Madison, Wis. – The immediate celebration after Saturday night’s game-winning goal in overtime was reminiscent of the wild, glove-throwing excitement that the past three national championship teams exhibited to close out the NCAA hockey season.
University of Denver freshman Rhett Rakhshani ignited a raucous celebration behind the Wisconsin net by scoring with 14.1 seconds remaining in overtime to lift the 2004 and 2005 national champions to a 4-3 victory over the Badgers, the defending champions.
Rakhshani, who assisted on the Pioneers’ first two goals, crashed the net on a 3-on-3 rush and redirected a pass from Ryan Dingle past All-America goalie Brian Elliott. The play gave the Pioneers a two-game sweep of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association series and made them a remarkable 11-1-2 at the Kohl Center, one of college hockey’s most intimidating venues.
“We went over video the last couple days, emphasizing driving hard to the net, and that’s basically why I went hard to the net, because video reminded me of it,” Rakhshani said after sending most of the 15,083 fans in attendance home disappointed. “I just went in hard, put my stick down and Dingle threw it across. I didn’t even have time to see it. It just hit my stick and went in.”
The sweep was DU’s first of the season. The Pioneers (6-4, 4-2 WCHA), who have already played eight games on the road, play 13 of their next 16 at home.
Denver beat Wisconsin 2-0 on Friday behind the sensational goaltending of Glenn Fisher.
But the Pioneers looked like a road-weary bunch in the third period Saturday night in front of junior netminder Peter Mannino (39 saves). After Dingle scored his second goal of the game to give DU a 3-1 lead 4:15 into the third period, Wisconsin peppered Mannino and beat down his seemingly tired defenders.
Jake Dowell got the Badgers (4-6-2, 3-3-1) within a goal by scoring at 7:15 and John Mitchell tied it at 11:31.
Wisconsin produced three of the first four shots in overtime before Rakhshani ended the game with his third goal and ninth point of the season.
“I like the way we’re developing as a team,” DU coach George Gwozdecky said. “Tonight wasn’t a great performance by us, but we weathered the storm. Peter gave us some quality goaltending, and we got some timely goals, obviously the big one at the end.”
Mike Chambers can be reached at 303-954-1357 or mchambers@denverpost.com.
