Slava Demin scored 8:04 into the first period and that was enough offense for the University of Denver as goaltender Devin Cooley put the clamps on the University of Minnesota Duluth in a 1-0 victory Saturday night at AMSOIL Arena.

Demin's fourth goal of the season came off a wrist shot from the left point that snuck through traffic and past UMD junior goaltender Hunter Shepard. Cooley, who shut out the Bulldogs earlier this year (2-0 on Nov. 16 in Denver), finished with 27 saves, including 13 in the final period when the No. 7 Pioneers were outshot 13-2. Shepard made 15 stops for No. 4 UMD, which took down Denver 5-2 in Friday's National Collegiate Hockey Conference series opener.

Bulldog senior center Peter Krieger led both team with four shots while sophomore defenseman Scott Perunovich, rookie left winger Cole Koepke and sophomore right winger Nick Swaney had three each.

"We came out in the first ten minutes and had a good start to the game," said UMD head coach Scott Sandelin.  "They got kind of an unlucky goal and after that we got away from what we were doing early in the game. We were playing with a little more desperation in the third period, but they're a good team and they probably came in here tonight thinking that  you're not beating us twice."

UMD (18-8-2 overall and 11-6-1-0 in the NCHC) will be in Grand Forks, N.D., next Friday and Saturday night to face the University of North Dakota.