GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- At 6-foot-4, 208 pounds, North Dakota junior goalie Peter Thome has the makings of a start of a solid brick wall.
 
He's been playing like that on the ice as well, his superb 27-save goaltending leading to UND's 4-1 National Collegiate Hockey Conference victory over Denver University Friday night in front of 11,212 fans at Ralph Engelstad Arena.
 
The victory moved the nation's No. 1-ranked team to 22-3-3 overall and 13-2-2 in the NCHC, widening its gap over second-place Minnesota-Duluth to five points and dropping No. 5 nationally-ranked Denver (7-6-4 NCHC) to fourth place in the standings.
 
Centers Collin Adams and Shane Pinto, along with defenseman Jacob Bernard-Docker had a goal and an assist each while NCHC scoring leader Jordan Kawaguchi added two assists as UND clinched home ice for the opening round of the NCHC playoffs.
 
UND limited Denver to a power-play goal by freshman Bobby Brink while converting on 2 of its 3 chances with goals from defenseman Bernard-Docker and Westin Michaud. Brink, who leads the NCHC with 6 power-play goals, appeared to suffer a leg injury on a Pioneer power play midway through the second period and didn't return to action.
 
"I thought we were better on special teams and played hard throughout the game, so that's why we won,'' said Pinto, who scored his 14th of the season on a tip of a JBD point shot to open the scoring at 6:21 of the first period.
 
On a nationally-televised game on CBS between two top-five ranked teams, UND rode the goaltending of Thome and stellar defense to wrap up home ice in league playoffs, though with bigger goals in mind.
 
"I don't think it changes too much my approach,'' said Pinto, a leading candidate with Brink for NCHC Rookie of the Year. "It's the same mental approach as any game. Just prepare the same way. I don't think it's too much added pressure.''
 
Even so, he set the tone for the victory with his opening goal as UND moved its record against Denver to 2-0-1 this season and taking 8 of 9 possible points so far in this series heading into Saturday's 7:05 finale.
 
Thome has now allowed just four goals in his last four starts after Adam Scheel held the No. 1 position until Thome came in to win a key 3-2 road game at Duluth on Jan. 25.
 
"Goaltending's a big deal, and he (Thome) came up with a big game tonight,'' UND coach Brad Berry said. "He could have gone one of two ways when he didn't play early on. He could have slumped a little bit, just sat there and did nothing, but he invested in his game. He put a lot of time and preparation into it.''
 
Thome has credited former UND All-American goalie Karl Goehring for keeping his mental approach on the ready during his periods of being the backup on the bench
 
UND was outshot (27-23) by Denver, but used Thome's stellar play and 13 Denver shots blocked (four by Kiersted) to collect the important win.
 
"A lot of respect for what they've done with their program,'' Thome said of Denver. "They're like us, towards the top every year. They're always fun game against them.''
 
UND took the lead at 7:36 of the second period on Kiersted's point shot through a screen that deflected off of Michaud's back to make it 2-1, the first of two power-play goals by UND. It was Michaud's 13th goal of the season.
 
Denver goalie Devin Cooley misplayed a rebound on a Grant Mismash shot, allowing Adams to knock in the loose puck by the crease to make it 3-1 at 16:36 of the second period for the 9th of the year for Adams.
 
Bernard-Docker's fourth goal of the season on a power-play wrister at 11:14 of the final period wrapped up the scoring.
 
Game notes:  UND, despite giving up one power-play goal, has killed 13 of 14 Denver power plays through three games . . . Westin Michaud had 5 shots on goal to lead UND, followed by Pinto with 3. . . UND dominated in faceoffs (43-21), led by Jasper Weatherby (12 of 16), Pinto (14 of 22) and Adams (10 of 15) . . . Named the three stars by the media were Pinto, Thome and Kawaguchi, in that order.
 
Virg Foss is in his 15th season of reporting on UND home games exclusively for FightingHawks.com. He covered UND hockey for 35 seasons for the Grand Forks Herald until his retirement from newspapers. This is his 50th season -- half a century -- of covering UND hockey.