The No. 3 Denver hockey team set out on their first road trip of the season, traveling to face the Michigan State Spartans (MSU) on Oct. 21-22 for a two game series. DU would win both games, tallying scores of 2-1 and 3-1.
The first game of the weekend saw zero goals scored until the third period. DU outshot Michigan State 22-9, heading into the third before finally breaking through the Spartan goaltender for a pair of goals.
Freshman Henrik Borgstrom (Helsinki, Finland) scored on a sharp angled shot at the bottom of the left circle at 5:33 before celebrating by going down on one knee and firing a series of invisible arrows into the air. Sophomore Troy Terry (Denver) picked up an assist on the play.
DU doubled their lead when sophomore Jarid Lukosevicius (Squamish, British Columbia) scored about 10 minutes later. Borgstrom gained an assist on the play, his second point of the night.
Michigan State would ruin Denver’s junior goaltender Tanner Jaillet’s (Red Deer, Alberta) shutout bid at 18:39 in the period with a powerplay goal. Jaillet still earned the win by making an impressive 19 saves on 20 shots.
Looking for the sweep in the second game of the series, Denver would get on the board early. Terry rifled the puck with a wrist shot into the back of the net only five minutes into the match, with Borgstrom receiving an assist on the play. Not quite finished for the period, Terry scored again at the 15:48 mark to extend the lead to 2-0 in the first period. He nearly recorded a hat trick on a shorthanded breakaway, but was thwarted by the MSU goaltender.
“I thought [Troy] Terry was special tonight. On the penalty kill, five-on-five, they had no answer for his explosiveness tonight,” said head coach Jim Montgomery.
After being tied in shots in the first period (9-9), DU was more dominant in the second, outshooting Michigan State 9-2, though they were unable to score. The Spartans struck quickly in the third, scoring only 4:01 into the period and cutting the Denver lead in half.
The Pioneers received supreme special teams play, killing six penalties in the game and three in the third period en route to the victory. Senior Matt Marcinew (Calgary, Alberta) sealed the Spartans’ fate with an empty net goal with 1:04 remaining in the game.
“Our five-on-five play I really liked. I loved how quickly we were able to break the puck out, led by four [Will Butcher] and 28 [Adam Plant],” said Montgomery.
Jaillet again recorded 19 saves on 20 shots, capping a successful weekend for the netminder. Both DU and Jaillet are on four game win streaks after sweeping both Boston University (BU) and Michigan State in back to back series.
Jaillet was named the NCHC Goaltender of the Week after his performance against BU, posting a 2.00 goals against average (GAA) and .922 save percentage (SV percent). His numbers improved against the Spartans with 1.00 GAA and .950 SV percent marks on the road trip.
Denver (4-2) returns home to face Western Michigan University on Oct. 28 and 29.
