The 70th anniversary of DU hockey was commemorated on Friday and Saturday night, and fortunately for the Pioneers, they were able to take home two wins over Niagara University to celebrate and improve to 8-0-0.
On Friday night, Niagara came out ready to play a competitive game, and it quickly became clear from their aggressive style of defense that they were not letting the fact that they hadn’t won a game all season intimidate them when facing off against a top-ranked Denver team. Denver got on the scoreboard first with a goal from junior forward Kohen Olischefski (Abbotsford, B.C.) at 2:32 of the first period, but Niagara was able to bounce back with goals from Chris Harpur and Brandon Stanley to give the Purple Eagles a 2-1 lead at the end of the first period.
In the second period, the Pioneers came roaring back, with seven shots in less than three minutes to open the period and a goal on a power play from senior forward Tyson McLellan (San Jose, Calif.). After many minutes of Denver dominating the puck trying to make their way to the goal, the Pioneers were finally able to score again, with sophomore forward Emilio Pettersen (Manglerud, Norway) finding sophomore forward Cole Guttman (Los Angeles, Calif.) at the net off a faceoff play at 15:23. Less than a minute later, sophomore forward Tyler Ward (Kamloops, B.C.) scored his first goal of the season, and just over a minute after that, freshman forward Bobby Brink (Minnetonka, Minn.) capped the onslaught with a one-timer in what became the third goal for Denver in a span of two minutes and two seconds to give Denver a 5-2 lead going into the final period.
In the third period, Olischefski added to Denver’s lead at 5:46, in what was his second goal of the game and third of the season. Denver suffered six total penalties in the final minutes of the period, but Niagara was unable to capitalize on them, accumulating a couple of penalties of their own, and Denver secured the 6-2 win in what was their second game in a row scoring six points. Freshman goaltender Magnus Chrona (Stockholm, Sweden) had 14 saves in the game.
On Saturday night, Niagara once again came out determined to stop Denver’s offensive attacks, and the first period went by without a goal from either team. The Pioneers outshot the Purple Eagles 14-5.
Denver finally found their way to the scoreboard with Olischefski’s shot from the left-wing boards yielding a rebound for junior forward Jake Durflinger (Walnut Creek, Calif.) at 2:51. The Pioneers again relentlessly tried to make their way back to the goal, this time with 18 shots in the period, but the rest of the period went scoreless for both teams.
The third period is where Denver finally picked up momentum, with sophomore forward Brett Stapley (Campbell River, B.C.) scoring a short-handed goal at 10:40. The Pioneers were then able to take advantage of two opportunities where the Purple Eagles left the goal empty-netted, with goals coming from Ward and sophomore forward Hank Crone (Dallas, Texas) at 17:08 and 19:05, respectively to give Denver the 4-0 shutout.
The star of the night was backup sophomore goalie Michael Corson (Darien, Ill.) who had 16 saves in his first start of the season. Corson, who did not know he would be starting until Saturday morning according to a post-game statement, got the first win of his collegiate career.
Denver will head to Duluth, Minn. next weekend to face no. 7 University of Minnesota-Duluth in what will be the Pioneers second series of the season against a ranked opponent.
