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TROY, NY -- With 3:02 gone in the overtime period, Denver's Emil Romig (Vienna, Austria) hit a hard shot into the top left corner of the net to give the 20th-ranked Pioneers a 2-1 victory over #18 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in non-conference men's hockey action on Friday evening at Houston Field House. With the loss, RPI falls to 8-6-3, and Denver improves to 9-6-2 overall.

The Engineers got the scoring underway quickly, as Brock Higgs (Kingston, ON/Kingston Voyageurs) scored his 12th goal of the season off an assist from Ryan Haggerty (Stamford, CT/US National Dev. Team) just 2:30 into the game. The Engineers would hold onto the one-goal advantage until 14:41 of the second stanza, as a David Makowski goal knotted the score at 1-1.

Makowski (St. Lous, MO) took assists from Gabe Levin (Marina del Rey, CA) and Matt Marcinew (Calgary, AB) before firing a hard wrist shot past Rensselaer goaltender Scott Diebold (Buffalo, NY/Tri-City Storm). Despite a flurry of shots by both teams in the third period, neither team was able to find the back of the net, and the game went to extra time - the fourth time for the Engineers this season.

Unfortunately for Rensselaer, whose three previous overtime contests this season ended in ties, Romig connected on Denver's second shot of the overtime period for the sudden victory. Zac Larraza (Scottsdale, AZ) and Levin assisted on the tally.

Denver outshot the Engineers, 38-23, in the game, getting a game-high 13 shots in both the first and second periods. Diebold recorded a season-high 36 saves between the pipes for Rensselaer, while Denver's Sam Brittain (Calgary, AB) stopped 22 opposing shots for the Pioneers.

The two teams - which are playing in Troy for the first time since 1982 - will return to action on Saturday at 7pm, concluding the two-game series.