The Pioneers are slotted to play in the Midwest Regional in Green Bay, Wisc. and will face off against No. 2 seed Ferris State on Friday.

The quick turnaround will prove to be a challenge for a team that has played six times in a span of nine days, but head coach George Gwozdecky believes his team will take advantage of the much-needed break.

“I think we’re really looking forward to a little rest, and I don’t know if it’s because of fatigue, but we need some days off,” said Gwozdecky after Saturday’s loss. “Whatever region we are in, that’s great, but our guys are excited about the fact to be back in the national tournament. There’s an outside chance that we might have some bodies back from the long time rehabs that we’ve been having like [Beau] Bennett, and perhaps [David] Makowski.”

Denver earned their way to the title game by topping Michigan Tech in the first round with a 3-2 overtime win on Thursday and then skating past Minnesota-Duluth in the semifinals with a 4-3 double-overtime win on Friday.  

Junior forward Jason Zucker was honored to the WCHA All-Tournament team after Saturday night’s game, and was the only non-North Dakota athlete on the team.

Denver finished the final game of the series with only three skating defensemen – freshmen Joey LaLeggia and Scott Mayfield and redshirt senior John Ryder – after junior Paul Phillips left in the first game with a lower body injury, freshman Josiah Didier left the final game with a lower body injury and senior John Lee left late in the final game with a game-misconduct penalty.

“We could have used some volunteers in the third period [on the blue line], but believe me, even if we were healthy tonight, North Dakota was the better team tonight,” said Gwozdecky. “Believe me, that’s not an excuse for the outcome of the game. They’re a darn good champion, as hard as that is for me to say.”

In addition to playing six games in nine days, the Pioneers had to play five overtime periods throughout the WCHA playoffs, sustaining numerous injuries to players like Phillips, Zucker and junior forward Chris Knowlton.  

Without some of its top offensive talent, Denver was unable to find the net on Saturday.

Scoring for the Fighting Sioux were Brock Nelson and Michael Parks with power-play goals and Carter Rowney and Mark MacMillan with a goal and an assist each. The Sioux became the first team to win their third consecutive Broadmoor Trophy awarded to the winner of the tournament.

Road to the title game

Despite Saturday’s results, the Pioneers enter the NCAA tournament playing some of their best hockey of the season, enduring a tough stretch in the WCHA tournament, which included a record-setting semifinal contest on Friday night.

On Thursday, DU entered the contest playing in overtime periods in four of the past six games. The Pioneers prevailed over Michigan Tech in a 3-2 overtime win with goals from freshman forward Ty Loney, senior forward Luke Salazar and the game-winner from Zucker.

“We’d like to change the game plan and win a game in the third period,” said Gwozdecky after Thursdays game on their recent overtime streak. “It certainly was indicative of how our season has been this year; it has not been as fluid and consistent as perhaps we thought it would be back in September. But through the challenges we have been able to play a little bit more consistently and find some success.”

However, Gwozdecky’s wishes did not come true as Denver topped Minnesota-Duluth 4-3 in double overtime in the longest game in WCHA Final Five history Friday night.

Denver began the game with a 3-0 lead over UMD before the Bulldogs rallied and scored three straight goals to tie the game. Denver had goals in regulation from junior forward Shawn Ostrow, Zucker and redshirt senior forward and co-captain Dustin Jackson. Freshman forward Zac Larraza, who was suited as the team’s 13th forward because of Phillip’s injury, scored his first collegiate goal and the game-winner on a back-hander off a rebound from Ryder in double-overtime to take Denver to the championship game.

Sophomore goalie Sam Brittain stopped an astounding 67 shots for Denver in the win, setting a new school record that was previously held at 59 by Pat Tierney in 1983 in a game against North Dakota.

“You don’t really have to be very smart when you’re choosing one of these guys,” said Gwozdecky on his goalie selection after Friday’s game. “When you look at [freshman Juho] Olkinuora’s numbers and Brittain’s numbers and even [junior Adam] Murray’s numbers, it’s going to be a tough decision for us. My thinking right now is that it would be difficult for us to come back with Sam tomorrow night, just based upon the work load he had tonight. It’s not out of the realm of possibility, but certainly we’re going to be looking at either Murray or Olkinuora for tomorrow night’s game. It’s not a difficult decision when you’ve got three quality goaltenders like we have.”

Gwozdecky chose to start Olkinuora in Saturday’s game, but after he gave up four goals, Gwozdecky put in Murray to finish the last half of the final stanza.

Preview: Ferris State

With the WCHA tournament in the rear view, the Pioneers can focus on the NCAA tournament and the Ferris State Bulldogs.

DU has not faced Ferris State in the past five years. The Bulldogs are led by senior forward Jordie Johnston, who has recorded 32 points on 17 goals and 15 assists this season. In addition to Johnston, junior forwards Kyle Bonis and Matthew Kirzinger lead the FSU offensive attack.

The Bulldogs defense is led by senior defenseman Chad Billins, who has 29 points on 7 goals and 22 assists, and freshman defenseman Jason Binkley.

The Bulldogs are represented in goal by senior goaltender Taylor Nelson, who enters the national postseason with a save percentage of .926 with 49 goals allowed in 24 games for a goal-allowed average of 2.03.