The lack of offensive creatively and virtually no transition game finally caught up with the University of Denver hockey team.
The Pioneers, whose saving grace is having two of the country’s stingiest goaltenders, had their six-game winning streak and seven-game unbeaten streak run into a snowbank Saturday night.
DU’s opportunistic offense was a no-show at Magness Arena, where defending NCAA champion Wisconsin played a smart and patient game to win 4-0 before a sellout crowd of 6,136.
How bad was it for DU? After the Pioneers failed to scored on a 5-on-3 power play for a full two minutes to close in on a 3-0 deficit late in the second period, coach George Gwozdecky pulled goalie Glenn Fisher to create a 6-on-4 attack with 19:25 to go in the third period.
That two-man advantage didn’t produce, and the Badgers who lost 3-1 on Friday – ultimately got out of town with a two-game split of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association series behind Brian Elliott’s 33-save shutout and two power-play goals.
Junior Kyle Klubertanz had three assists and the defenseman spearheaded a penalty-killing unit that blanked DU on six opportunities.
It was DU’s first loss to Wisconsin in nine games. The Pioneers are 15-3-2 in the past 20 meetings between the teams that have combined for the past three NCAA titles.
“All good things come to an end,” DU captain Adrian Veideman said of his team’s unbeaten streaks overall (6-0-1) and against Wisconsin (7-0-1).
DU scored just 10 goals in its previous four games, a 2.50 average. But because of Fisher and junior goalie Peter Mannino, the Pioneers outscored their opponents 10-4 during that span.
The defensive dominance wasn’t there in the finale against the Badgers, but not because Fisher had an off night. DU continually had trouble making its first pass out of its zone, and the transition offense from the neutral zone was nonexistent.
“We would certainly like to be a little bit more of an offensive team, a team that can score 4.5 or five goals per game, but we’re not,” Gwozdecky said. “We have the skilled players, but I think the physical strength of Wisconsin showed tonight and throughout the weekend. They knocked us off a lot of pucks, and when you’re playing with your stick and their playing with their stick and body, the puck is going to be won by them.”
DU was outshot 17-5 and trailed 1-0 after the first period. The Pioneers had 16 shots in the second period but allowed two goals while tripping penalties were being served by Cody Brookwell and Mike Handza.
Trailing 3-0, the game was seemingly decided when Wisconsin’s Matt Olinger and Joe Piscula were sent to the penalty box simultaneously for cross checking, and DU couldn’t convert on a 5-on-3 advantage.
Fisher (33 saves) also was pulled for an extra attacker at 11:50 and 14:22 of the third period. The Badgers got their final goal on an empty net with 3:51 to go.
