GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- There's a saying in sports that in order to be the best, you have to beat the best.
 
The University of North Dakota hockey team took a step in that direction Saturday night, handing No. 1-ranked St. Cloud State a resounding 5-1 National Collegiate Hockey Conference defeat in front of a season-high 11,956 fans at Ralph Engelstad Arena.
 
It marks the fourth straight year UND has beaten the nation's top-ranked team, starting with the NCAA title game win over Quinnipiac in 2016 and extending to Denver in the last two seasons, then the Huskies tonight.
 
Freshman wing Gavin Hain and junior wing Dixon Bowen scored career-best two goals apiece while the line of freshman Mark Senden (goal, assist), junior Cole Smith (assist) and Hain (two goals) provided the bulk of the offense for the Fighting Hawks.
 
"Now is huge for us,'' Hain said, "especially beating the top team in the nation. It brings a whole ton of confidence in the (locker) room. We believe in each other. We believe in the team.''
 
For a team (now 13-11-1 overall, 7-7 in the NCHC) this victory could springboard a shot at a first-division finish in the NCHC, home ice for the playoffs, and potentially a berth in the NCAA tournament.
 
Coming off a 3-1 loss to the Huskies on Friday in which UND also lost forward Grant Mismash with a knee injury, UND played with a visible spark to its game this night.
 
"We scored early and we stayed with the game,'' UND coach Brad Berry said. "Last night we missed a lot of nets with the opportunities we had. Tonight, we buried those opportunities. The other thing is that we played in the third period. Last night we stopped playing a little bit and got on our heels The message was, 'hey guys, keep doing what you you're doing. Have confidence in yourself. Believe in what you can do here. The guys took it to heart and played well in the third.''
 
The trend of the good start began early when Hain, who had but one goal in 18 games this season, took a drop pass from Senden on a 2-on-1 rush and buried his wrist shot stick side on SCSU goalie David Hrenek just 3:22 into the game. UND outshot the Huskies 6-1 over the first 10 minutes of the opening period in a strong start.
 
"It made us play a little more loose and make some plays,'' Berry added of the strong start.
 
Senden scored unassisted at 6:31 of the second period to make it 2-0 and Bowen came back with a 5-hole shot on Hrenek to make it 3-0 at 8:47.
 
The Huskies picked up a shorthanded goal from team captain Jimmy Schuldt at 17:25 of the second period. His goal underwent a long review for possible goalie interference, but it stood.
 
But though UND has lost two-goal leads in four of the previous five games, that trend ended here. Hain knocked in a rebound at 5:52 of the third period to make it 4-1 and Bowen converted a rebound of his own shot at 14:05 to close out the victory.
 
The players said they played with an extra edge after losing Mismash to injury the night before. '"I think we played with a little more tenacity tonight, with a chip on our shoulder,''  Hain said. "We played more physical. That's how we have to play the rest of the way. It's playoff hockey now. Every game matters.''
 
UND was on a pace to play its first penalty-free game since 1997 against Alaska-Anchorage, but took eight penalties for 24 minutes in the final four minutes, 24 seconds. The Huskies had three separate 5-on-3 power plays in the closing minutes totaling 116 seconds, but freshman goalie Adam Scheel (22 saves) was superb in shutting down the potent Huskies.
 
"We came together this morning and talked about it and put yesterday behind us,'' Bowen said, "and come out today and just have fun. That's what we did.''
 
Berry said he made a mistake breaking up the Senden-Hain-Smith line for Friday's game, but he had them back as a unit tonight, and it paid big dividends. "They're super hard to play against,'' Berry said. "We had them matched up tonight against the (Blake) Lizotte line. I thought they did an outstanding job limiting them in our zone, but they played in their zone. They made it hard to take the puck away from them, not to mention score goals.
 
"When you can get that from that line, I tell you what, you can win a lot of games,'' Berry added.
 
Game notes: Grand Forks Red River product Jon Lizotte had six blocked shots to lead the Huskies and assisted on their only goal . . . UND captain Colton Poolman, who had a costly turnover Friday leading to the winning goal for the Huskies, was a team-best plus-4 tonight with an assist and three shots on goal . . . UND was 0-3 on the power play with 4 shots, the Huskies 0-4 with 5 shots . . . Hain had 6 shots on goal to lead UND while Schuldt led the Huskies with 4 . . . UND won the faceoff battle 35-26, led by Senden (9 of 14) . . . Rhett Gardner, who leads the nation in faceoff wins, had a 11-3 edge in faceoff wins after two periods, but finished 13 of 25. . . St. Cloud pulled Hrenak (10 saves) after he gave up his third goal, with Jeff Smith playing the final 31 minutes, making 14 saves and allowing 2 goals . . . The loss snapped St. Cloud's 4-game win streak . . .North Dakota earned it eighth win over a ranked opponent this season (8-5)