For the Pioneers, this weekend, it was too little, too late.
Out shooting Colorado College 88-51 in both weekend games, Denver was only able to net a total of four goals past the Tiger’s No. 5 goaltender Richard Bachman.
The No. 6 Pioneers tied No. 1 Colorado College on Friday’s Halloween game 2-2 in Magness Arena in front of a full student section, before losing 3-2 in Colorado Springs on Sunday.
“I don’t get distracted much when I’m down on the bench, but tonight, for the first time in, I can’t remember how long, our student section was phenomenal,” head coach George Gwozdecky said. “Our pep band was tremendous and especially when you got back into the game, you could really see them giving us more energy, especially into that third period.”
DU battled hard on Friday game, pushing the game into overtime after the Tigers gained a 2-0 lead. CC’s Brian Connelly put the Tigers on the board early in the first period. Addison DeBoer, of Colorado College, made it 2-0 early in the second period.
Just three minutes later, junior Rhett Rakhshani dropped their lead to one off a pass from sophomore Tyler Bozak and freshman Patrick Wiercioch.
Coming back into the game after the second intermission, freshman Luke Salazar scored his fourth goal of the season, just 28 seconds in. Bachman misplayed the puck behind the net, allowing Bozak to skate in and send it off to Salazar to tie the game.
Following this goal, neither team was able to capitalize on numerous opportunities, forcing the game into overtime.
Sunday’s rematch was very similar in many respects.
CC jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first period despite being out shot 23-10. Denver was once again able to cut the lead to one seven minutes into the second period as Bozak netted a shot from senior Patrick Mullen, who leads the nation No. 2 in assists.
The Tigers took a two-goal lead again on a 3-on-1 advantage at 13:53 into the second stanza.
Junior Tyler Ruegsegger was able to make it 3-2 with only four minutes remaining of play from passes off Wiercioch and Mullen.
With 75 seconds left in the game Denver pulled sophomore goaltender Marc Cheverie in an effort to even the score.
The Pioneers had valiant effot in the final moments, but could not get the puck past Bachman.
“The way we started the game was not good, and we’re down 2-0 right away,” Ruegsegger said. “You can’t do that. They’re a good team, they worked very hard they’ll take advantage of your mistakes.
“It was too little too late. It’s easy to work hard when you’re down two goals in the third period, but we’ve got to play like that from the beginning of the game if we want a chance to win.”
In both games DU fell behind 2-0, but was able to dig themselves out of the hole, playing full speed.
“It’s frustrating at times when you go down a couple goals,” Rakhshani said. “We need to play 60 minutes. We want to focus on every single shift and have consistency throughout the game”
But it’s only November.
“Both teams have a lot of hockey left to play after this weekend,” Gwozdecky said. “Both teams are going to continue to improve, both teams are going to be the top teams in the league and in the country when it all comes down to the end of it.
The Pioneers will battle the Tigers again this season on Friday, Feb. 13 in Colorado Springs and again on Saturday, March 7 in Magness Arena. DU must win both games in order to gain possession of the Gold Pan Trophy.
This weekend Denver will play No. 20 Minnesota-Duluth. The puck drops at 7:37 p.m. on Friday and 7:07 p.m. on Saturday.
