GRAND FORKS, N.D. Junior Andrew Kozek capped a four-goal comeback with his first career hat trick to lead No. 3 North Dakota past No. 6 Denver, 5-4, tonight before 11,793 fans at Ralph Engelstad Arena.

 

2007 Hobey Baker winner Ryan Duncan added four points as the Fighting Sioux remained unbeaten in their last 10 games, improving to 18-8-2 overall and 15-7-1 in the WCHA. Denver falls to 19-9-1, 13-7-1 with its fifth loss in its last eight games.

 

Anthony Maiani (Shelby Township, Mich.), Jesse Martin (Edmonton, Alberta), Tom May (Eagan, Minn.) and Matt Glasser (Calgary, Alberta) scored for the Pioneers, who held a 4-1 lead until the final minute of the second period. Peter Mannino (Farmington Hills, Mich.) suffered the loss with 21 saves as the Pioneers were outshot 26-18 in the contest. Jean-Philippe Lamoureux got the win with 14 saves.

 

“We worked hard and played very well to get the 4-1 lead,” DU head coach George Gwozdecky said. “However, we made too many crucial mistakes with the puck and paid the price. We’ll learn from this game and play better tomorrow night.”

 

Maiani opened the scoring for DU with a power-play goal off a rebound on a shot by Brian Gifford (Moorhead, Minn.) at 13:29 of the first stanza. The Fighting Sioux quickly tied it when Kozak beat Mannino stick side on the power play at 16:00.

 

Five goals were scored in a wild second period. Consecutive goals by Martin, May and Glasser gave DU the 4-1. However, goals by Chay Genoway and Duncan in the final minute made it 4-3 heading into the final stanza.

 

Kozek scored two goals in the final period, including the game-winner at 15:15, to give North Dakota the comeback win. Kozak added an assist for his first career four-point game. Gifford led DU with two assists.

 

DU went 1-for-2 on the power play, while UND was 1-for-4.

 

The teams play game two of the series tomorrow night at 6:07 p.m. MT.

 

Notes: The Pioneers are sixth in the latest PairWise Rankings and third in the WCHA. DU trails second place North Dakota by four points and first place Colorado College by six points. DU is 2-5-1 in its last eight games. The loss was DU’s first of the season when leading after two periods. The Pioneers have allowed three or more goals in all nine losses. Zach Blom, Matt Glasser, Tyler Ruegsegger, J.P. Testwuide and Andrew Thomas were named WCHA Scholar-Athletes this week for achieving a 3.5 GPA or higher over the last three quarters. Ruegsegger missed his third consecutive game with an abdominal injury.