GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- In the post-game voting of the media, University of North Dakota junior wing Bryn Chyzyk was the No. 1 star in UND's 3-2 overtime nonconference victory over Air Force tonight in the Hall of Fame men's hockey game.

He did, after all, score the winning goal with 6.4 seconds in the 5-minute sudden death session and his team shorthanded to cap a rally from a 2-0 deficit after two periods.

"To start off, I thought I had a horrible game,'' said the Virden, Manitoba, native after collecting his first career shorthanded goal but the fifth by UND in seven games.

"A nice pass by Mike (Parks) at the end there,'' Chyzyk said.

He saw Parks scoop up the puck in the neutral zone and lead a 2-on-1 rush with Chyzyk on his left wing as they raced in at Air Force goalie Chris Truehl with time running out.

"I knew we had numbers (outmanned),'' Chyzyk said. "My job was to get to the net with my stick on the ice. He (Parks) made a fantastic pass, and it somehow got to the back of the net.''

It was the only shot on goal for the game by Chyzyk -- but the timing was superb. It bailed UND out of a big hole after wing Brendan O'Donnell was given a 5-minute major and game disqualification for checking from behind at 2:17 of overtime.

And even overtime took some magic to bring about.

With 56 seconds left in regulation, UND pulled goalie Zane McIntyre for an extra attacker. The move paid off with the tying goal by Drake Caggiula on a rebound with 29 seconds left in regulation play.

The victory increased UND's unbeaten streak to six games and overall record for the nation's No. 2/3 team in the polls to 5-1-1 overall.

Air Force, now 0-5 all-time vs. UND, fell to 2-5 overall.

A goal by freshman Erik Baskin on the first shot of the game by either team at 2:57 of the first period put Air Force on the board first. Scott Holm doubled the lead at 3:10 of the second period on a deflection to cap a pretty three-way passing play.

But UND found its game in the third period and OT to send a sellout crowd of 11,895 at Ralph Engelstad Arena home happy, though perhaps a bit stressed out.

UND's rally was begun by freshman defenseman Tucker Poolman when he snapped a wrist shot from the top of the right faceoff circle past Truehl's glove hand at 6:53 of the third period to make it 2-1 for the Falcons. It was the third goal of the season for Poolman, from East Grand Forks.

Caggiula then scored the extra-attacker goal with time winding down in the third period, setting up Chyzyk's overtime heroics.

UND admittedly was playing more for the tie in overtime after O'Donnell's penalty put them a bind.

"We really weren't thinking of taking too many chances in overtime shorthanded,'' Chyzyk acknowledged. "But a chance arose, we jumped on it -- and made it count.''

UND changed its style of attack after being blanked for two periods by the Falcons.

"Our whole mentality the third period was to get more pucks, more bodies to the net,'' said Parks, who assisted on both the tying and winning goals. "We were way too fancy the first 40 minutes, and that's why it was 2-0 (Air Force). We got away from our game and tried to get too much through the middle of the ice and be fancy.''

UND outshot the Falcons 12-3 in the third period and despite being outshot 6-3 in overtime while killing the major penalty, saw Parks and Chyzyk pull off a perfect play on a 2-on-1 rush to account for the winner.

"Put everything else aside,'' UND coach Dave Hakstol said, "I'm proud of the will the players came out of the lockerroom with, and found a way to dig out of a pretty deep hole and get it done.''

After digging back to even the score, UND had to dig out of another hole in overtime because of the penalty.

"We got it to 2-2, and at that time, you try to preserve the tie and get through the penalty kill,'' Hakstol said.

Parks, named the game's No. 2 star, drew praise from Hakstol.

"He was outstanding tonight,'' Hakstol said. "We didn't have a lot of guys who were good from start to finish.''

Truehl finished with 30 saves for Air Force and McIntyre with 18 for UND.

UND continues with nonconference action next weekend at Wisconsin in a Friday-Saturday series at the Kohl Center.

Game notes: Caggiula led UND in shots on goal with 5, followed by Parks and defenseman Paul LaDue with 4 ... Parks and Luke Johnson finished at plus-2 in the plus/minus category to lead UND in that department ... Chad Demers, from Grafton, N.D., assisted on Air Force's second goal but also was on the ice when UND scored both the tying and winning goals ...  Connor Gaarder won 10 of 15 draws to pace UND to a slight 32-28 game edge in faceoffs ...  UND attempted 69 shots to 37 for Air Force, but Air Force also blocked 19 of those attempts ... The last time UND won a game after tying it in the final minute of regulation was Game 3 of the 2003 WCHA playoffs when Mike Prpich time the game at 19:19 of the third period and Nick Fuher won it at 18:56 of the first overtime.

Virg Foss covered UND hockey for 35 seasons for the Grand Forks Herald until his retirement in 2005. He's now in his 10th season of reporting on UND games exclusively for UNDsports.com.