GameCenter final: UND 7, Denver 5
Dec. 1—DENVER — UND pulled off a stunning rally, coming back from three goals down to beat Denver 7-5 in a showdown between the No. 2 and No. 3 ranked teams in the country. The Fighting Hawks scored the game's final four goals in the third period to improve to 12-2-1.
First star: Jackson Blake, UND, 1 goal, 2 assists.
Second star: Owen McLaughlin, UND, 1 goal, 2 assists.
Third star: Cameron Berg, UND, 2 goals.
UND 1, Denver 0 — Dylan James 2 (Jake Schmaltz, Jake Livanavage) 1:44. UND gets on the board early as Livanavage skates a puck around the outside of the left circle, then leaves a pass for Schmaltz, who rips a one-timer. James, standing on top of the crease, tips it in for his second goal of the season. The goal snaps a shutout streak for Denver goalie Freddie Halyk of 141:47.
UND 1, Denver 1 — Shai Buium 4 (Massimo Rizzo) 2:40. Denver answers in less than a minute. Buium launches a point shot through traffic for his fourth goal of the season.
Denver 2, UND 1 — Carter King 9 (Rieger Lorenz, Shai Buium) 4:34. Shai Buium shoots a puck wide of the net. Rieger Lorenz gets it at the side, throws it into the crease and creates chaos. King pucks up the puck and flips it past UND goalie Ludvig Persson to make it 2-1.
Denver 3, UND 1 — Tristan Broz 5 (Lucas Olvestad, Miko Matikka) 5:15. Denver pours on a third goal in the span of 2:35. Nos. 2 and 3 came off of faceoff wins. This time, Broz tips an Olvestad point shot for his fifth goal of the season. UND challenges the play for a high stick. After a lengthy review, the goal is upheld.
Denver 4, UND 1 — Jack Devine 14 (Massimo Rizzo, Boston Buckberger) 14:05. Hunter Johannes nullifies a UND power play by taking a bad penalty behind the play after a Denver clear. Then, Denver strikes on the four-on-four. The Pioneers win an offensive zone faceoff — the same thing that happened on the previous two goals against — and they go to work. Rizzo makes a brilliant feed from the left circle to the backdoor for Devine, who taps home his NCAA-leading 14th goal of the season.
Denver 4, UND 2 — Owen McLaughlin 4 (Jackson Blake) 10:20. McLaughlin makes a pass from the defensive zone to send Blake on a rush. Outnumbered one-on-three, Blake gets a shot off at the bottom of the right circle, picks up the rebound, circles the net and spots McLaughlin backdoor. He feeds his linemate for a one-timer.
Denver 4, UND 3 — Cameron Berg 5 (Jayden Perron, Jackson Blake) 13:05 (pp). UND pulls within one with a power-play goal. Blake skates the puck low in the left circle, then leaves a pass to Perron in the middle of the dot. Perron fakes a shot and slips a seam pass to Berg, who hammers a one-timer for his ninth point in nine games.
Denver 5, UND 3 — Tristan Broz 6 (Shai Buium, Zeev Buium) 15:57. Just as a power play expires, Denver scores to go ahead by two goals. Buium puts a shot to the crease, where Broz tips it on Persson. The puck is sitting by the side of the crease, but Persson is unable to cover it and Broz pokes it past him.
Denver 5, UND 4 — Jackson Blake 11 (Jake Livanavage, Owen McLaughlin) 6:00. It's now UND's turn to score a goal after an offensive zone faceoff win. McLaughlin wins it. Livanavage gets it to Blake and the UND sophomore skates it into space on the right side and snipes it glove side on Halyk to extend his goal streak to five games.
Denver 5, UND 5 — Louis Jamernik V 3 (Dylan James, Jake Schmaltz) 13:21. UND ties it as James uses his blazing speed to beat Shai Buium to a puck, then centers it to Jamernik. Jamernik makes a terrific play to move the puck to his backhand on top of the crease and deposit the goal.
UND 6, Denver 5 — Riese Gaber 8 (Garrett Pyke, Owen McLaughlin) 16:25 (pp). UND takes the lead, converting a power play. Pyke gets it to Gaber on the right flank and Gaber does his thing, sniping it.
UND 7, Denver 5 — Cameron Berg 6 (Hunter Johannes) 16:52. UND tacks on another one on a rush. Berg flies up the right wing and snipes it.
Forwards
17 Riese Gaber—22 Owen McLaughlin—9 Jackson Blake
28 Hunter Johannes—14 Cameron Berg—18 Jayden Perron
26 Dylan James—8 Jake Schmaltz—27 Louis Jamernik V
29 Jackson Kunz—11 Griffin Ness—21 Ben Strinden
5 Dane Montgomery
Defensemen
4 Jake Livanavage—20 Keaton Pehrson
7 Garrett Pyke—25 Abram Wiebe
6 Logan Britt—2 Bennett Zmolek
Goaltenders
32 Ludvig Persson
20 Hobie Hedquist
Not in lineup, on trip: F Michael Emerson, D Nate Benoit
Not on trip: F Carson Albrecht (lower body), D Tanner Komzak, G Kaleb Johnson
Forwards
6 McKade Webster—13 Massimo Rizzo—4 Jack Devine
14 Rieger Lorenz—15 Carter King—18 Jared Wright
16 Tristan Broz—7 Aidan Thompson—10 Miko Matikka
12 Sam Harris—24 Kieran Cebrian—22 Connor Caponi
Defensemen
2 Sean Behrens—28 Zeev Buium
8 Shai Buium—9 Boston Buckberger
11 Lucas Olvestad—3 Cale Ashcroft
21 Kent Anderson
Goaltenders
1 Freddie Halyk
30 Paxton Geisel
31 Jack Caruso
Not in lineup: G Matt Davis (lower body), D Garrett Brown (lower body), F Peter LaJoy, F Tristan Lemyre, F Alex Weiermair
Referees — Brandon Schmitt and Nathan Wieler
Linesmen — Dana Penkivech and John Grandt
Jake Schmaltz returns to the lineup for UND after a four-game absence due to an upper-body injury. . . Carson Albrecht remains out with a lower-body injury. He did not make the trip. . . Shai Buium returns to the lineup for Denver after missing last Saturday's game due to injury. . . The goalie matchup is Ludvig Persson vs. Freddie Halyk. . . Halyk enters the weekend on a scoreless streak of 140:03. He posted back-to-back shutouts of Yale last weekend. . . Denver remains without goalie Matt Davis, who suffered an injury in late October.
