GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- First-year assistant UND hockey coach Karl Goehring backstopped the 1999-2000 Fighting Sioux to the NCAA title on his way to first team All-America honors.
 
If No. 2-ranked North Dakota is to claim another national title this season, quite likely Goerhing's fingerprints will be all over the championship trophy.
 
Goehring has worked extensively with UND goalies this season and is also in charge of the power play.
 
One his pupils earned his second career shutout Friday night as junior Peter Thome stopped all 25 shots he faced as the Fighting Hawks finally broke through against a stubborn Colorado College team. Freshman Shane Pinto scored on a power play at 10:23 of the third period to enable his team to down the Tigers 1-0 in front of 10,882 fans at Ralph Engelstad Arena.
 
Thome, making his third start of the season, gave full credit to Goehring for his work in simplifying the style of the 6-foot-4. 205-pound goalie from Minneapolis.
 
"I can't say enough things about Karl,'' Thome said. "It's pretty special in college when you get a chance to work with an NHL-level goalie coach. He's always pushing me, never letting me be satisfied.''
 
The shutout was his first since his freshman year, when he blanked No. 13-ranked Nebraska-Omaha 7-0 with 15 saves.
 
Goehring not only smoothed out the style for Thome, but kept him mentally prepared even though he rarely played in the first half of the season with Adam Scheel carrying the load in goal.
 
"We had a few conversations where frustrations might have been getting to me a little,'' Thome said. "He said, 'hey, absolutely not. You gotta be a man, and you got to put the work boots on every day and prepare for your opportunity.' ''
 
Thome added, "One's (opportunity) going to come, that's just the reality. If you don't prepare for it, and you're not ready, you might not get another one.''
 
Thome's best save might have come early in the second period when he stopped former UND teammate Chris Wilke, who is second in the nation in goals with 17, on a breakaway.
 
In a goaltending battle, CC's Matt Vernon, the son of former NHL goalie Mike Vernon, nearly matched Thome with a 29-save performance against the nation's highest-scoring team.
 
Pinto banged is his 12th goal of the season for the winner when Westin Michaud's shot deflected off of Vernon up high, with the puck bouncing off the end wall and to opposite side of the net, where Pinto had n open net for his power-play goal.
 
"It was a pretty lucky bounce,'' Pinto said. "It hit off the guy's head (Vernon) and off the end wall and kind of bounced to me.''
 
The win boosted UND's lead in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference to eight points over now-second-place Minnesota-Duluth, which beat Denver Friday night to leapfrog the Pioneers in the league standings. Denver and Western Michigan are nine points behind UND.
 
Berry credited Grant Mismash and Harrison Blaisdell for making plays defensively to swat away good scoring chances in front of Thome. He also gave a nod to Vernon for his stout play in goal after coming into the contest with a 3.56 goals-against average.

"His old man (Mike) was a pretty good goalie, and I thought Matt Vernon played very well tonight.''
 
In a strange twist, Berry said his first NHL was scored against Mike Vernon, "so I don't know if I'm bringing his credibility down or not.''

Game notes: UND defenseman Matt Kiersted missed his first game of the season with a lower-body injury and will be out for Saturday's rematch as well ... Pinto led UND with shots on goal with 6, followed by Michaud with 5 ... Wilkie's 4 shots on net led CC ... Named the three stars in order by the media were Pinto, Thome and Vernon ... CC pulled Vernon for a sixth attacker with 1:36 left in the game with Thome making a close-in save on Alex Berardinelli with 36 seconds left to preserve his shutout ... UND was 1-for-3 on the power play with 4 shots on goal, the Tigers 0-3 with 4 shots.
 
Virg Foss is in his 15th season of reporting on UND home games exclusively for UNDsports.com. He covered UND hockey for 35 seasons for the Grand Forks Herald until his retirement from newspapers. This is his 50th season of covering UND hockey.