By Virg Foss

GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- It's been 29 seasons (1978-79) since UND has given up a goal in the final seconds of play that tied the game, then lost it in overtime.

Shades of that Nov. 24, 1979, loss to Michigan State reared its ugly head tonight when another school from Michigan stuck a dagger in the hearts of the UND Fighting Sioux.

Michigan Tech senior assistant captain Tyler Shelast scored with 5.5 seconds left in regulation play to tie it at 2-2, then scored on a power play at 1:59 of overtime to give the Huskies an improbable 3-2 Western Collegiate Hockey Association playoff victory over UND.

The Tech victory evens the best-of-3 first-round series at 1-1 after the Sioux won 4-0 Friday. It forces a deciding game at 7:07 p.m. Sunday night to decide which team advances to the WCHA Final Five next week in St. Paul.

It was the first time the Sioux had lost an overtime game after a final-minute goal tied it since 1979, when Michigan State's Ted Huesing scored with 12 seconds left to tie a game in East Lansing, Mich., won 5-4 by the Spartans in overtime.

The defeat also spelled the end to UND's school-record and nation-best unbeaten streak of 18 games (15-0-3) and 11-game home unbeaten streak (9-0-2). It also marked UND's first overtime loss this season after the Sioux had been 2-0-3 in overtime sessions.

Shelast scored the tying goal after Tech had pulled goalie Michael-Lee Teslak (23 saves) in the final minute of play with the Sioux working on a power play.

"It's not like we were sitting back,'' UND coach Dave Hakstol said. "You know very likely it's going to turn into a 5-on-5 situation (with goalie pulled). You just want to play good, strong, intelligent hockey. I didn't see the tying goal, whether it was a bounce of the puck or whether they won a battle on it. But they found a way to get it to the net and it finally found its way across the goal line.''

Hakstol had no concern about UND's long unbeaten streak ending. "Until you mentioned it,'' he told a reporter,'' I hadn't even thought about it. We're worried about a three-game series.''

The Sioux seemed in good shape after junior left wing Brad Miller (Alpharetta, Ga.) opened scoring at 4:19 of the first period on UND's first shot on net. His slap shot from the right wing bounced off Teslak's right arm and fluttered into the net for Miller's fifth goal of the season.

Linemate Matt Frattin (Fr., Edmonton, Alberta) made it 2-0 for the Sioux at 16:58 of the second period with his fourth goal of the season. He took a drop pass from Miller and snapped a wrist shot past Teslak's stick side.

But the Huskies, who were 1-4 in five previous games with UND this season, rallied on a power-play goal by Jimmy Kerr at 1:19 of the final period that set up Shelast for his heroics and his team-leading 14th and 15th goals of the season.

"You don't like to make excuses, but we have had some tough times with bounces, me especially,'' Shelast said. "I've been a pretty streaky scorer here in college and I've had some bad luck hitting.....whatever.''

Lady Luck finally smiled on him. He never even touched the puck with his stick on the tying goal, he said.

"Jimmy Kerr kind of turned and threw it out front, and I believe it hit (Jean-Philippe) Lamoureux's blocker,'' Shelast said. "It hit me in the chest, hit me somewhere else, and just kind of bounced down and trickled into the net.''

Lady Luck was with him in OT, too.

Shelast gloved a high pass from Kerr, dropped the puck to the ice and went to his forehand to beat Lamoureux (23 saves) from close range to stun a sellout crowd of 11,638 at Ralph Engelstad Arena and force Game 3.

Shelast admitted it didn't look good for the Huskies. "I don't think we were too optimistic,'' he said. "We were just kind of hoping, I guess.''

The Sioux don't seem to worry that their unbeaten streak is over. "We weren't really thinking about that,'' Sioux captain Rylan Kaip (Sr., Radville, Saskatchewan) said. "It's playoff time now, and you've got to play each night. We've just got to get ready for tomorrow.''

The Sioux hadn't lost a game since Jan. 4, at St. Cloud State.

Hakstol agreed with Kaip. "We're worried about winning two out of three games,'' he said. "It's 1-1. We're got to win a game tomorrow night.''

The Sioux, who scored two power-play goals in Friday's 4-0 win, were blanked on six power plays tonight and saw the Huskies convert on two of their five chances.

A holding penalty on UND sophomore forward Chris VandeVelde (Moorhead, Minn.) at 1:27 of overtime set up Shelast's winning goal. Tech outshot the Sioux 3-0 in overtime.

How much momentum did the win give the Huskies heading into Sunday's series-deciding game? "It's playoff hockey, it's one game at a time,'' Hakstol said. "We can sit and debate who has momentum until the puck drops tomorrow tonight.''

Said Kaip: "It's definitely not the outcome we wanted tonight. That's game's over, we're just got to get ready for tomorrow. We didn't think the series was over by any means. They're a good team, and they made some good plays at the end.''

The loss dropped the Sioux (24-9-5) to No. 5 in the PairWise rankings, which mimic the system used by the NCAA to select its 16-team field a week from Sunday. Tech improved to 14-19-5 overall.

The Sioux are looking to join Colorado College, Denver and St. Cloud State in the WCHA Final Five in St. Paul after those three teams swept their WCHA first-round playoff matchups in two straight games. The Sioux and the Huskies, along with Minnesota State, Mankato and Minnesota, head instead into pivotal showdowns tonight.

SIOUX NOTES: Junior defenseman Taylor Chorney (Hastings, Minn.) led the Sioux in shots on net with seven, followed by junior forward T.J. Oshie (Warroad, Minn.) and Miller with three apiece . . . VandeVelde paced the Sioux in faceoffs, winning 17 of 20 draws . . . The Sioux had 15 shots on net on their six power plays and didn't score, while Tech scored on 2 of its 5 shots on its 5 power plays.