MANKATO, Minn. - The No. 3 University of Denver men's hockey team held off a late surge by the Minnesota State Mavericks to steal a 4-3 win in its first road game of the season on Friday night from the Verizon Wireless Center in front of 3,184 fans.

The win improves the Pioneers to 6-1-0 overall, 4-1-0 in the WCHA. The loss drops Minnesota State to 3-4-1 on the season, 1-4-0 in league play.

"We've had some great, great wins here; some big wins," said head coach George Gwozdecky. "We've also had some tremendously heartbreaking losses as well. Whenever these two teams get together, no matter what year it is, it's always going to be an interesting game. It's always going to be topsy-turvy, swings of emotion, and tonight certainly was."

Freshman Nolan Zajac (Winnipeg, Manitoba), sophomore Joey LaLeggia (Burnaby, British Columbia), senior Shawn Ostrow (Calgary, Alberta) and sophomore Daniel Doremus (Aspen, Colo.) all scored for the Pioneers.

Junior goalie Sam Brittain (Calgary, Alberta) made 33 saves on the night, including a game-saving kick-save with six seconds left off a face-off shot from Eriah Hayes that would have tied that game.

"I thought we started out reckless on the power-play, and Sam Brittain made some great saves to 'save our bacon,' so to speak," Gwozdecky said.

Denver opened the scoring 10 minutes into the first period as Zajac shot a backhander high to the glove side on a beautiful feed from sophomore Matt Tabrum (Colorado Springs, Colo.). Freshman Quentin Shore (Denver, Colo.) started the play by bringing it up into the zone and getting it to Taburm.

The Pioneers took a 2-0 lead off a goal by Laleggia just 1:23 into the second period as he got the puck in his own zone and skated through multiple Maverick defenders, firing a wrist shot from between the circles for his fourth goal of the season. Sophomore Zac Larraza (Scottsdale, Ariz.) got the assist as Laleggia skated over 150 feet for the goal.

Just 2:05 later, senior Paul Phillips (Darien, Ill.) wound up, firing a slap shot from just inside the near point, allowing Ostrow, who was driving the net, to get his stick and redirect it from the bottom of the circle to make it a 3-0 Pioneer lead.

The Mavericks answered with goals in at 15:43 and 17:16 as Jean-Paul Lafontaine and Hayes both scored. Denver held off a barrage of MSU attacks to close out the second period 3-2.

For the Pioneers' final goal, Zajac carried the puck into the zone on a four-on-three, feeding Ostrow behind the net. Ostrow threw it up to Doremus who was alone above the near hash mark. He then snapped a wrister that beat goaltender Stephon Williams just below the cross bar and the far post.

MSU's Lafontaine scored at the 18:09 mark to cut into the Pioneers' lead, but crucial saves in the final two minutes by Brittain sealed the win for Denver.

Denver held the advantage 9-6 in shots in the first period, but then trailed 17-10 in the second period and then 13-1 in the third. Brittain came away with his third win of the season while Williamson is now 0-2-1. Williamson was subbed in for starter Phil Cook early in the second period.

Action continues tomorrow night at 6 p.m. MT from Verizon Wireless Center.

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