David Carle’s team is on the board in 2026.

After five straight games without a win since the start of January, No. 9 Denver (13-10-2, 9-5-0 NCHC) bounced back and picked up a 3-2 road victory over No. 5 North Dakota (18-6-0, 10-4-0 NCHC) on Saturday night at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, N.D.

The win earned a series split for the Pioneers, who had suffered four defeats and one tie in their last five games and were coming off a disheartening, 5-0 loss to their rivals on Friday night.

DU opened the scoring with under six minutes to play in the opening period as freshman Kristian Epperson scored his seventh-career goal on an assist from linemate and fellow freshman Clarke Caswell.

After the Fighting Hawks evened the score heading into the second period and took the lead midway through the second frame, standout Pios junior Eric Pohlkamp scored his 14th goal of the season, which already moves him into ninth place all-time for single-season goals by a DU defenseman.

Sophomore James Reeder scored the game-winning goal on the power play with under nine minutes to play.

Freshman goaltender Quentin Miller made a bevy of important stops late to preserve the win, his 12th of the season and first in over a month.

After the weekend split, the Pios remain in second place and five points behind North Dakota in the NCHC standings.

DU returns home for six straight games in the state of Colorado. The Pios host St. Cloud State next weekend at Magness Arena with puck drop set for 7 p.m. in Friday’s series opener. Carle’s team then plays Minnesota Duluth the following weekend before facing rival Colorado College in the first weekend of February.