Duluth, Minn. –The No. 7 Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs (4-3-1, 1-0-1-0) used two second-period goals and an insurance goal at 16:26 of the third period to beat the No. 1 Denver Pioneers (8-1-1, 0-1-1-1) 5-2 on Saturday at AMSOIL Arena in Duluth, Minn.
 
"It was a good hockey game," Richard and Kitzia Goodman Head Coach David Carle said. "The encouraging part for us is that we're certainly further along today than we were a year ago at this time, but we have room to grow in our game. We showed that we can play with these guys and carry the play for large moments this weekend, but we have to take this as an opportunity and look in the mirror and learn and grow...a game like this hardens us and we'll be better for it."
 
With four penalties in the first three minutes of the game and seven total penalties in the first period, power plays dictated the pace of play through the early part of the game. The Bulldogs struck on the man advantage at 7:37 of the first and the Pioneers responded at 15:19, scoring in the later part of Tanner Ladeorute's five-minute major and game misconduct penalty for boarding. Brett Stapley extended his point streak to four games with Denver's tying goal, swatting the rebound from Liam Finlay's shot out of midair to make it 1-1 by the first intermission.
 
The Pioneers took their only lead of the night at 2:27 of the second period with Jaakko Heikkinen scoring a net-front rebound from Kohen Olischefski's waffling shot, but Minnesota Duluth would regain control of the game in the second. The Bulldogs built a 3-2 lead on even-strength goals from Koby Bender and Luke Loheit at 7:28 and 11:25 of the period.
 
Denver's push to even the game late in the third period created chances for Minnesota Duluth, culminating with a two-on-one rush at 16:26 as Noah Cates drove the net and snuck a shot past Magnus Chrona to extend the Bulldogs' lead to 4-2. Cole Koepke added an empty-netter with 2:45 left in regulation.
 
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Denver went 1/4 on the power play and 3/4 on the penalty kill…Magnus Chrona made 26 saves…Brett Stapley extended his point streak to four games. He has two goals and four assists in that stretch…

UP NEXT: Denver men's hockey presented by Centura Health returns to Magness Arena for a two-game series against North Dakota on Nov. 15-16.

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-OUR JOURNEY, OUR TIME- 
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