GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- A little of that North Dakota magic worked wonders for the University of North Dakota men's hockey team tonight.

The ninth shorthanded goal by UND this season and fourth game-winning shorty proved to be the difference as North Dakota (17-5-2 overall, 8-4-1 NCHC) moved into a tie for second place with Minnesota Duluth with a tense 2-1 victory over visiting Colorado College.

Senior wing Mike Parks scored his second shorthanded goal of the season on a unassisted breakaway at 6:27 of the final period to rally NoDak to victory in front of a sellout of 11,682 at Ralph Engelstad Arena.

UND has now won all three National Collegiate Hockey Conference meetings with the Tigers this season after picking up a sweep in Colorado in October.

A shorthanded goal is nothing new to UND. It leads the nation with its nine, giving UND a weapon few teams have.

In a tense battle against a scrappy Tiger team (5-15-1 overall, 1-10-1 league), UND needed an even-strength goal by senior center Mark McMillan at 16:22 of the second period to erase CC's 1-0 lead and set up Parks for the winner.

The Tigers outshot UND 31-28, but junior goalie Zane McIntyre (30 saves) was sensational yet again for UND.

His caeer 2.06 goals-against average and .927 save percentage going into the game were the best marks in school history, and he lowered them tonight.

On the shorty by Parks, he knocked the puck past CC defenseman Jaccob Slavin at center ice and then won a foot race to the net. Parks soared in alone on CC goalie Tyler Marble (26 saves) and beat him with a quick deke to his forehand.

McIntyre made that lead stand up, turning back 10 shots in the final period and scrambling around several times to make saves after losing his stick. He stopped Cody Bradley twice from point-blank range midway through the final period after losing his stick the first time.

What is the secret of UND's shorthanded magic?

"It's not necessarily one thing,'' Parks said. "I think some of the power plays gets lackadaisical or sleepy. That even happens to us. If you get some forwards who can really move their feet and strip pucks, you're going to get chances.''

It's been a successful formula all season for UND. While the nine shorties lead the nation, the total is just half the school record of 18 set in the NCAA championship year of 1986-87 when Hobey Baker Award winner Tony Hrkac had eight himself.

UND spreads out its shorthanded success. Parks joins Drake Caggiula, MacMillan and Stephane Pattyn with two shorties with Bryn Chyzyk owning the other.

North Dakota got a little better each period after being outshot 14-10 in the first 20 minutes and falling behind 1-0 on a deflection by Alex Roos of a point shot at 4:01 of the first period.

"They were the better team in the first period in terms of playing their game,'' UND coach Dave Hakstol said of CC. "We were able to get a little bit better as the game went along.''

Hakstol said a key element of the shorthanded success is the ability to use 6 to 8 forwards in penalty killing roles, keeping the legs fresher. Hakstol said a broken stick by MacMillan might have factored in the winning shorthanded goal. MacMillan raced to the bench for a new stick about the time Parks was poking the puck free in neutral ice.

"I think he (MacMillan) created a little confusion for their defenseman. Parksy made a good play up top, and you're not going to catch him on that breakaway.''

Hakstol said the shorthanded goals come through effort.

"It's guys working hard, making plays,'' he said. "We haven't cheated for any of them. They've been good shorthanded goals in terms of doing it the right way. It's not like we're cheating out of a zone.''

With five NCHC teams ranked in the top nine in the Pairwise Rankings now, every game is a battle, Hakstol said, even against last-place Colorado College.

"I feel like they're playing really well,'' Hakstol said. "They're playing as well as anybody in our league. That's just how it is.''

MacMillan faked like he was going to circle the net and go for a wraparound attempt or make a pass out front on his goal. Instead, as he was headed to the right side of the net, he slammed on the breaks. He then reversed his course and stuffed the puck on the ice past the glove of Marble before he could scramble back to cover the short side.

"I was going to go around to try to make a pass out front,'' MacMillan said. "But I decided to turn around. When I put on the brakes, I saw the goalie kept going the other way. Luckily enough he didn't come back in time.''

The win was the fourth straight for UND, matching its longest win streak of the season. It also bumped UND into No. 3 in the Pairwise Rankings heading into Saturday's 7:07 rematch with the Tigers.

Game notes: Parks, MacMillan and McIntyre were voted the three stars of the game by the media, in that order ... Parks, who tied with center Connor Gaarder for the lead in shots on goal (4), was the only UND player with a plus-2 in the plus/minus rating ... Cody Bradley and Matt Hansen had 5 shots each for the Tigers, who had won two of their last three games ... There were just five penalties called on the two teams, CC going 0-2 on the power play without a shot on goal, UND 0-1 with 1 shot ... Sam Rothstein won 18 of 28 faceoffs to lead CC to a 32-29 edge in that department. He was the only Tiger skater on the ice for both UND goals, however ... The goal was MacMillan's team-leading 12th, while Parks netted his ninth.

Virg Foss covered UND hockey for 35 seasons for the Grand Forks Herald until his retirement. He's now in his 10th season of reporting on UND home games exclusively for UNDsports.com. Contact him at virgfoss@yahoo.com.