The then-No. 9 Pioneers bested and then tied No. 13 Nebraska-Omaha in their Friday and Saturday series, skating to a 7-4 win Friday before settling for a 3-3 tie in overtime Saturday night, good enough to jump the team up in the polls to No. 7.

The Pioneers (13-6-4, 8-4-4 WCHA) pulled off a conference upset Friday night, upending the top-ranked Mavericks in the WCHA and marking the team’s fourth straight win, the first time since the 2007-2008 season the Pioneers have found four straight victories against ranked opponents. The win also represents the first time the team has defeated four straight teams ranked in the top-13 nationally since the 2003-2004 season, when they won the final four games on the way to winning the NCAA title.

Sophomore goaltender Juho Olkinuora recorded 38 saves in Friday’s win before turning away a career-best 43 shots on Saturday in the draw.

Five Pioneers contributed goals Friday night for the team’s fourth straight win, with sophomore forward Zac Larraza scoring a career best two goals in the win. Also scoring for the team were junior defenseman David Makowski, sophomore forward Matt Tabrum, freshman forward Quentin Shore and senior forward Shawn Ostrow.

“I’m proud that our team found a way to win,” said head coach George Gwozdecky. “They responded when things were looking their bleakest. We beat a team that was extremely hot. They were first place in our league and can really score. As bizarre and strange as that game was from my standpoint and the way we played, the most important thing was we got a very important two points.”

Makowski opened the scoring for Denver with a power play goal just 2:29 into the first period after junior Nick Shore sent a pass through the front edge of the crease to allow Makowski to add his sixth goal of the season on a one timer.
While the Pioneers were on the penalty kill around the eight minute mark of the first period, sophomore defenseman Scott Mayfield forced a turnover and found Tabrum, who scored to stretch the lead to 2-0.

Olkinuora turned away 21 shots in the first period to allow the Pioneers to keep the score advantage, despite being outshot 21-6 in the opening frame.

“I thought we made things very difficult on ourselves,” said Gwozdecky. “We turned the puck over more times tonight than I can ever recall. Against a great offensive team like UNO, there’s a reason they outshot us 2-1. That first period, we were a turnover machine. You can’t play defense when you’re attacking and you turn over the puck and all the sudden they are attacking you; that’s called scrambling.”

UNO made it onto the board at 3:57 in the second period when sophomore forward Josh Archibald beat Olkinuora to cut the Denver lead to 2-1.

Quentin Shore answered just 14 seconds later to push the Pioneer lead back to a two-goal advantage, picking up his seventh goal so far this season. This goal marked his fourth goal in as many games after scoring three goals in the first 18 contests. Assists were credited to sophomore forward Larkin Jacobson and Mayfield, his second of the game.
The Mavericks scored again at 17:39 as junior defenseman Andrej Sustr capitalized on a Pioneer penalty for a power play goal.

Before the period ended, Ostrow was able to find the net assisted by Larraza and sophomore forward Daniel Doremus to put Denver back ahead by a two-goal margin with the Pioneers heading into the locker room leading the Mavericks 4-2 after the second frame.

The third period started with a pair of UNO goals to level the score. Senior forward Brent Gwidt scored a shorthanded goal just 25 seconds into the third period, and junior forward Ryan Walters knotted the score at 4-4 at 12:19.

Larraza answered with his own pair of goals less than two minutes apart to regain the Pioneers’ two-goal lead with under seven minutes remaining. Sophomore defenseman Joey LaLeggia and Tabrum each added assists on Larraza’s second goal.

“They were giving me room all game, so finally I just took one up and had a breakaway and buried a chance,” said Larraza. “It was nice to put the seal on the game, whatever helps the team.”

Tabrum added an empty net goal with three seconds remaining in the contest to make the final score 7-4.

Saturday’s action

After Saturday’s back-and-forth game, the Pioneers had to settle for a 3-3 tie to close the weekend series. The tie extends Denver’s unbeaten streak to five games and also marks the fifth overtime game of the season.
“Certainly, I thought we controlled the puck a lot better tonight than we did last night,” said Gwozdecky. “In many ways, we played much better than we did last night. Now, we served up three pizzas, and anybody’s going to take advantage of those things, especially good scoring teams like UNO. That’s a team that you can’t afford to give scoring chances to, especially the kind we gave up. But other than those three, I thought we were pretty good. In many ways, I like the way we played.”

Three different Pioneers scored goals in the tie, including Larraza for his third of the weekend, Ostrow for his second and senior captain and defenseman Paul Phillips.

Larraza continued his scoring play from Friday night and netted the first goal of the evening Saturday in the opening two minutes of play, assisted by Doremus and Mayfield.

“Being able to put a puck in the net, a big goal like [Zac] did last night, score the insurance marker and be considered the guy who broke the game wide open, you can see in tonight’s game he was so confident,” said Gwozdecky.
“He scored another goal and had another nice assist. Almost every single time he was on the ice he was making things happen, and a big part of that is confidence.”

UNO’s junior forward Matt White answered in the last minute of the opening frame to send the teams to the locker room at a 1-1 deadlock.

Ostrow regained the lead for Denver at 2:44 in the second stanza assisted by Mayfield, his second of the game and fourth of the weekend, and Quentin Shore. UNO was quick to answer, however, as Archibald netted his second of the weekend to tie the game at 2-2.

Phillips made sure Denver went into the locker room with a lead for the second intermission after scoring a short-hander at 9:16 assisted by Larraza. This goal marked Phillip’s first of the season.

In the last three minutes of regulation, UNO’s Walters tied the score again to its final 3-3 mark before a scoreless overtime period.

“We took the lead, and they kept responding and we were helping them ,” said Gwozdecky. “Certainly I like the way we played; we worked hard and gave ourselves a chance.”

Olkinuora’s presence in goal kept the Pioneers from snapping their unbeaten streak, while Olkinuora extended an unbeaten streak of his own to eight games without a loss.

“I thought [Juho] played pretty well,” said Gwozdecky. “Some of the pucks he made saves on, I don’t know if there was the same amount of control as he normally has. I thought the guy who played so much better than he did last night was Faulkner; he played so well for them. He really ratcheted up his game from last night.”

Denver hits the road next week to play No. 19 St. Cloud State for a two-game conference series where the puck will drop at 6:37 p.m. on Friday.