In its home-opening weekend, the then-No. 7/8 Pioneer hockey team dominated No. 9/10 UMass Lowell 5-1 on Friday night in front of more than 5,000 fans in Magness Arena, setting the tone for another dominating performance against Air Force Academy on Saturday, which Denver won 5-2.
“We played pretty well in our first game,” said head coach George Gwozdecky on Friday. “Sam Brittain was great in net.”
After the weekend, the Pioneers advanced to No. 5 in the national rankings.
Fighting off an aggressive River Hawk offense that put 38 shots on goal, junior goaltender Sam Brittain recorded an impressive 37 saves for Denver. Despite the Pioneers putting fewer shots on goal with 33, Denver was able to send five past Lowell goaltender Connor Hellebuyck.
The River Hawks were unable to match Denver’s fast-paced offense, as the Pioneers scored their goals in twos and threes. Halfway through the second period, sophomore forwards Ty Loney and Daniel Doremus scored back-to-back goals just over a minute apart.
At the 8:35 mark of the third period, freshman defenseman Nolan Zajac scored his first goal as a Pioneer on the power play, opening the lane for two more goals from junior defenseman David Makowski, also on the power play, and Doremus, whose two goals marked a career high.
After allowing three goals in less than two minutes, Hellebuyck was replaced by River Hawk goaltender Doug Carr for the final 10 minutes.
“Our power play was the key to blowing this game open,” said Gwozdecky, whose team capitalized on two of three power plays.
Junior forward Josh Holmstrom recorded UMass Lowell’s lone goal at the 15:12 mark of the second period.
Battling the Falcons
The Pioneers returned to the ice on Saturday to take on Air Force Academy, who posted a 6-2 loss to Colorado College on Friday night and suffered a similar fate in Magness Arena.
“I’m really pleased with the game tonight, with the win, with the opening series sweep,” said Gwozdecky. “I thought some of the things we did tonight we improved upon from last night.”
Junior center Nick Shore dominated the Pioneer offense against the Falcons, recording three goals and an assist. Shore’s hat trick, the first of his career, marked the first hat trick by a Denver hockey player since former Pioneer Jason Zucker’s on Dec. 3, 2010, against Minnesota Duluth.
Shore opened the scoring at the 17:42 mark of the first period on the power play and then boosted Denver to a 2-0 lead with eight minutes remaining in the second.
Air Force’s Casey Kleisinger brought the score to 2-1 just under three minutes into the third period. Shore’s third goal came less than a minute later, however, reestablishing Denver’s two-goal lead at 3-1 off assists from defensemen freshman Dakota Mermis and sophomore Scott Mayfield.
“He’s got a really good shot, an accurate shot,” said Gwozdecky of Shore. “He had a great night and led us to the win. It’s his line that’s our top line; they are the one that generates not only a lot of the offensive chances, but generates our emotional momentum.”
Sophomore defenseman Joey LaLeggia scored on the power play at the 7:42 mark of the final period, but was answered 40 seconds later by a goal from Falcon Chad Demers, bringing the score to 4-2 Denver. Sophomore forward Zac Larazza sealed the deal for Denver with an empty-net goal 15 seconds before the end of the contest.
Defending the Pioneer goal was senior Adam Murray, who recorded 22 saves.
With impressive performances from both Murray (97 percent save average) and Brittain (92 percent save average) this weekend, and with sophomore goaltender Juho Olkinuora still waiting for his turn to display his talents, the goaltender position in Denver is yet to be decided.
“It’s going to be a battle,” said Gwozdecky. “All three are going to get a couple games to show what they can do. We’ll know at some point in the next month what our goaltending situation will be like.”
The Pioneer offense again dominated the game, nearly doubling the Falcons’ shots on goal with 42 to 24. Denver also controlled the faceoffs in Saturday’s game, winning 32 of 50 for 64 percent and improving greatly over Friday’s performance of 25 of 63 (39.7 percent).
“We have a certain set of objectives we try to hit every game, and one of those is to get at least 60 percent [of faceoffs],” said Gwozdecky. “When you can win a faceoff, you gain automatic possession. It takes away any energy the other team has.”
The Pioneers return to action for homecoming weekend, when they host Michigan Tech (2-2-0, 1-1-0 WCHA) for their WCHA opener on Friday at 7:37 p.m. and on Saturday at 7:07 p.m. in Magness Arena.
