After losing the Gold Pan to the Tigers last season, the then-No. 8/9 Denver team sealed the win to bring it back to Denver in Friday’s 1-1 tie. The tie gave the Pioneers five points, officially claiming the title. The series continued Saturday, as the team traveled to Colorado Springs to fall to Colorado College 6-5 in overtime, despite a third-period rally.
The weekend’s performance drops the Pioneers to 15-9-5 overall and 10-7-5 in conference play, as well as No. 11 in the USCHO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Polls, as Colorado College improves to 11-4-5 overall and 8-10-6 in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association and remains unranked.
Denver sits at No. 12 in the Pairwise Rankings, keeping them within the playoff-mandated top 16. The Pairwise Rankings determine which 16 teams will compete in the NCAA playoffs at the close of the regular season and conference tournaments.
In goal for the Pioneers on Friday was sophomore goaltender Juho Olkinuora, who recorded 35 saves in the 1-1 deadlock. On the opposite end, senior goaltender Joe Howe stopped 33 Pioneer attempts to hold Denver to one goal.
“I think the opportunity we had tonight to do a little bit better probably was there,” said head coach George Gwozdecky.
“But, with both teams creating all types of chances, taking advantage of miscues by the opponent, I thought the goaltenders were outstanding. We have to be better on our shot selection; we did not create enough second chance opportunities, and part of that is how their goaltender played.”
Sophomore Larkin Jacobson scored the lone goal for the Pioneers on Friday after jumping out of the penalty box to beat Howe on a wrister from just inside the circle with under three minutes remaining in the first period.
“I just wanted to get out of the box, and we were stuck in our own zone,” said Jacobson. “It was just perfect timing; right when I got out of the box it chipped off the glass there. We always stretch with the puck in practice, and I just thought I would put on that and hope for a rebound and it just worked out.”
Freshman defenseman Nolan Zajac scored what appeared to be his sixth goal of the season at the start of the third period, but the goal was called back on goalie interference.
“You are never quite sure what is going to be the key moment of the game,” said Gwozdecky. “We scored the power-play goal and then the interference, it was the right call, but at that point of the game, you hope that it’s not going to be a major factor.”
Olkinuora kept the Pioneers in the game in the third, making several key saves, including a sprawling stop on a CC breakaway opportunity by junior defenseman Eamonn McDermott.
Saturday’s Action
The Pioneers travelled to Colorado Springs Saturday to play in the World Arena as they completed the series with the 6-5 loss after a late three-goal rally in the third period.
Despite the effort from the Pioneers, CC’s freshman forward Hunter Fejes scored his second goal of the game, the game winner, with just 10.5 seconds remaining in the overtime period.
Olkinuora represented the Pioneers in goal again on Saturday, registering 32 saves in the overtime loss. Howe defended the CC goal again as well, stopping 31 Denver shots for the win.
After leading the Tigers 2-1, the Pioneers allowed four goals in the second period, trailing 5-2 before their third-period flurry where they netted three goals in a 3:18 span in the final six minutes in regulation, forcing the game into overtime.
Junior forward Nick Shore opened the scoring Saturday, giving Denver an early 1-0 advantage just 4:54 into the game, assisted by Zajac and freshman forward Gabe Levin. The goal marked Shore’s 11th of the season.
Capitalizing on a power-play opportunity four minutes later was sophomore forward Ty Loney, who stretched the Pioneer lead to 2-0 on a redirection of sophomore defenseman Joey LaLeggia’s shot attempt. Loney’s goal marked his first since Jan. 4 against Cornell and his seventh on the season.
The Tigers went on to a five-goal run before the Pioneers were able to answer, beginning at the 3:32 mark of the second stanza on a wrister by junior forward Archie Skalbeck when he beat Olkinuora to cut Denver’s lead to 2-1.
Just over six minutes later, CC struck again as Fejes picked up his first goal of the game on a one-timer from teammate senior forward William Rapuzzi’s perfect centering pass to knot the score at 2-2.
With 6:17 remaining in the middle stanza, senior defenseman Joe Marciano gave the Tigers their first lead of the game with a slapshot from just inside the blueline to beat Olkinuora on his glove side.
Continuing the defensive scoring trend, senior defenseman Mike Boivin scored CC’s final goal of the period with 4:22 remaining on a blast from the slot on Olkinuora’s glove side again, stretching their lead to 4-2.
In the span of just five seconds, the teams exchanged goals when CC’s junior forward Alexander Krushelnyski netted his 10th goal of the season after racing up the left side and firing a wrister at Olkinuora, increasing the Tiger’s lead to 5-2 before being answered by Denver.
Immediately following Krushelnyski’s goal, Jacobson found the net for the second time in as many nights with six minutes remaining in the game to spark the Pioneer rally.
Utilizing the momentum from Jacobson’s goal, LaLeggia and sophomore forward Zac Larraza capped off the comeback with a goal each to knot the contest at 5-5 at the end of regulation.
LaLeggia notched his 10th goal of the season with 4:53 remaining before Larraza registered his seventh of the season with 2:42 left in regulation.
Saturday’s loss marked the 287th meeting between the programs and the final game in this season’s Gold Pan Series. In the last eight games, six have been decided by one goal or ended in a tie.
The loss also puts Denver at 0-2-5 in overtime games this season. The Pioneers now sit in a three-way tie for fifth place in the WCHA at 25 points with Minnesota State and Wisconsin. Denver trails St. Cloud State with 31 points, North Dakota with 28 and Minnesota and Nebraska Omaha with 26 each.
The Pioneers have a 12-day layoff before they host North Dakota on Feb. 22 for the first of a two-game series in Magness Arena.
