Amherst, Mass. – Friday night’s 1-0 loss to Boston University clearly stuck with the University of Denver hockey team.
The 13th-ranked Pioneers responded by defeating Massachusetts 4-0 on Saturday at the Mullins Center, snapping a five-game winless streak. DU’s Peter Mannino made 27 saves to earn the shutout.
“We are relieved with being able to get a win tonight,” DU coach George Gwozdecky said. “Since last night, we didn’t feel very good about our results. We needed to be able to score a goal and get a win tonight, and we did.”
The Pioneers (6-6-2, 3-3-2 Western Collegiate Hockey Association) certainly broke out of their brief scoring slump, with four players finding the net. Gabe Gauthier got things started at 9:16 of the first period, and Matt Carle, Ryan Helgason and Adrian Veideman had goals in the victory. They were contributors to a quality offensive performance that included 37 shots on the UMass (4-8-0, 2-5-0 Hockey East) net.
“The key part in getting 37 shots is getting and creating chances,” Gwozdecky said. “Part of it was finding the quiet areas where a guy would have a little more time to shoot.”
Veideman had the best offensive night of all, with a goal and two assists. His goal, a hard wrist shot on a breakaway down the right wing, punctuated the victory.
“We’ve moved Adrian, who has been a forward for most of his life, back to defense just last weekend, just to give the defense some more experience and strength,” Gwozdecky said. “He’s been a big part of the penalty kill, and he’s done a great job. He’s a great skater.”
Veideman earned a rather obscure comparison from Gwoz- decky to former Minnesota Twins baseball player Cesar Tovar, whose claim to fame was playing all nine positions during his career.
“Well, I play hockey, so it’s the wrong sport,” he said with a chuckle. “But it means a lot that they trust me on defense.”
The DU offense controlled the game almost from the start.
“It was definitely important to us to come out and play our game, and get past our little mental block,” Veideman said. “We’ve been working hard – we just need to come out and put more effort into scoring.”
The splitting up of Gauthier and Paul Stastny also energized the DU attack. The forwards had been linemates until Saturday, when Stastny centered the top line, and Gauthier was the pivot on the second line.
“It seems like the last few weeks we’ve thrown that combination onto the ice, and then held our breath for two minutes until we could get them out there again,” Gwozdecky said. “Being able to split them up makes it a little more challenging for other teams to match up.”
The Pioneers jumped to a 3-0 lead in the first period, which they dominated up and down the ice. On the power play, Gauthier took a shot from the low slot with just under 11 minutes left in the period, and UMass goaltender Jon Quick made the save, but the rebound created a scramble in front.
Gauthier managed to find the loose puck and knock it over the sprawled Quick to make it 1-0 Pioneers with 10:44 left.
Matt Carle wasted little time in adding DU’s second goal. He wristed a hard shot from the left point that fooled Quick and zipped over his glove hand at the 10:54 mark.
Helgason picked up a turnover at his blue line 5:22 later, racing in to beat Quick to give DU a strong advantage. The Minutemen didn’t put a shot on goal until the 10:04 mark of the first, though they fired eight more after that in the period.
“It basically suggested that we weren’t as ready as we needed to be,” said UMass coach Don Cahoon, whose team had beaten third-ranked Colorado College 4-3 on Friday.
Denver 3 1 0 – 4
Massachusetts 0 0 0 – 0
First period – 1, Denver, Gauthier 6 (Dingle, Veideman), 9:16 (pp). 2, Denver, Carle 6 (Butler, Cook), 10:54. 3, Helgason (Veideman, Carle), 14:28. Penalties – Stastny, DU (Holding), 4:27; Davis, UM (hooking), 8:52; Jarman, UM (hooking) 15:47.
Second period – 4, Denver, Veideman (Mullen, Gauthier), 16:16. Penalties – Capraro, UM (charging), 7:59; Fenton, UM (tripping), 12:14.
Third period – No goals. Penalties – Fast, DU (hitting from behind), 3:29; Fast, DU (contact to the head . elbowing), 6:55; Jarman, UM (boarding) 6:55; Gauthier, DU (cross-checking), 7:06; Burto, UM (tripping), 11:37; Crowder, UM (hitting from behind), 15:33.
Shots – DU 14-13-10-37, UM 9-14-4-27. Power plays – DU 1 of 6, UM 0 of 3. Goalies – Denver, Mannino, 27 shots, 27 saves; UMass, Quick, 37 shots, 34 saves. A – 4,259.
