GRAND FORKS, N.D. --  Norwegian Ludvig Hoff has built a reputation for himself in University of North Dakota hockey as a skilled player, a hard worker, but not as one who contributes a whole lot of goals to the offense.
 
Yet it was Hoff, with just his 10th goal in 76 career games, who came through with a game-winning deflection of a Jacob Bernard-Docker wrister from the right point at 4:15 of the 5-minute overtime session Friday night.
 
His third goal of the season lifted his team to a much-needed 4-3 National Collegiate Hockey Conference victory over Colorado College in front of 11,094 fans at Ralph Engelstad Arena, boosting UND into a tie for fifth in the league standings with Miami, but also providing an even bigger emotional lift.
 
Coming off being swept at Canisius last weekend, UND was desperate for something good to happen. And after blowing a two-goal lead to see the Tigers go up 3-2 in the third period on a goal by Chris Wilkie, a UND transfer, it didn't look good for UND.
 
But Jordan Kawaguchi tipped in a shot by Nick Jones at 14:14 of the third period to tie it at 3-3 , then Hoff came through with his goal-mouth deflection and a huge victory.
 
With UND having a long history of this season of outshooting teams badly but losing, a 46-23 shot advantage for UND late in overtime did little to calm the nerves of any of the Fighting Hawks faithful. But on the UND bench, it was another matter.
 
"The whole bench was, kind of like, we're not losing this after what happened last week,'' Hoff said. "I haven't been lucky with my opportunities lately. Finally I got a lucky bounce.''
 
More to the point was that he benefited from a patient play by Bernard-Docker, a first round draft pick of Ottawa last summer. JBD first faked a slap shot from the point, then saw an opening to thread the puck to the net in the direction of Hoff for the winning goal.
 
There's no discounting how big this win was for UND. "It was huge for a lot of different reasons,'' UND coach Brad Berry said. "First of all, getting back in the win column. Second of all, climbing the (NCHC) standings and trying to get home ice. But first and foremost, I think, is morale of the group here. You're working hard all year, and you don't get rewarded sometimes for the offensive side of the game. We got rewarded tonight.''
 
In a game where UND outshot CC 47-23, a key came when the Fighting Hawks allowed just the goal from Wilkie on a 5-minute major and game misconduct call on defenseman Gabe Bast for a hit to the head of CC's Alex Berardinelli. Though allowing CC to move ahead on Wilkie's goal just 26 seconds into the five-minute man advantage, UND was superb in allowing just one other shot on goal on the major, setting up the comeback.
 
And this time, UND found a way to win a game in which it doubled the Tigers in shots on net. "The biggest thing is we've experienced it all year,'' Berry said. "We've been through those ups and downs. We've become hardened and calloused in those situations, That's when leadership on the bench takes over, knowing there is a hunger there, trying to get it back.''
 
And thanks to the goals from Kawaguchi and Hoff, this time UND found a way to turn a huge shot advantage into a victory. UND moved to 4-5-0 in the NCHC and 10-9-1 overall while knocking CC down to 2-6-1 in league play and 8-11-2 overall.
 
UND took a 2-0 lead on a power-play goal by Jones midway through the first period and a right point blast by defenseman Andrew Peski (his first this year, his second in 79 career games) at 7:14 of the second period.
 
But the Tigers rallied on a Westin Michaud power-play goal at 9:48 of the second period, on a goal by freshman Erik Middendorf on a broken play at 2:17 and then by Wilkie on the major power play at 3:27 of the third period.
 
"Obviously it turned out well for us, we got the win,'' Kawaguchi said. "Not the way we wanted, we gave up a two-goal lead.''
 
But Kawaguchi said there was a feeling of confidence on the bench, despite facing a late deficit. "We've been in this situation before, so let's just go to work, and battle,'' Kawaguchi said. "We're happy it worked out well for us.''
 
Game notes: UND scratched Grant Mismash, Johnny Tychonick, Joel Janatuinen and backup goalie Peter Thome with injuries or illness, and also didn't dress defenseman Josh Rieger . . . UND outshot the Tigers 36-16 over the second and third periods and overtime . . . Hoff, named the No 1 star of the game by the media, led his team in shots on with 6, followed by defenseman Colton Poolman with 5 . . . Kawaguchi and Jones earned the second and third stars, respectively . . . Wilkie, a member of UND;s 2016 NCAA championship team, had 7 shots to lead the Tigers . . . UND had a 42-23 edge in faceoff wins, led by Jones (16 of 26), Rhett Gardner (12 of 19) and Mark Senden (8 of 10) . . . This was only the second time in the last seven games that UND has scored more than two goals . . . UND's 1959 NCAA title team will be honored prior to Saturday's 7:05 p.m. game . . . Hoff led UND with 6 SOG and was a +2 in addition to his GWG . . . UND has out-shot its opponents, 129-53, in the three games of the 2019 calendar year . . . North Dakota is now 7-3-1 when scoring first. 

Virg Foss covered UND hockey for 35 seasons for the Grand Forks Herald, including 5 NCAA title teams, before his retirement. Since his retirement, he's reported on UND hockey games exclusively for FightingHawks.com. This marks his 50th season since he began covering UND hockey in 1969.