GRAND FORKS, N.D. ? Denver sophomore Ryan Dingle scored three of the Pioneers' five third period goals on Friday to lead DU to a 7-3 comeback win over the UND men's hockey team on Saturday.
Denver had a 2-0 lead in the second period, but the Sioux scored twice to tie it 2-2 after two periods.
UND freshman T.J. Oshie (Warroad, Minn) gave UND a 3-2 lead 4:33 into the third period.
Denver then scored two power play goals in a five-minute span to regain the lead and then added three more, the last of which was an empty net goal.
The loss dropped UND's overall record to 21-14-1 and its WCHA mark to 14-12-0. Denver, meanwhile, improved to 19-13-2 overall and 16-8-2.
The Pioneers' first goal came 11 seconds into the game when Tom May picked up a puck along the left boards and beat Sioux goalie Jordan Parise (Jr., Faribault, Minn.) up high.
Denver's second goal came at 3:31 of the second period when defenseman Adrian Veideman split the Sioux defense on a Pioneers' power play and poked the puck through Parise's legs.
UND got on the board at 5:49 of the second during a 4-on-4 when Jonathan Toews (Fr., Winnipeg, Manitoba) converted a beautiful backhanded pass from Drew Stafford (Jr., Faribault, Minn.) for his 16th goal of the season. It was Toews' fifth goal in the past three games.
When Oshie scored in the third, the momentum appeared to swing UND's way, but Denver's two power play goals reversed the momentum, and the Pioneers built on their lead to finish off the game.
The win clinched a WCHA first round playoff berth for Denver.
The Sioux, meanwhile, are now tied for fifth in the WCHA standings with St. Cloud State. Both the Sioux and St. Cloud State have 28 points going into the last weekend of the regular season. UND closes its regular season with a home series against Michigan Tech on Friday and Saturday.
Denver outshot UND, 33-28, in the game.
