[media-credit name=’JEFF SCHORFHEIDE/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]

The old saying in college hockey is that goaltending wins
championships.

With Sunday’s 3-2 overtime victory, the play of North Dakota
netminder Jean-Philippe Lamoureux showed why his Fighting Sioux could very well
contend for the NCAA title.

Lamoureux stopped 41 of Wisconsin’s 43 shots on the night,
using nearly every piece of equipment he had. He also made 38 saves in UND’s
opening round win over Princeton, earning him the Midwest Regional’s Most
Outstanding Player award.

“Lamoureux gave them a chance to win,” UW goalie Shane
Connelly said. “I think that just gave them the confidence.”

With his team trailing a desperate Badger team, Lamoureux
made the big saves when Wisconsin threatened to put the game away. Michael
Davies was robbed by Lamoureux’s glove in the first period on a power play
opportunity; Matthew Ford was unable to poke the puck past the stretching
netminder, sprawled out in the butterfly; Ben Grotting and John Mitchell were
both unable to beat the senior with time running down at the end of regulation.

It was a common trend all night.

“It’s tough when you’re going up against a hot goalie,”
forward Ben Street said. “He’s done that all year. We knew that was going to
happen. Our game plan was to get pucks and bodies at him, and there were a few
times that he left a rebound there and we just didn’t have a guy there to bang
it in.”

Davies had perhaps the most notable failed chance to put one
past the UND goaltender as he gathered the puck and skated on a breakaway
towards the Sioux net. After skating to his left, Davies was able to get
Lamoureux to commit and slide across the crease. But the Wisconsin forward
couldn’t get enough on the shot, firing it into the goalie’s chest.

“If he could put it upstairs from where he was, or go
bar-down, you have to tip your hat to the guy,” Lamoureux said of Davies.
“Coming in on a breakaway with speed, it’s a difficult play. I was confident in
my decision-making and fortunate I made the save.”

Lamoureux also had the posts to back him up on a few Badger
shots Sunday. Wisconsin freshman Kyle Turris fired a shot that hit the right
pipe and bounced through the crease but never wobbled its way past the goal
line. Defenseman Davis Drewiske also drew iron on a power play chance early in
the second period.

The bounces off the post seemed to go Wisconsin’s way
Saturday night against Denver. Several Pioneer shots caromed off the pipes,
providing a sigh of relief for Connelly.

“He had his best friend, the pipes, there a couple times,”
UW head coach Mike Eaves said of Connelly Saturday.

But against North Dakota, the posts befriended Lamoureux.

“[Denver] hit the posts last night, and Shane had them
strapped on. And tonight, Mr. Lamoureux did,” Eaves said. “Talk about little
things making a difference.”

The only bad break Lamoureux did catch Sunday was on
Wisconsin’s second goal of the game with just 39 seconds to play in the second
period. Defenseman Cody Goloubef fired a wrister from the point that went wide,
and the puck took a funny hop off the backboards and bounced off Lamoureux and
in.

But what could have been a back-breaking goal that put UND
down two proved to be the final time UW would tinge the twine.

“I think certainly Wisconsin got a lucky break on that
second [goal] at the end of the second period,” Lamoureux said. “It could’ve
been demoralizing for a team to give up a goal and a two-goal lead going into
the third on top of that. But we regrouped collectively. It’s a position we’ve
been in before this year, and our big-time leaders stepped up and made big
plays for us.”