The Pioneers suffered a third period let down in their tie with North Dakota on Friday night, but returned Saturday to score a last second goal. Senior defenseman Aaron MacKenzie scored with two seconds remaining to give the fourteenth ranked Denver Pioneers a 2-1 win over the Number five Fighting Sioux on at Magness Arena in WCHA play. The dramatic victory moves Denver into a sixth-place tie with St. Cloud State in the WCHA, while North Dakota falls to fourth place in the league.
The previous night North Dakota scored two goals in the third period to force overtime and then held the Pioneers scoreless to give the Pioneers their fifth tie of the season. The win snaps a three-game winless streak for the Pioneers and improves their record to 18-9-5 overall and 9-8-5 in the WCHA. Following the series North Dakota now has a 22-6-4 overall record and 12-6-4 in the WCHA. Kevin Spiewak scored two third-period goals to help North Dakota tie Denver, 3-3 in front of 5,312 fans at Magness Arena. “North Dakota pursued the puck harder, faster than we did in the end,” Denver head coach George Gwozdecky said.
Denver dominated play for the first 47 minutes of action Friday and held a 3-1 lead until Spiewak scored the first of his two third-period goals at 7:31. Spiewak broke free and was able to unload a backhanded shot, which beat Denver junior goaltender Adam Berkhoel, Spiewak then delivered a huge goal for North Dakota at 18:01 to tie the game at 3-3. Spiewak whacked at a loose puck off a face-off won by teammate David Lundbohm, and found the net for his 13th goal of the season. Lundbohm finished with one goal and two assists and North Dakota goaltender Jake Brandt survived a shaky game in goal for North Dakota. On the Denver side Kevin Doell scored two power-play goals to lead Denver. Senior Aaron MacKenzie and junior Connor James each had two assists for the Pioneers. Adam Berkhoel, who now has a 10-4-3 record, turned in a solid performance in net for Denver with 28 saves.
The following night MacKenzie recorded his third point of the weekend on the winning goal, which was scored with a slap shot from the blue line, and beat goaltender Marc Ranfranz on the glove side. Sophomore Kevin Ulanski and sophomore Jon Foster assisted. Ulanski also assisted on the first goal and had several hard-hitting body checks in the game.
“Finally, we got something good to happen to this team,” Pioneers coach George Gwozdecky said. “We got a good break, which only complements Wade Dubielwicz’s play. He maintained an aggressive posture throughout the game and you could see North Dakota was running out of gas.”
Dubielewicz made several key stops within the last two minutes of regulation to keep the game tied 1-1 and was brilliant throughout the game in keeping the aggressive North Dakota attack at bay. Dubielewicz finished with 32 saves and is currently the Pioneers all-time leader in goals against average and save percentage.
Junior Connor James pushed his point-scoring streak to seven games with a power-play goal midway through the first period, giving the Pioneers a 1-0 lead. James scored with a rising shot from the face-off circle after taking a pass from Ulanski. Also assisting was Pioneers leading scorer senior Kevin Doell, who scored two goals in Friday’s 3-3 tie with North Dakota.
After the Fighting Sioux tied the game 1-1 with a power-play goal from David Lundbohm just over three minutes into the second period, Dubielewicz came back with two big saves minutes later while the Pioneers were on the power play. The Pioneers host WCHA opponent Michigan Tech on Feb. 21 and 22 at Magness Arenas.
