Coming off a bye weekend the No. 7 ranked Denver Pioneers headed to Duluth, Minn. with a chance to make a gain on the fourth-ranked Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs. Denver took an early lead 2:50 into the first period on a one-timer from senior defenseman Les Lancaster (Ypsilanti, Mich.). That first goal was quickly followed by a rebounded shot from the Bulldogs Justin Richards.
After that goal there was no looking back for the Bulldogs as Nick Swaney (Lakeville, Minn.) scored the go-ahead goal at 10:20 in the second period followed by a pair of goals in the third by Justin Richards (Columbus, Ohio) and Tanner Laderoute (Edmonton, Alberta) to put the game away for the Bulldogs winning 5-2 on Friday night.
After a rough Friday night for freshman Flip Larsson (Stockholm, Sweden), the Pioneers tried sophomore Devin Cooley (Los Gatos, Calif.) in goal. The change ended up paying off on Friday night as Cooley got his second career shutout as a Denver Pioneers blanked the Bulldogs 1-0. This was despite being outshot 27-16 on Saturday night. The lone goal of the game came off of freshman Emilio Pettersen (Manglerud, Norway) advancing the puck up in front of the blue line for freshman Slava Demin (Cypress, Calif.) to score his fourth goal of the season. The strong showing of freshmen scoring has continued to dominate DU scoring, showing potential for the future of DU Hockey.
Minnesota Duluth made several last-minute pushes towards the goal only to see several shots just ricochet off Cooley to seal the deal for a Pioneers team that looked like they were skating on thin ice late, at a crucial time in the season.
“I’m really proud of our guys’ effort and their resilience to be able to stick together and gut out a tough road win,” said Head Coach David Carle. The split this weekend moves the Pioneers to sole possession of fourth place in the NCHC standings as they look to start annihilating the opposition in these next few crucial weekends in the season. This stretch will start with next weekend for the Pioneers as they head back to Magness Arena to take on Miami Ohio (10-16-4) for two games on Friday, Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. then on Saturday, Feb. 23 at 7 p.m.
