GRAND FORKS, N.D.—Joe Colborne celebrated his 20th birthday with a game-winning goal as Denver rallied from a two-goal deficit to defeat North Dakota 4-2 Saturday in Western Collegiate Hockey Association play.
“Joe had the game-winning goal Friday night, too, so he gave himself a great birthday present,” Denver coach George Gwozdecky said. “He had a terrific weekend.”
Denver (16-6-4, 12-4-4) stayed atop the league in running its record to 4-0 against UND this season. The Pioneer seniors had never won in Grand Forks until this weekend.
“The coaches got under our skin a little bit after the first period,” Colborne said. “So it was a big gut check for us, and we came together.”
Chris VandeVelde scored twice to give the Fighting Sioux a 2-0 lead early in the second period. But the Pioneers answered with three goals in the last 10 minutes of the period to take the lead for good.
Kyle Ostrow and Drew Shore scored before Colborne gave Denver the lead. Rhett Rakhshani added an insurance goal in the third period.
“This is my favorite arena to play in and one of the hardest places to play,” Colborne said. “The fact the comeback came on my birthday makes it even more special.”
UND—ranked fourth in the national poll—continued its slide, winning one only four of its last 14 games. The Fighting Sioux (13-10-5, 8-9-3) sunk deeper into the WCHA’s second division.
Denver goalie Marc Cheverie made 22 saves, while Brad Eidsness had 24 for UND.
