After a trip to Omaha, Neb. last weekend, which included lost equipment and a sweep in their final regular season series, the Pioneer hockey team returns to their home ice this weekend to take on Wisconsin in the first round of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association postseason tournament.
Denver is currently ranked No. 11 in the PairWise rankings after the sweep over Nebraska-Omaha and have secured the No. 3 seed in the WCHA. The team is ranked No. 9 in the USHCO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Polls.
The Pioneers swept the Mavericks this past weekend behind a pair of strong efforts from freshmen Juho Olkinuora and Daniel Doremus. In Friday’s victory, Olkinuora posted his second career shut-out in net, helping the Pioneers to a 3-0 win with a 26 save performance.. Doremus, a forward, shined in Saturday’s contest, scoring the game winner as DU won 3-2 in overtime.
As for the lost luggage, the team did not have half their stuff until late on Friday due to a mishandling by the airlines company; however, the mishap did not affect their performance on the ice.
Junior forwards Shawn Ostrow and co-captain Drew Shore, as well as sophomore forward Jason Zucker, each scored on Friday, while freshman defenseman Scott Mayfield recorded two assists. With their goals on Friday, Shore and Zucker each passed the 20 or more goal mark for the second consecutive season.
“We played as good as we’ve played for an entire 60 minutes in a long, long time,” said head coach George Gwozkdecky about Friday’s win. “We had a good start, scored first and built on the lead.”
On Saturday, sophomore goalie Sam Brittain recorded a career-high 38 saves. Shore and Doremus along with senior Luke Salazar each scored for the Pioneers. Salazar tied the score with 38 seconds left in the game. Doremus scored the game winner 2:35 into the extra period.
“We made a couple final thrusts into their zone and got a call, a penalty, by just driving to the net, and certainly made the most of that opportunity,” said Gwozdecky. “No question, a loss would have hurt us. Even a tie would have been OK, but to be able to get a win was very important.”
DU will face off against the Wisconsin Badgers, No. 10 seed in the WCHA, in a 2-out-of-3 series on Friday, Saturday and, if necessary, Sunday at Magness Arena.
The last time Denver battled Wisconsin Feb. 17-18, the Pioneers split the series, with Brittain earning his second career shut-out in the first game before losing 5-2 in the second game. In the past 14 meetings, the Pioneers have gone 8-5-2 with the Badgers.
In the last meeting, Badgers sophomore forward Mark Zengerle, freshman forward Brandon Woods, redshirt sophomore forward Keegan Meuer, sophomore forward Micheal Mesch and junior defenseman Justin Shultz each recorded goals for the Badgers.
“We remember them from just a few weeks ago in Madison. They played very well against us; they have two really good players, one potential Hobey Baker, and one potential All-American,” said Gwozdecky on Monday. “Justin Shultz is arguably the most talented defenseman in the league. He creates a lot of offense, and he runs their power-play.”
On offense, Wisconsin is led by Zengerle, Mesch and sophomore forward Tyler Barnes, who have recorded 49, 30 and 25 points, respectively. Their defense is led by Shultz and sophomore defenseman Frankie Simonelli.
The Badgers are represented in goal by freshmen Joel Rupel, who has a .914 save percentage with 58 goals allowed in 23 games, and Landon Peterson, who has a .896 save percentage with 35 goals allowed in 13 games played.
“Their power-play is very good. It’s No. 11 in the country, and we’re going to have to be a lot more disciplined than we were in Madison. We cant afford to take any bad penalties, and when we do take one, we are going to have to do a good job with the penalty kill,” said Gwozdecky. “We have to make sure we are not putting ourselves in a position like we did in Madison where we spent all our time killing penalties and couldn’t create any offense.”
If the Pioneers prevail over the Badgers, they will advance to the WCHA Final Five to be played March 15-17 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn.
The Pioneers have been playing without sophomore forward Beau Bennett with a wrist injury, sophomore defenseman David Makowski with an upper body injury and junior forward Chris Knowlton with an upper body injury. Bennett and Makowski will not be playing this weekend and Knowlton is still unknown.
The Pioneers face off on Friday at 7:37 p.m., Saturday at 7:07 p.m. and Sunday at 7:07 p.m.
