At the University of Denver’s expense Friday night, defending NCAA champion Wisconsin crept within a game of .500 and began salvaging a disastrous regular season by winning its first postseason game.
The Badgers (16-17-4) got a goal from Jake Dowell with 4:24 remaining to defeat DU 3-2 in Game 1 of their best-of-three Western Collegiate Hockey Association series at Magness Arena.
Dowell, a senior center from Eau Claire, Wis., chipped a rebound off Peter Mannino’s pads and over the goalie’s shoulder to put DU in a possible season-ending elimination game.
The Pioneers (21-14-4), who trailed 2-0 after the first period, might have to at least win Game 2 Saturday night to keep their hopes alive of making the NCAA Tournament and be in the 16-team field at the West Regional at the Pepsi Center.
Game 3, if necessary, is Sunday night.
“One and done,” said Mannino, who had 34 saves. “We’re putting this in the past, and it’s a new day tomorrow. We just got to get better and get the puck to bounce our way.”
DU has won just once in its past eight games (1-5-2), but will have to win two straight to advance to next week’s WCHA Final Five in St. Paul, Minn. The Pioneers, who are 0-6 all-time against Wisconsin in the WCHA playoffs, have lost three in a row at home and scored just two goals in those games.
“There (are) some concerns,” DU coach George Gwozdecky said. “This is a side of the team that I haven’t seen until recently. It surprises me, no question. We have to figure out a way to have this group ready to play (for Game 2). I truly think our upperclassmen will rally this group.”
DU’s power play continues to struggle, going 0-for-5 Friday and 1-of-29 in its past five games. The team’s biggest number-crunching concern is in the Pairwise Rankings, in which it is tied with Miami (Ohio) and Massachusetts for 11th. The cutoff for at-large NCAA Tournament berths is between 12 and 14 once automatic bids are given to conference tournament champions.
It was a 2-2 game heading into the third period, after DU scored their only goals in the second. Ryan Dingle produced his team-leading 22nd goal 5:14 into the period, and J.D. Corbin, who missed most of the regular season with an injury, tied it with his second of the season at 15:44.
Dingle capped a nice play by leading scorer Brock Trotter, who took the puck end-to-end and hit Dingle with a pass from behind the net. Corbin’s snap shot from the left circle went off a defenseman and past UW goalie Brian Elliott (23 saves).
The Badgers got their goals from Joe Piskula and Ben Street in a dominating period during which they produced 13 of the 20 shots.
Piskula scored his first of the season by skating past Trotter against the wall and wristing a shot off Mannino and into the net from the left circle. Street’s goal was a backhand rebound from the doorstep off a blast from Kyle Klubertanz.
Gwozdecky couldn’t explain his team’s poor start.
“It was the last thing I expected (with) the excitement of being able to play in the playoffs, be able to have home-ice advantage and a great opponent like Wisconsin here,” he said. “We came out and Wisconsin did everything they wanted to in the first period.”
Staff writer Mike Chambers can be reached at 303-954-1357 or mchambers@denverpost.com.
