MADISON, Wis. — The only visual advantage the University of Denver had Saturday was its white sweaters, signifying that the Pioneers were the home team.
The day, however, belonged to the color red. Red-dressed fans. Red crossbars. Red goalposts.
DU’s season ended Saturday amid a sea of Wisconsin fans that watched their Badgers triumph 6-2 in a, NCAA Midwest Regional tournament semifinal at the Kohl Center.
The No. 2-seeded Pioneers started slowly, gave up the all-important first goal of the game, and then hit the red iron behind Wisconsin goalie Shane Connelly four times before getting on the scoreboard.
DU played well, but never got a good bounce.
“Hitting the crossbar or the post is like kissing your sister. You’d rather almost miss the net,” DU defenseman Chris Butler said. “If a couple of those shots go the other way, we’re celebrating right now. That could have changed the whole dynamics of the game.”
The Badgers led 2-0 before Dustin Jackson’s goal late in the second period briefly silenced the partisan crowd of 9,968. But then irony met iron.
Wisconsin’s Cody Goloubef clanged a slap shot off the goalpost, but the puck ricocheted off DU goalie Peter Mannino and into the net to make it 3-1 midway through the third period.
With desperate DU pinching in the offensive end, the Badgers added two breakaway goals to turn it into a rout, and later added an empty netter.
DU, the Western Collegiate Hockey Association champion, ends its season at 26-14-1.
“Funny how this game works at times, by fractions of an inch,” Pioneers coach George Gwozdecky said. “We had our chances, great opportunities to score. But early on, we either missed or hit posts.”
Wisconsin (16-16-7), which slipped into the national tournament after losing a WCHA first-round series to St. Cloud State, will play conference rival North Dakota in tonight’s regional title game.
North Dakota 5, Princeton 1
With Princeton flying up and down the ice, Ryan Duncan’s patience paid off.
Duncan had a hat trick and Jean-Philippe Lamoureux stopped 38 shots in North Dakota’s 5-1 victory in the first round of the NCAA Midwest Regional.
North Dakota, trying to make its fourth consecutive Frozen Four and win a title for the first time since 2000, looked anything but comfortable early against the Tigers, who used their speed to pester the physical Sioux.
It almost worked.
Princeton (21-14) outshot No. 1 seed North Dakota 39-18 despite being battered up and down the ice in just their second-ever appearance in the NCAA tournament.
Trailing 1-0 in the second period, Princeton captain Mike Moore, a volunteer firefighter, was called for holding. But his Tigers teammates nearly tied it when Mark Magnowski snapped off three quick shots that were turned aside by Lamoureux, the nation’s stingiest goalie, allowing just 1.65 goals per game coming into play.
Princeton, the ECAC champions, killed the penalty, but moments after Moore returned, Duncan and North Dakota (27-10-4) struck.
Duncan, last year’s Hobey Baker winner as the best collegiate hockey player, scored when linemate T.J. Oshie, a Hobey Baker finalist this year, slipped a cross-ice pass deep in the zone.
Princeton goalie Zane Kalemba dropped to the ice to stop Duncan, who waited until Kalemba was out of position to flip a wrist shot over his head and give the Sioux a 2-0 lead with 3:42 left in the second.
Duncan added two third-period goals.
Mike Chambers: 303-954-1357 or mchambers@denverpost.com The Associated Press contributed to this report.
