Photo by: David Lorish
The Pioneer hockey team moves to the No. 1-ranking in all college hockey polls, as DU goes into a bye week before traveling to face Wisconsin.
Following Friday’s 1-1 tie and Saturday’s 3-2 win against Alaska-Anchorage, DU jumps ahead of Miami (Ohio).
Senior Tyler Ruegsegger scored Saturday with just 38.9 seconds of play remaining to give Denver the win.
With the win, Denver improves to 14-5-3, 10-3-3 Western Collegiate Hockey Association, and remains atop the WCHA standings with 23 points.
Following the final buzzer, several brawls broke out near DU’s penalty box with multiple fights that resulted in 30 penalties at the 20-minute mark. Two UAA players left the bench to join the scrum, including Chris Crowell who then punched Ruegsegger.
Crowell was assessed a game disqualification penalty and another penalty for instigating.
“It was the first time I’ve been in something like that, to be honest,” Ruegsegger said. “It’s a little scary, but at the same time you’re in it and you have to defend yourself. Sometimes you have to get a guy so your teammates don’t get double-teamed.”
UAA’s Jared Tutton and DU’s William Wrenn and John Ryder each were also assessed game disqualification penalties.
“When you have players on the ice to go to their goaltender, nasty, ugly things can erupt that we don’t want to have happen,” head coach George Gwozdecky said of the brawls.
“Initially, what I saw is you had your group of players on the ice, and probably 15 seconds later, a couple of their guys came on the ice, and I don’t they they’re going out on the ice to be peacemakers. That’s when I decided, OK, I’ve had enough.”
As the brawls continued, Gwozdecky got on the ice to try and break the fights up.
“I’m going to make sure, first of all, that our guys stay, and then see if we can break it up,” he said.
“We played much better,” said Denver’s head coach George Gwozdecky. “We worked hard and played with more intensity, yet it was a battle until the very end.”
In Friday’s game, the sole goal was scored by Ruegsegger early in the first period.
Saturday, sophomore Patrick Wiercioch scored in the first period and Joe Colborne added the second goal in the third period to help DU in the 3-2 win.
