COLORADO SPRINGS — Through little fault of their own, the University of Denver Pioneers have a difficult mountain to climb to recapture the Gold Pan.
Top-ranked Colorado College owns the traveling trophy, and Tigers goalie Richard Bachman seemingly owns DU, the program that turned him down in the recruiting process.
Bachman, a first-team All-American as a freshman last season, was again the best player on the ice Sunday in the home-and-home series finale against the No. 4-ranked Pioneers.
The sophomore from Highlands Ranch stopped 40 shots to spearhead the Tigers’ 3-2 victory before a sellout crowd of 7,661 at the World Arena.
Bachman made 44 saves in Friday’s 2-2 tie at Magness Arena, giving him a combined 84 saves on 88 shots for the weekend.
The teams meet in the same home-and-home series later in the season, and DU will need to win both games to take back the Gold Pan.
“Their goalie played unbelievable, again, and they have a good team,” DU captain J.P. Testwuide said of the Tigers (5-0-3, 3-0-1 WCHA). “They took advantage of our mishaps and buried it.”
The Tigers, who got the game-winning goal from defenseman Ryan Lowery on a 3-on-1 rush midway through the second period, generated only 20 shots Sunday and 49 for the weekend. But in each game they sprinted out to a 2-0 lead before DU’s explosive offense came alive.
“We were very, very fortunate this weekend, there is no doubt,” CC coach Scott Owens said. “They’re a good team.”
After hitting the crossbar or goalpost three times, Denver (4-2-1, 2-1-1), got goals from Tyler Bozak to make it 2-1 and Tyler Ruegsegger for the final margin but couldn’t convert on some outstanding chances in the final minute. With 55 seconds to play, freshman Patrick Wiercioch had time to shoot and net to hit while on Bachman’s doorstep.
The goalie made a heavy glove save that nearly pushed his leather mitt behind the goal line.
“He bombed it, and I barely got my glove on it,” Bachman said. “Always fun doing that against Denver.”
DU coach George Gwozdecky said there are no moral victories from the series, just a point in the standings.
Told of Owens’ “fortunate” comment, Gwozdecky said: “You can feel fortunate or whatever, but everybody has to execute, and they executed better than we did in crucial situations.”
Scott McCulloch and Andreas Vlassopoulos beat DU goalie Marc Cheverie to make it 2-0, but the latter goal probably shouldn’t have counted.
Vlassopoulos’ wrist shot atop the left circle occurred after a teammate broke into the DU zone offside. It appeared the linesman missed the call.
Mike Chambers: 303-954-1357 or mchambers@denverpost.com
Three stars
1. Richard Bachman. CC goalie the No. 1 guy in both games.
2. Ryan Lowery. Tigers defenseman had the game-winning goal.
3. Tyler Bozak. Had a goal and nine shots for DU.
What you might have missed
DU is 1-7-2 against CC in the past 10 games.
Up next
DU hosts Minnesota-Duluth Friday and Saturday at Magness Arena, and North Dakota visits CC at the World Arena.
Mike Chambers, The Denver Post
