DENVER – The No. 1 Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs (9-2-1, 3-1-0-0) scored three goals in the third period to force overtime and ultimately defeat the No. 7 Denver Pioneers (6-3-1, 3-3-0-0), 4-3, on Saturday in Magness Arena.
 
Scott Perunovich's goal with 1.8 seconds remaining in the third period completed the Bulldogs' three-goal comeback and setup Cole Koepke's overtime winner 52 seconds into the extra frame.
 
"They made some plays and they made us pay," Richard and Kitzia Goodman Head Coach David Carle said. "Ultimately I think we saw a lot of growth in our team this week from last week. We played toe to toe with arguably two of the best teams in the country if not the two best and it was great to see us have a better effort all around than we did Friday night."
 
Denver had a strong opening period, outshooting Minnesota Duluth 14-9 and taking a 2-0 lead into the first intermission. Griffin Mendel's play three minutes into the game started the scoring as Mendel wrapped the puck around the goal and created a rebound for Cole Guttman to bury from the slot. Three minutes later, Liam Finlay centered the puck off the end boards for Tyler Ward whose attempt was denied before Brett Stapley joined the scrum to pick up his third goal of the season.
 
The Pioneers added to their lead at 7:20 of the second period as Ward and Stapley moved the puck to Les Lancaster whose wrist shot from the right point hit a body in front of the net and redirected past Hunter Shepard to make it 3-0.
 
Minnesota Duluth powered back with three goals in the third period. At 6:56 of the third, Perunovich slid a pass from the blue line to Peter Krieger at the bottom of the left faceoff circle. Krieger took the pass and found Nick Swaney with a cross-crease feed to cut the lead to 3-1. The visitors made it a one-goal game before the midway point of the period as Billy Exell took the puck off the faceoff and fired a shot from the hashmarks over the glove of Devin Cooley. Playing with the extra attacker, Perunovich benefited from a goal-mouth scramble in the waning moments, then Koepke iced the game in overtime with a shot over the left shoulder of Cooley on the odd-man rush.
 
Denver finished 0/3 on the power play and 1/1 on the penalty kill. Cooley made 41 saves.
 
TOGETHER 4 COLORADO TOY DRIVE
The Pioneers have partnered with CBS4 for the Together 4 Colorado Toy Drive to support the Denver community during the holiday season. Beginning Nov. 17, there will be toy drops at every Denver Athletics and Newman Center event thru Dec. 19. Additionally, there will be a Community Shop 'n Drop on Saturday, Dec. 15 from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m., hosted by the Denver Cheerleading squad at the circle drive on the north side of the Ritchie Center.
 
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