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The defending national champion Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs walked away from a road trip to Magness Arena with three points as they sent the No. 8-ranked Denver Pioneers in a tailspin, coming back to tie DU 3-3 on Friday night and then ending the series with a decisive 4-0 shutout victory on Saturday.
With their second consecutive winless weekend, the Pioneers (3-3-2, 2-2-2 WCHA) fall four spots in the national rankings to No. 12 following a 3-1 start that had DU as high as No. 2 in the national polls.
“There’s no magic to [ending the winless streak],” said head coach George Gwozdecky. “Our competition level and execution level needs to be higher.”
UMD goalie Kenny Reiter deserves credit for a 29-save performance on Saturday, including a pivotal stop on a second period penalty shot from sophomore Jason Zucker following a penalty committed by the Bulldog’s Tim Smith at the 15:30 mark.
The save preserved a 1-0 UMD lead that they would add to later in the period, burying the Pioneers with a barrage of quick goals.
“I take full responsibility for that,” said Zucker about the penalty shot after the game. “He made a save on it. I think I should have scored that; it definitely would have changed the game. They played better than us, though, so they deserve those two points. No excuses on our side.”
While Reiter blanked a talented DU offense that includes Zucker and junior Drew Shore, freshman Juho Olkinuora played well early on in his second career start for the Pioneers, shutting down the Bulldogs’ offense in the first half and recording 21 saves.
“They have experience from winning it all last year; they’ve got a good goalie who kept a great game,” said Zucker. “On our side, [Juho] played well for us. On our team we have two capable goalies we can trust right now.”
Last weekend, Olkinoura led DU to a tie in the second game against Michigan Tech; however, it was the team’s starting goalie, junior Adam Murray, that shined this weekend.
On Friday night, Murray set a new career high with 43 saves to help DU earn an overtime tie and walk away with at least one point from the weekend.
UMD erased a pair of two-goal deficits in that contest, but three assists from Nick Shore were good enough to establish an early lead for DU, challenging the national champions late throughout the contest.
“[Murray] played a great game on Friday,” said Gwozdecky. “He was our shinning player and earned us the tie.”
Reiter was also a top performer Friday, recording 30 saves and shutting out the Pioneers in the third period and in overtime.
The difference in the contest was an abysmal 0-5 power play performance from the DU power play unit, allowing the defending champs to convert on two of six attempts in the power play.
“We’re going to make changes [to the power play],” said Gwozdecky.
The Pioneers endured their first scoreless performance of the season on Saturday, which draws an offensive concern as the team has only scored seven times in four outings since exploding 10-2 against Minnesota State Oct. 22.
Although offense is a problem, the Pioneers’ defense has performed sub-par of expectations, according to Gwozdecky. DU has allowed at least two or more goals in all eight of their contests, including 16 total goals in the previous four games.
While the bad stretch has the Pioneers descending quickly in the national polls, the team is not too concerned with a five-game home stretch, which features a pair of conference foes in archrival No. 3 Colorado College and No. 5 Western Collegiate Hockey Association opponent Nebraska Omaha.
In addition, the Pioneers will host Princeton and Miami (Ohio) on Friday, Nov. 25 and Saturday, Nov. 26, respectively.
“We still have a great team, and I am not giving up on this team,” said Zucker. “We have a lot of time to get better and keep improving.”
The Pioneers host Colorado College at Magness Arena this Saturday. The puck drops at 7:07 p.m.
