DENVER—North Dakota’s Mark MacMillan and Dillon Simpson had a goal and two assists apiece in Saturday’s 6-1 Western Collegiate Hockey Association win over Denver.
Eleven different North Dakota players scored points and five had multiple points. UND was 3-for-9 on the power play and held Denver to one goal in seven power-play chances.
North Dakota coach Dave Hakstol said there was no comparison to Friday’s 5-4 loss.
“Last night there were a lot of passengers,” Hakstol said. “Tonight, no passengers. When you add it all up, we got the split in their building.”
North Dakota outshot the Pioneers 37-29.
No. 10 Denver took a 1-0 lead on Ty Loney’s power-play goal at 8:50 of the first period. But it was all North Dakota from there.
UND goalie Clarke Saunders made 28 saves and held the Pioneers (16-10-5, 11-8-5) scoreless from that point on.
Danny Kristo, Rocco Grimaldi and Carter Rowney had a goal and assist each for UND.
MacMillan’s goal came with one second left in the second period.
“That was the proverbial nail in their coffin,” Hakstol said. “It doesn’t feel good when you give up that kind of goal to go down three goals.”
Sixth-ranked North Dakota (17-7-6, 12-6-6) moved into a third-place tie with Nebraska-Omaha. Both teams have 30 points, three behind St. Cloud State and one back from Minnesota.
“We used our game in hand to even things up with UNO,” Hakstol said. “It’s the stretch run, it’s even up, let’s go play.”
