A valiant effort from Colorado College fell just short as fifth-ranked North Dakota edged the Tigers, 2-1, Friday night in game one of the best-of-three National Collegiate Hockey Conference quarterfinal series.
 
Tyler Kleven scored the game-winning goal midway through the second period for the Fighting Hawks, who are one win away from advancing to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff in St. Paul, Minn.
 
"I thought it was a good playoff hockey game," Colorado College head coach Kris Mayotte said. "Everything was contested. We just have to have a little bit better mentality offensively, have more of an attack mode."
 
Following a scoreless first period in which both teams combined for just six total shots on goal (UND 4-2), UND's Jake Sanderson opened the scoring just 2:25 into the second. Sanderson took a centering pass in the high slot from Judd Caulfield, moved to his left and beat CC goalie Matt Vernon on his stick side.
 
Jordan Biro evened things up a little more than a minute later with his sixth goal of the season and first since Nov. 6 against St. Cloud State. Hunter McKown started the play by keeping a UND pass in the North Dakota zone and finding Stanley Cooley along the right boards. Cooley sent a pass to Biro, who was flying down the slot, and he cleanly beat Zach Driscoll at 3:37 of the middle frame.
 
"We had a great effort after their first goal," Mayotte said. "We went after it, pressuring pucks and blocking shots. It was a great response and a heck of a shot from Jordan."
 
Kleven put North Dakota (23-12-1) in front for good by beating Vernon with a blast from the right point at the 12:54 mark of the middle frame.
 
North Dakota attempted 23 shots and held the Tigers to just 16, tying a season-low amount for CC (9-23-3). Vernon finished with 21 saves, while Driscoll had 15.
 
Each team was whistled for just one penalty and neither squad capitalized on the power play.
 
"We had a good balance of emotion and execution and our defense handled their forecheck very well," Mayotte added. "We need to hit repeat on the way we worked and played defense for tomorrow night."
 
The two teams battle in game two of the series on Saturday, March 12, beginning at 5 p.m. (MT).