Pioneers bounce back for equalizer

DENVER 4, NORTH DAKOTA 1

Adam Plant lay against the boards for several minutes before gingerly getting up, slumping over in obvious pain on the weight of the two trainers helping him off the ice.

The tableau of the hurt alternate captain — who suffered an upperbody injury last weekend and on Saturday night found himself on the wrong end of a major penalty for boarding — was all the University of Denver seemed to need to get going as the No. 1 Pioneers erased an early deficit to defeat No. 3 North Dakota 4-1.

Less than a minute after Plant left the ice with a concussion in the first period, the Pioneers, already down 1-0 after North Dakota’s Matt Keirsted netted a power-play goal, responded with a power-play lamplighter of their own via Henrik Borgström’s wrist shot at the 15:45 mark. That made it 1-1 in a packed Magness Arena, where DU fans worked hard to outshout the Fighting Hawks’ vast contingent of green.

Borgstrom’s goal clearly energized the Pioneers (7-3-2), who were also the beneficiaries of outstanding goaltending from senior Tanner Jaillet (24 saves) as well as a flurry of three third-period goals in order to avenge their 5-4 loss the night before, a game in which DU blew a 3-0 lead to North Dakota (8-3-3).

“Going into the third 1-1 — in a game that was physical and slow, and it was a man’s game tonight — it was great to see the response we had by taking over the game,” DU coach Jim Montgomery said.

The Pioneers’ decisive score came 65 seconds into the final period, when junior Troy Terry gained control of the puck and streaked through the North Dakota defense, drawing the attention of Fighting Hawks goalie Peter Thorne.

Junior Colin Staub used the distraction to slip in front of the net, where he put home Terry’s crossing pass with ease to make it 2-1.

Terry then scored midway through the third, and Borgstrom followed with another goal — his team-leading 13th of the season — that was followed by several fierce first-pumps toward the DU student section.

“When our best players want to work, they put on a show like they did in the third period.” Montgomery said of the offensive outburst. “That’s some ‘wow,’ and I had a lot of ‘wows’ behind the bench.”

The National Collegiate Hockey Conference battle between the two previous national champions lived up to the precedent that Friday’s shootout set, as DU and North Dakota engaged in several minor skirmishes throughout the evening and the Fighting Hawks racked up 27 penalty minutes on eight infractions.

The Pioneers kept out of the penalty box after forward Liam Finlay’s goaltender interference infraction that set up North Dakota’s first score.