By Virg Foss
GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- The University of North Dakota's improbable 5-4 Western Collegiate Hockey Association victory over Denver University in front of a sold-out 11,734 crowd at Ralph Engelstad Arena was as easy -- and difficult -- as 1-2-3-4.
One, as in a power-play goal by junior Andew Kozek (Sicamous, British Columbia) in the first period, snapping an 0-21 slump on the power play for the Sioux.
Two, as in twins (a boy and a girl) born to Sioux assistant coach Dane Jackson and his wife Carrie earlier in the day. And two, as in the number of points the Fighting Sioux (18-8-2 overall, 15-7-1 WCHA) now trail league-leading Colorado College by in the WCHA race.
Three, as in the three-goal game for his first college hat trick for Kozek. His wrist shot tied the game at 4-4 at 10:58 of the final period, and his rebound goal at 15:15 won it to run UND's nation-best unbeaten streak to 10 games (9-0-1).
Four, as in points accumulated in the game by last year's Hobey Baker Award winner Ryan Duncan (Calgary, Alberta), the 5-foot-6 junior right winger who turned in a Paul Bunyan-type effort with a goal and three assists. He was joined by Kozek, with three goals and one assist.
How improbable was the victory?
It's the first time UND has come from behind to win in their last 25 games when trailing after two periods, dating back to Feb. 18, 2005 against Alaska Anchorage. After jumping out to a 2-1 lead in that game, the Sioux were trailing 3-2 after two periods before winning 6-3.
It's the first time the Sioux have rallied from a three-goal deficit to win since trailing Boston College 3-0 on Oct. 17, 2003, before rallying to win 6-4 behind Brandon Bochenski's hat trick.
And it was the first time Denver (16-1-1) has lost this season when leading after two periods.
The victory not only pulled the Sioux within one game of idle Colorado College for first place in the WCHA, but dropped third-place Denver four points behind UND in the battle of title contenders.
The winning goal came courtesy of an outstanding effort from Sioux junior center T.J. Oshie (Warroad, Minn.)
He carried the puck out from behind the Denver net and attempted a wraparound against Pioneer goalie Peter Mannino, only to see his shot clank off the far post.
Kozek crashed in, though, to knock in the rebound with assists to Oshie and Duncan.
UND then had to kill off a slashing penalty on junior defenseman Joe Finley (Edina, Minn.) late in the game. The Sioux did that well, limiting DU to one shot on net over the two minutes after the power play commenced at 17:33.
Kozek's hat trick gives him 12 goals for the season, tying Oshie for the team lead and matching Kozek's goal total from his first two seasons combined.
The Sioux, down 4-1 late in the second period, stunned the Pioneers with two goals 34 seconds apart to climb within a goal after two periods.
Sophomore defenseman Chay Genoway (Morden, Manitoba) started the rally with his sixth goal of the year at 19:00 of the period, followed by Duncan's deflection of a Kozek shot from the left wall at 19:34.
It looked bleak for the Sioux when Jesse Martin, Tom May and Matt Glasser scored on Sioux senior goalie Jean-Philippe Lamoureux (Grand Forks, N.D.) in the first eight minutes of the second period to build Denver's lead to 4-1.
It didn't faze the Sioux.
"Our team just kept playing,'' Kozek said. "We wanted to go one shift at a time and see what happened. Pucks seemed to be going in at the right time for us.''
The victory also boosted the Sioux into a three-way tie for third place in the Pairwise rankings, which mimics the selection process the NCAA uses for eventually selecting its 16-team tournament field. The Sioux are tied for third in the national rankings with Colorado College and New Hampshire, trailing only Michigan and Miami of Ohio.
"I don't really think our team felt we were out of the game at any point,'' Kozek said. "Especially after Chay's goal and Dunc's goal at the end of the second (period), we had a lot of momentum going into the third period. I think the most important thing is that we never gave up.''
Kozek, who has a lethal wrist shot, scored his first two goals on wrist shots to the stick side of Mannino. He was especially proud of his second one.
"First one, I was at the end of a shift and just kind of put it on net,'' Kozek said. "The defenseman actually screened him (Mannino) pretty well. The second one, I kind of knew where i was going with that one.''
Where he went was to a new plateau with his first career four-point game.
"Against a structurally-sound team like Denver,'' associate head coach Cary Eades said, "it's tough to come back from a one-goal deficit. Both teams forced the other team into mistakes tonight.''
So it was a red-letter day for UND.
"Coach Jackson had twins today, so a big day for the Sioux,'' Eades said. "We got two babies, and two points. It doesn't get any better than that, does it?''
Even so, it looked bleak when the Sioux were down by three.
"4-1, it's a monumental task to come back in 20 minutes,'' Eades said. "The second goal (by Genoway) was the key. That put Denver back on their heels a little bit.''
Duncan agreed.
"No doubt they (Denver) are a great team,'' said Duncan, who coincidentally was watching from the stands the night UND came back from 3-0 to beat Boston College in October 2003.
"Down three goals to them, you usually don't expect to come back and win the game. We were fortunate to get a few quick goals in the last minute of the second period. I felt in hindsight, it really turned the momentum in our favor. We came out in the third period and popped a couple more in and it was a great team character victory for us.''
Lamoureux, who went into the game leading the nation in goals-against average (1.73) and save percentage (.934) finished with just 14 saves to 21 for Denver's Mannino, another highly rated goaltender. Despite giving up four goals, Lamoureux's goals against average rose only slightly (to 1.80), and his save percentage dipped just slightly (to .930).
Lamoureux did make a great save on Denver's Kyle Ostrow seven minutes into the third period with the Sioux trailing 4-3, He slid across the crease and stacked his pads to turn back Ostrow, allowing the Sioux to come back in most unexpected fashion.
SIOUX NOTES: The Sioux were 1-4 on the power play, Denver 1-2. The Sioux saw their streak of 16 straight penalty kills end when Andrew Maiani scored on Denver's first power play of the game to open the scoring . . . Kozek led the Sioux with five shots on goal while Genoway, Duncan and captain Rylan Kaip (Radville, Saskatchewan) had four each . . . The Sioux had given up just one goal in seven of their last eight games before tonight.
