Denver swept Miami (OH) to capture a much-needed six points for the Crimson and Gold in conference play this past weekend. Denver started the weekend with a big 4-1 win on Friday and finished with a dominant 6-2 win on Saturday.
Friday set the stage for the weekend. Both teams came out flying with many chances in the first frame and the goaltending on both sides made highlight-reel saves to keep the game knotted at zero after the first period.
After the first period, DU led in shots 12-7 but with zero goals. The Riga, Latvia native Bruno Bruveris, was a prime factor throughout the night, making it hard for Denver to put the puck past him.
“Be patient, and don’t get down and frustrated. Our guys didn’t, and we continued to work through it, and to trust that the work we put in will be rewarded,” Head Coach David Carle said on beating a hot goalie.
28 seconds into the second period, Miami’s Nick Donato took a five-minute major and game misconduct boarding penalty to give Denver a lengthy powerplay.
At 1:15, DU capitalized on the power play with a goal from junior forward Aidan Thompson. He wired a shot from the left dot that beat Bruveris over the left pad, giving Denver the 1-0 lead early in the middle frame. Denver would answer again on the power play at 3:35 from sophomore defenseman Eric Pohlkamp. His snipe on Bruveris over the left pad extended the Denver lead to 2-0.
“It’s important to have speed on those five-minute majors, and going out and getting two on the powerplay helps our bench and gives us a good cushion in a tight hockey game,” senior forward Jack Devine said.
Miami answered late in the second. At 18:32, Colby Ambrosio rifled a shot over the left shoulder of senior goaltender Matt Davis, bringing the Redhawks’ deficit down to one.
During the first five minutes of the final frame, Miami came out pushing the pace of play, putting Denver on their heels and having the majority of offensive zone possession time.
At the midway point of the 3rd period, Denver’s leading point-getter, Devine, would get on the board with a cross-body one-timer from sophomore defenseman Zeev Buium that slipped under the sliding Bruveris to make it a 3-1 Denver lead.
The game was capped off by a Buium empty net goal from the point at 1:53 to put the game away at 4-1.
Miami’s Bruveris made 32 saves on 36 shots and was a large factor in why Miami stayed in the game for as long as they did.
The opposite happened during Saturday’s contest as Denver came out flying from the start and kept the momentum from the night before.
Entering the game, junior forward Jared Wright achieved a personal milestone, playing in his 100th game with the Crimson and Gold and would also score the first goal of the game at 8:34 of the first period. A nice pass from junior forward Rieger Lorenz from behind the net led to Wright pounding home the pass to give Denver the 1-0 lead midway through the first period.
The penalty trouble for Miami would continue with Raimonds Vitolins taking a holding penalty at 16:15. 43 seconds later, Denver capitalized from Devine on a net-front scramble. A loose rebound collected by senior forward Carter King shoveled to Devine in front of the net, who buried the second goal of the period.
Entering the second period, a Miami slashing penalty on Matt Choupani at 19:19 would carry over with 1:19 remaining on the power play entering the middle frame for Denver.
On another Denver power play, sophomore forward Sam Harris at 1:14 showed the crowd how strong the No. power play team in the country is and put DU up 3-0 early. A Devine pass from the left point would find Harris on the right dot beating a sliding Bruveris.
At the 12:09 mark of the period, a streaking Thompson wired a short side snipe past Bruveris making it 4-0 in favor of Denver.
A little over two minutes later at 14:50, Miami got on the board for the first and only time of the night with a goal from Casper Nassen who capitalized on a DU cross-checking penalty. The goal from Nassen was scored from the left dot, a hard one-timer that beat Davis just over the left pad to cut Miami’s deficit to three.
The final period of the weekend had been relatively quiet until the midway point of the period at 10:44 when Pohlkamp scored the sixth goal of the game with a rocket one-timer from the left dot and gave DU the 5-1 lead.
At 11:44, Denver would take an interference penalty putting Miami on the powerplay and at 12:45, they would capitalize for their second power-play goal of the night. A point shot from Michael Quinn beat Davis through a pile of bodies to make the game 5-2.
With a little under five minutes remaining, at 15:22 Denver’s sophomore forward Kiernan Cebrian potted his first goal of the year scoring a goal that beat Bruveis by the ear hole just under the bar, making it 6-2 Denver and putting the game to bed.
The third line for Denver of Lorenz, Cebrian and Wright also stood out, scoring two of the six goals and producing a multitude of high-danger opportunities, impacting the game on both sides of the puck.
“Our line has always been confident, and we’ve been playing together since the second half of last year and have been continuing to play the right way, and playing that way will result in production,” Wright said.
It was a huge six points for the Crimson and Gold to push them higher in conference standings and to help put more confidence in the group after a trying month-and-a-half.
“It’s a hard league to get points in; anytime you can pile up six points on a weekend, it moves you up in the standings, and the conference is tight right now, and every point is going to matter in the second half of the season,” Carle said.
Denver will have a bye week and will return to action on Jan. 24-25, traveling to Minnesota to take on the University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs.
