The No. 1 University of Denver Pioneers topped the No. 6 Boston University Terriers , 4-3, with a last minute, game-winning goal at Agganis Arena on Friday, Oct. 27 and then shot past the Boston College Eagles with a 6-1 victory on Saturday, Oct. 28.
In Friday’s game, Denver opened the scoring at 2:51 of the first period with freshman forward Jake Durflinger’s (Walnut Creek, Calif.) second goal of the season. Junior forward, Troy Terry (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) started the play, carrying the puck through the neutral zone before feathering a pass to junior forward Dylan Gambrell (Bonney Lake, Wash.) whose shot rebounded to Durflinger in front of the net.
One minute after taking a 1-0 lead, the Pioneers went on the power play and junior forward Colin Staub (Colorado Springs, Colo.) found a loose puck outside the crease to extend the lead. Sophomore forward Liam Finlay (Kelowna, B.C.) and senior defenseman Adam Plant (Penticton, B.C.) had assists on the play.
Boston University responded to Denver’s early goals with a pair of its own. First, Ty Amonte received a pass from Drew Melanson and buried the shot past Pioneers goalie Tanner Jaillet (Red Deer, Alberta) to cut the lead in half. About two minutes later, the Terriers went on the power play and a between-the-legs pass from Jordan Greenway setup Bobo Carpenter for a goal at 12:38 of the first.
Before the end of the first period, Denver struck on the power play for the second time in the game. At 18:28 of the first period, sophomore forward Henrik Borgström (Helsinki, Finland) took the puck from Gambrell, fired a shot on net and Staub quickly located the rebound to put the Pioneers in front, 3-2, at the first intermission.
Terry’s goal with 16.1 seconds remaining in regulation propelled the Pioneers past the Terriers.
After going 2/4 in a 4-3 win against No. 6 Boston University on Friday night, the Pioneers’ power play went 3/6 on Saturday and played a key role in the six-goal win.
“Looking at our team, that was the best performance of the year especially offensively. We really showed skill tonight,” said head coach Jim Montgomery. “We made a lot of plays and were really good at managing the puck.”
Gambrell opened the scoring on the Pioneers’ first power play of the game. At 11:57 of the first period, Gambrell received the puck from Terry and fired a shot past the blocker of Joseph Woll to make it 1-0. Freshman defenseman Ian Mitchell (Calahoo, Alberta) had the secondary assist on the goal. Denver held a one-goal lead after 20 minutes.
The Pioneers continued their dominance on the man advantage at 1:15 of the second period when Borgström redirected a shot from Mitchell. Terry had an assist on the goal that put Denver in front, 2-0. Later in the second period, junior defenseman Blake Hillman (Elk River, Minn.) notched his first goal of the season with a shot immediately following Tyson McLellan’s faceoff win in the offensive zone.
Boston College scored their first and only goal of the game on the power play at 1:45 of the third period. Chris Brown collected the puck on a redirection and beat Jaillet to make it a 3-1 game.
Hillman connected from the point at 14:26 of the third period to make it a 6-1 final. Staub and Gambrell assisted on Hillman’s goal to give Gambrell his 100th career point.
DU Hockey will head to Michigan for games on Friday, Nov. 3 at 5 p.m. and Saturday, Nov. 4 at 5 p.m.
