Coming off of an exciting sweep against in-state rival Colorado College last week, DU hockey traveled to Oxford, Ohio over the weekend to take on the Miami Redhawks. Denver won on both Friday and Saturday, improving to 18-5-1.
On Friday night, fans would not have been able to tell one team on the ice had 16 wins throughout the season while the other only had four, as Miami held on to a 2-goal lead until early in the third period. Though Denver was first on the board with a goal from senior forward Cameron Wright (Newmarket, Ontario), Miami defenseman Hampus Rydqvist (Gothenburg, Sweden) set the tone for much of the rest of the game with 2 power-play goals in a 15-second time span.
The goals ended junior goaltender Magnus Chrona’s (Stockholm, Sweden) shutout streak of 198 minutes and 10 seconds, the third-longest in program history. A goal from each team in the final 90 seconds of the first period gave Miami a 3-2 lead going into the first break.
Though the second period saw no scoring, the Redhawks built upon their lead with a goal from Red Savage (Scottsdale, Ariz.) 23 seconds into the third period. Senior forward and captain Cole Guttman (Los Angeles, Calif.) found his fire late in regulation for a desperate attempt to keep DU’s unbeaten streak alive with 2 goals in the final 3:03 to send the game to a 4-4 overtime.
After several back-and-forth chances to score during overtime, DU picked up momentum with a 3-on-1 rush, and Gutmann found sophomore defenseman Mike Benning (St. Albert, Alberta) for a tap-in with an empty net to score, giving the Crimson and Gold the victory.
On Saturday afternoon, DU came out looking more confident after their hard-fought win the previous night and opened the scoring with a goal from freshman defenseman and Colorado Avalanche prospect Sean Behrens (Barrington, Ill.), who made a move around a Miami defender to zip the puck in the back of the net
Wright doubled DU’s lead on a power play at 7:50, but the Redhawks were able to catch up and put the game at a draw with two goals to close out the second period.
In the final period, senior forward Ryan Barrow (Banff, Alberta) scored a goal off a rebound just under six minutes in to take back the lead for DU. Sophomore forward McKade Webster (St. Louis, Mo.) tapped in an empty netter from center ice with just over a minute remaining to seal the win and continue Denver’s unbeaten streak.
With the wins, the Crimson and Gold finished the month of January with a 6-0-1 record. They have also scored a goal on a power play in five consecutive games. The team will return home for a rescheduled series against No. 6 St. Cloud State this weekend, DU’s first ranked opponent since the Jan. 15 and 16 series against Omaha.
