DENVER—Tyler Bozak and Dustin Jackson scored two goals each as Denver beat Minnesota Duluth 6-3 in the opening game of their first-round WCHA playoff series on Friday.
Jackson scored two goals within the first five minutes of the game to give the Pioneers a lead they held for the rest of the game. First, he took a feed from Brandon Vossberg and put it over the glove of Bulldogs goalie Alex Stalock at 2:15 of the period, then tipped home a Tom May point shot a few minutes later.
“All I can say is that it certainly was beneficial and was a huge momentum-boost, and confidence-boost, to score that first goal and build on that,” coach George Gwozdecky said. “We had an answer every time they were able to put us on our heels. It certainly was nice to be able to score some goals, and even more importantly, to win the first game.”
Jackson entered the game with two goals in 32 games.
Andrew Carroll put the Bulldogs on the board at 8:23 of the frame with a goalmouth score against Denver netminder Peter Mannino.
The Pioneers outshot the Bulldogs 28-27 and went 2-for-7 on the power play.
Bozak extended his team-leading goal total to 17 with his two goals and junior defenseman Mike Testwuide added a pair of assists.
Matt Glasser and Cody Brookwell also scored for the Pioneers.
Mike Curry and Josh Meyers had a goal each for the Bulldogs.
