Duluth, Minn. – Freshman Rhett Rakhshani and junior Ryan Dingle scored two goals each Saturday night and the University of Denver dominated the third period to take a 4-2 Western Collegiate Hockey Association victory over Minnesota-Duluth.
Rakhshani’s second goal was an empty-net tally to clinch the victory, and the weekend split left the Pioneers (4-4, 2-2 WCHA) and coach George Gwozdecky in an upbeat mood.
“I thought that was our best game of the season,” Gwozdecky said. “And the third period? We’ll take it.”
The Pioneers outshot UMD 40-25, but the turning point was a 15-3 shot edge in the third period, which gave goaltender Peter Mannino a fairly easy time.
“Before the third period, coach said, ‘Let’s have some fun out there,”‘ Mannino said. “Whenever we can play and have fun, we’re going to be successful.”
Denver’s power play, which Gwozdecky said was pivotal by going 0-for-7 in Friday’s loss, was just as pivotal Saturday by going 2-for-8 – mainly because the second man-advantage goal was Dingle’s game-winner.
“I was trying to crash the net, and Tyler Ruegsegger shot, and the puck hit me and went in,” said Dingle, who laughed at his good fortune for the weekend. “On my first goal, I got a faceoff back to Butler, and I held up my guy long enough for Chris Butler to get a shot off. Then I went to the net, and the rebound came right to me.”
Gwozdecky had started Glenn Fisher in four of the preceding five games, but Mannino said he never was concerned about being relegated to backup status.
“It was just the way things were going,” Mannino said. “Fish played really well so far, so you’ve got to give him credit. I had to stay positive and keep working on things in practice.”
UMD coach Scott Sandelin had gone with freshman Alex Stalock in every game, relegating senior Josh Johnson and junior Nate Ziegelmann – the star of last spring’s UMD playoff upset at Denver – to backup duty. The decision had been made, however, to go with Johnson in Saturday’s game, but during Friday’s game, as Johnson tended the door on the bench, a UMD player changing on the fly came over the boards and his skate cut Johnson’s hand and he needed 16 stitches.
So Stalock was back in the net, but this time he faced an aggressive 40-shot attack in a game that duplicated Friday’s scoreless first period. But the Pioneers jumped ahead 2-0 in the second period, only to wind up in a 2-2 standoff.
“We’re playing .500, and I’m not saying that’s good or that’s bad,” Dingle said. “We played about .500 the last two seasons, and one of them won the NCAA title, and the other didn’t make it to the NCAA.”
Denver 0 2 2 – 4
Minnesota-Duluth 0 2 0 – 2
First period – None.
Second period – 1, Denver, Dingle 5 (Butler), 6:08. 2, Denver, Rakhshani 1 (Paukovich, Mullen), 12:28 (pp). 3, Minn.-Duluth, Meyers 4 (Niskanen, Fulton), 13:35 (pp). 4, Minn.-Duluth, Niskanen 2 (Raymond, Meyers), 15:14 (pp).
Third period – 5, Denver, Dingle 6 (Veideman, Trotter), 11:49 (pp). 6, Denver, Rakhshani 2 (Veideman, Handza), 19:23.
Shots on goal – DU 12-13-15-40, UMD 8-14-3-25. Goalies – DU, Mannino 8-12-3 (25 shots, 23 saves), 60:00. UMD, Stalock 12-11-13 (40-36, 59:06. Penalties – DU 10-20, UMD 8-16. Power plays – DU 2-8, UMD 2-9
