The No. 3-seeded Denver men’s hockey team dropped a 5-2 decision to New Hampshire Friday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
After the loss, Denver finished the season with a 20-14-5 overall record, while UNH improved to 20-11-7 and advanced to the NCAA Northeast Regional Final, where they fell 2-0 to UMass Lowell.
This marked Denver’s sixth consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament and the senior class became the second consecutive and only third in program history to qualify for four consecutive NCAA berths.
“Just like I told our team, it’s been a roller coaster year for us, just like this game was,” said head coach George Gwozdecky. “We were playing very well at times, and at time we really struggled, but I’m proud of them. This team is very unique, and I’m proud of them. I thought our captains, and our seniors, did a terrific job and they can hold their head up representing the jersey really well and the university really well.”
Scoring for the Pioneers were sophomore forward Daniel Doremus and freshman forward Quentin Shore.
Sophomore goaltender Juho Olkinuora defended the Pioneer net, making 36 saves and allowed four goals, while UNH goaltender Casey DeSmith, who was pulled just nine minutes into the game after allowing three goals in the teams’ first meeting in November, turned away 31 shots in the win.
The Pioneers opened the scoring just over two minutes into the game when sophomore forward Larkin Jacobson drove to the net and took a shot, which was deflected by DeSmith and redirected by Doremus to give Denver the first lead. Sophomore forward Matt Tabrum was also credited with an assist in the effort.
UNH leveled the score at 5:39 in the first period after Olkinuora turned away a shot and Casey Thrush put away the rebound from just in front of the crease, knotting the score at 1-1.
The Shore brothers teamed up to give Denver its final lead of the game at 17:21 in the first period when Nick Shore blasted one at DeSmith and Quentin Shore put away the rebound, sending the Pioneers into the first intermission leading 2-1.
“I thought that the way we were playing and as I referred to it yesterday, the balance that we had in our attack, we were able to generate some chances early in the game, which is what we were looking for,” said Gwozdecky.
UNH responded with four unanswered goals to make the score it’s final 5-2 and advance them to the next round of the tournament.
After a nearly scoreless second period, UNH’s Trevor van Riemsdyk took advantage of the power-play opportunity at 14:34 with a rebound following a slapshot by teammate Eric Knodel, tying the score at 2-2.
“The game tilted when we started taking some of those penalties in the second period; their power-play did a terrific job,” said Gwozdecky. “The power-play opportunities we got, we didn’t do a real good job, and they obviously took advantage of theirs. Special teams is always important in either giving you momentum or sealing the game, and theirs did.”
With 22 seconds remaining in the period, UNH took its first lead of the game, which they would not relinquish, when Dalton Speelman rebounded another slapshot that was deflected by Olkinuora to give them a 3-2 lead heading into the second intermission.
Just 50 seconds into the third period, junior forward Nick Shore was ejected from the game on a controversial contact to the head penalty, giving Denver a five-minute major penalty to kill off.
After a successful penalty kill, the Pioneers tried to rally some scoring opportunities, but to no avail.
The Wildcats increased their lead to 4-2 with 11:11 remaining in regulation when John Henron sent a wrister past Olkinuora.
With 2:20 remaining, UNH added an empty net goal to account for the final 5-2 margin.
The Pioneers will lose five seniors after this season, including defenseman and captain Paul Phillips, forwards Shawn Ostrow and Chris Knowlton and goaltenders Adam Murray and Zach Hope.
The senior class accounted for 29 goals and 66 points this season for the Pioneers.
In addition to the seniors, the team will also lose head coach George Gwozdecky, who was removed from the bench by DU yesterday.
