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University of Denver Athletics

Men's Ice Hockey

Pioneers Fall to No. 8 North Dakota, 5-2

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DENVER- The University of Denver hockey team was faced with the difficult task of defeating the defending NCAA champions in No. 8 North Dakota, and the Fighting Sioux lived up to its billing as one of the top teams in the country as it defeated Denver 5-2 Friday night at Magness Arena. With the loss, Denver drops to 1-4-1, 1-2 in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. North Dakota improves to 4-2-3, 3-2.

North Dakota got on the board quickly in the first period, as Ryan Bayda scored his fifth goal of the season less than two minutes into the game to give the Fighting Sioux a 1-0 lead. After a penalty on David Hale and matching minors on Travis Roche and Kelly Popadynetz (Calgary, Alberta), the Pioneers tied the game with a power play goal by junior David Neale (Victoria, B.C.), his second goal of the season just 11 seconds into the matching penalties.

The second period saw Bayda again give the Fighting Sioux the lead, this time off a pass from Jeff Panzer to make the score 2-1 in favor of North Dakota. After another set of matching minors and a holding penalty on freshman Greg Keith (Delta, B.C.) gave North Dakota a 4-on-3 power play opportunity at the 17:05 mark, Bryan Lundbohm gave the Fighting Sioux a lead it would never relinquish as he found the back of the Pioneer net for his eighth goal of the season, giving North Dakota a 3-1 lead.

The Pioneers would hang in however, as sophomore Matt Weber (Binghamton, N.Y.) got the crowd back in the game when he scored his first collegiate goal at the 3:24 mark of the third period to cut UND's lead to 3-2. But that would be as close as the Pioneers would get, as North Dakota added another goal just over four minutes later and put home an empty net goal at 18:10 to account for the 5-2 final.

"North Dakota gave us some opportunities in the third period like the 5-on-3 and we did nothing with it," head coach George Gwozdecky said. "It's disappointing because we have the talent to make those plays. Its very unpleasant, but we have another opportunity tomorrow night."

North Dakota outshot the Pioneers by a 22-19 margin and converted 1-of-4 power play chances. Denver was just 1-of-7 with the man advantage and converted just one of eight shots on the power play.

"We shot very poorly," Gwozdecky said. "We had great opportunities that we passed on or that were shot right at the goaltender. That makes his job very easy. We didn't do a good job of shot selection tonight."

The Pioneers are back in action tomorrow night when it closes out the series with North Dakota at 7:05 p.m. at Magness Arena.

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