Denver traveled to Miami University in Oxford, Ohio this past weekend for the first conference series of the season. The University of Denver came into the series leading the RedHawks 26-13-2 in head-to-head matchups and continued the winning streak on both Friday and Saturday night winning 4-0 and 4-2 respectively for the first away wins of the season.
Friday night’s game got off to an unusually rough start, and the opening minutes of the game was full of penalties and fights. Sophomore forward Carter Mazur (Jackson, Mich.) opened the scoring with 13:36 left in the first period on an escaped puck and began his domination on the night.
Miami made a fatal mistake early in the second period and set Denver up with a 5-on-3 power play that paved the way for Mazur’s second goal of the night. Senior forward Casey Dornbach (Edina, Minn.) got the assist on that point and gained the 100th point of his career. Later on, in the same power play, Dornbach found the back of the net, only for it to be reversed after Miami’s head coach challenged the goal.
Mazur continued his influence over the game, and with under four left in the third period, he scored again, completing the first hat trick of his career and Denver’s first of the season. Sophomore forward Tristan Broz (Bloomington, Minn.), a transfer from the University of Minnesota, scored with just under two minutes left in play to help bring Denver the 4-0 shutout.
Senior goaltender Magnus Chrona (Stockholm, Sweden) 24 saves on goal to lead to his 10th career shutout and Miami’s 21 minutes in the penalty box were key components in the shutout win for DU.
Coming off a large win the day before, the hope of a similar game was high, but things did not get off to as dominating of a start for DU. Saturday’s game started very slowly considering and stayed that way for most of the night. For senior defenseman and captain Justin Lee’s (Waskada, Manitoba) 100th career game, Miami’s Matthew Barbolini scored late in the first period for the first score of the game, giving the RedHawks an early lead.
Dornbach scored early in the second period to tie the game up at 1-1. Broz got a double minor for cross-checking and tripping midway through the second period, which Miami’s John Waldron capitalized on.
Going into the final period with Denver down 2-1, tensions were high and both teams had it out for each other. Mazur scored twice in the third for his fourth and fifth goals of the series. Sophomore forward Massimo Rizzo (Burnaby, B.C.) shot on an empty net with just over a minute left for his first goal of the weekend to secure the win but totaled 6 points on the weekend thanks to assists off of all of Mazur’s goals.
Denver had 42 shots on goal while Miami had 20. They also spent 8 minutes in the penalty box to Miami’s 12. This win makes Denver’s first away win and collect sweep of the season and also for conference play.
DU returns home next week to play St. Cloud State for the first home NCHC series of the season with Friday night’s game starting at 7 p.m. and Saturday’s beginning at 6 p.m.
