This weekend, DU hosted Miami University of Ohio Redhawks for the last two home games of the season.
Game one of the weekend series was on Friday, Feb. 27 in which the no. 6 Pioneers fell to the no. 4 Redhawks of 5-3.
The Pioneers won the opening faceoff, but the Redhawks gained the momentum from then on.
Miami laid several very hard hits on DU within the first two minutes of the game. DU had an excellent scoring opportunity eight minutes into the period when there was crowding in front of the net, leading to Miami’s junior goalie Ryan McKay falling on the ice. Denver sophomore Trevor Moore (Thousand Oaks, California) narrowly missed sneaking the puck behind McKay.
Halfway through the first period, sophomore Matt VanVoohris (Edina, Minnesota) would head to the locker room with an upper body injury.
The first goal of the game came from Miami with seven minutes remaining in the period. Before the end of the period, the Redhawks would add another tally to the board.
The second period got off to a fairly uneventful start until DU’s Moore pulled a spin-move pass over to senior Daniel Doremus (Aspen, Colorado) who found his way to the net. The second period ended with the Redhawks leading 2-1.
The Redhawks earned a power play that carried over to the third period, but the Pioneers were able to shorten the gap when sophomore Emil Romig (Vienna, Austria) scored on an assist from senior Joey LaLeggia (Burnaby, British Columbia). Halfway through the period, the Pioneers were looking to tie up the game with many shots on goal, but were not fruitful.
Denver lost control of the puck, which challenged Miami to score on the breakaway to bring the score to 4-2.
The next few minutes showed a lot of futile efforts for the Pioneers. With two minutes remaining on the clock, freshman goaltender Tanner Jaillet (Red Deer, Alberta) was pulled from the ice. With the one-man advantage, Moore was able to score on Miami with the assist coming from junior Nolan Zajac (Winnipeg, Manitoba). The empty net remained and the puck was sent in by the Redhawks. The final score was 5-3 in Miami’s favor.
On Feb. 28, Pioneer fans said farewell to seven seniors: Josiah Didier (Littleton, Colorado), Ty Loney (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), Larkin Jacobsen (Sioux City, Iowa), Daniel Doremus, Zac Larazza (Scottsdale, Arizona), Joey Laleggia and Matt Tabrum (Colorado Springs, Colorado).
Senior Night began in fabulous fashion with the Pioneers scoring four goals in the first period against the Redhawks. The first came off a slapshot from Laleggia. Freshman Danton Heinen (Langley, British Columbia) deflected it into the goal behind Miami’s junior goalie, Jay Williams. The assist came from Moore.
About 15 seconds later, the Pioneers scored their second goal of the evening. This time, it was Jacobsen who continued the Senior Night celebration and scoring.
Soon after, Moore would score a goal of his own after receiving a pass from Heinen at the 12-minute mark. The final goal of the first period came just 40 seconds later from Loney, assisted by sophomore Will Butcher (Sun Prairie, Wisconsin).
The Redhawks finally got on the board halfway through the second period when junior Riley Barber snuck one past DU’s sophomore goalie, Evan Cowley (Evergreen, Colorado). Miami would then shorten the lead to two.
The second period ended with Miami junior Alex Gacek in the penalty box for hooking Doremus. The penalty carried over into the third period and Laleggia scored on the power play, with assists from Heinen and Moore.
After Laleggia’s goal, McKay threw his stick across the ice. After this show of poor sportsmanship, the Redhawks started to get desperate and small skirmishes began to break out on the ice.
Heinen would put the final nail in the coffin when he scored his second goal of the game halfway through the third period. The Pioneers would add another home win by defeating the Redhawks 6-2, completing their season on home ice.
