DULUTH, MN -- The No. 7 ranked UMD Bulldogs (4-3-1, 1-0-1 NCHC) used four unanswered goals to hand the visiting Denver Pioneers (8-1-1, 0-1-1 NCHC) their first loss of the season Saturday night at Amsoil Arena. With the win the Bulldogs grabbed four of six NCHC standings points on the weekend after tying in the series opener on Friday. 

Head coach Scott Sandelin leaned heavily on his depth after losing sophomore forward Tanner Laderoute early in the game as a result of a checking from behind major and ensuing game misconduct penalty. 

“We needed everybody tonight,” Sandelin said post game. “Everybody contributed and I thought our team played a strong game.”

Early on this season much of the talk surrounding the Bulldogs has been on their effort to start games. On Saturday they were better, getting two good scoring chances in the first minute of play before things began to go haywire for both teams thanks to a slew of penalty calls. 

First it was sophomore forward Jesse Jacques heading to the box for the Bulldogs for a boarding penalty. Then, just over a minute later, Bulldog forward Justin Richards and Denver forwards Cole Guttman and Brett Edwards found themselves in the box for roughing, giving UMD a short power play. 

After the Bulldogs failed to convert, the game settled back into a back and forth rhythm with both teams getting chances to score, but neither doing so. UMD got another crack at the powerplay four minutes later, this time coming on a high sticking penalty by Denver’s Jake Durflinger. 

On the powerplay the Bulldogs struck first blood on sophomore forward Jackson Cates’ fourth goal of the season. Forward Nick Swaney took a one-timer that hit Denver goaltender Magnus Chrona in the chest, bouncing back out into the slot where Cates outraced two Pioneers to slide it past Chrona for the 1-0 lead. 

After Laderoute was assessed a major and tossed from the remainder of the game with more than eight minutes left in the period, Denver found themselves with a golden opportunity to tie the game, or even take the lead. 

The Bulldog penalty kill appeared up the test though as Denver was unable to get setup in the offensive zone for much of the first three minutes of the major. Eventually, with under two minutes remaining in the powerplay, Denver was able to get setup, and quickly tie the game at one a piece. Forward Brett Stapley sent a bouncing puck past Shepard to give Denver their first goal of the game.

After successfully killing off over three and a half minutes of penalty, the goal seemed to take some of the wind out of UMD’s sails. Despite this, the Bulldog’s strong defensive structure kept the game tied heading into the first intermission. 

The Pioneers struck early in the second period on forward Jaakko Heikkinen’s second goal of the season. He was able to snatch a rebound in front of Shepard and send it skittering along the ice through the five-hole to give Denver its first lead of the night at 2-1. 

From there on out, it was the Bulldogs doing the scoring. First, almost exactly five minutes later, junior forward Koby Bender took a pass from Jade Miller on a two-on-one and lasered it past the glove of Chrona to tie the game at 2-2.

Freshman forward Luke Loheit got into the scoring mix next, using a smooth forehand-backhand move to elude a poke check from Chrona, before backhanding the puck home for his first collegiate goal. The score gave the Bulldogs a 3-2 lead with 8:35 left in the second period. 

“Jader (Miller) made a nice play on the forecheck and got it out to me and I just got it to Luke and he did the rest” Bender said of Loheit’s goal. “He was very open in front.”

Denver would hold UMD at bay until late in the third period when sophomore forward Noah Cates put a dagger through the Pioneers’ hearts, scoring his fourth goal of the season on a backhander on yet another two-on-one rush to make the lead 4-2.

Sophomore Cole Koepke added an empty netter less than a minute later to officially seal the deal for the Bulldogs, making the score 5-2 with under three minutes left to play.

Swaney (2A) and Bender (1G 1A) lead the way offensively for the Bulldogs with two points each. In net Hunter Shepard put forth another solid effort, finishing with 29 saves on 31 shots, good for a .935 save percentage. 

Next up for the Bulldogs is a trip to Oxford, OH to battle conference foe Miami Nov. 15 & 16. As always games can be viewed on NCHC.tv and heard on 610 KDAL AM with Bruce Ciskie on the call.