours before Friday’s game that Lee, who had started all but one of the team’s games, did not travel with the team and sustained a lower-body injury Monday in practice. Lee not only missed this weekend, but is expected to be out for the upcoming series versus Wisconsin and possibly for the long-term.

FRIDAY

With that, the Huskies took the ice in Grand Forks lead by Faragher who had dropped his only start of the year 3-2 at Northern Michigan a few weeks ago. Fears were quickly calmed as the netminder put on a show, stopping 15 UND shots in the first period. Jared Fester gave SCSU a lead with his fifth goal of the season from Drew LeBlanc and Cam Reid at 7:16 of the first.

The Huskies bench was short all game as forwards Nick Oliver and Ben Hanowski both recieved five-minute major penalties and were removed from the game. UND fired away on the powerplay in the second period, but Faragher stopped all 24 shots he saw in frame two.

In the third period, SCSU’s defense held UND to only five shots and the blueliners scored a pair of goals. Andrew Pronchno notched his first collegiate goal at 2:54, and senior Sam Zabkowicz tallied seven minutes later firing a slapshot past Aaron Dell. Travis Novak capped off the win with an empty net goal for a 4-0 win.

The win was Faragher’s first in the NCAA, his first collegiate shutout, and also the Huskies first shutout all-time at UND.

SATURDAY

After Friday’s performace, it took an another entire period, but North Dakota finally solved Faragher. In the second, Mark MacMillan tipped a shot past the SCSU goalie on the powerplay to put UND up. Danny Kristo and Brock Nelson also had second period goals for UND, but Hanowski responded with 35.1 seconds left in the second period to put SCSU down 3-1 through two periods.

The Huskies fired 12 shots in the third period, but Dell held his ground and UND earned a 3-1 win to gain a split.

The Huskies are now 3-4-1 on the season and 1-1 in WCHA play. They return home this weekend for a series with the Wisconsin Badgers. Puck drop is slated for 7:37 Friday and 7:07 Saturday. Zack Fisch and Dave Overlund will have the call on 88.1 FM and KVSC.org.