While taking a team picture at center ice following its 4-1 victory over the University of Denver on Saturday night, two of Boston University’s top players were nowhere to be seen.
The No. 3-ranked Terriers, however, didn’t seem to miss sophomore stars and Team USA World Junior teammates Kevin Shattenkirk and Colin Wilson en route to winning the 17th Denver Cup and ending the Pioneers’ eight-game unbeaten streak.
In comparison, No. 5 DU sorely missed sophomore center Tyler Bozak during the four-team tournament.
In the Pioneers’ first weekend of action since Bozak’s probable regular season-ending knee surgery, they produced just three goals in two games and went a combined 0-of-14 on the power play.
“Our power play, plain and simple, wasn’t there,” DU junior Tyler Ruegsegger said. “Obviously losing Tyler is a big loss for our team, but we’re a deep team. I think this weekend was about effort. We didn’t come out and compete hard enough.”
Slow-starting DU was 0-of-7 with the man-advantage against BU (13-4-1), which never trailed. The visitors took a 2-0 lead in the first period and went ahead 3-1 late in the second, just 1:14 after Rhett Rakh-shani produced DU’s goal.
Brandon Yip, one of three Avalanche draftees on BU’s roster, assisted on the Terriers’ game-winning goal and had the third goal with a snap shot off a faceoff.
The impressive Terriers added an empty-net goal to punctuate DU’s first loss since Nov. 21. The Pioneers’ seven-game win streak ended Friday in a 2-2 tie to Holy Cross, which lost in a shootout but rallied to beat RPI 4-3 in the third-place game Saturday afternoon.
BU pounded RPI 6-2 on Friday.
“We lost two of our guys, and they lost their best scorer,” BU coach Jack Parker said of the Pioneers. “He’s out for a while; our guys will be back next week. It was evened up for tonight’s game, at least.”
DU coach George Gwoz-decky is confident his high-scoring team (13-6-1) will regain its confidence without the NHL-bound Bozak.
“Maybe that’s something we should wait a little longer than two games before we really start analyzing,” Gwozdecky said of Bozak’s absence. “I think our power play is going to be OK.
“Obviously, when you don’t have your top guns out there it may not be as effective. . . . But let’s talk at the end of this month.”
Boston 2 1 1 — 4
Denver 0 1 0 — 1
First period — 1, Boston, Saponari 3 (Warsofsky), 7:14. 2, Boston, Gilroy 2 (Bonino, Yip), 11:05 (pp). Penalties — Testwuide, DU (holding), 2:11; Strait, BU (holding), 5:41; Wiercioch, CU (interference), 6:22; Popko, BU (cross checking), 8:38; Vossberg, DU (checking from behind), 10:43; Strait, BU (holding), 14:41; Gryba, BU (charging), 16:33.
Second period — 3, Denver, Rakhshani 8 (Maiani), 17:41. 4, Boston, Yip 8 (Bonino), 18:55. Penalties — Marcuzzi, DU (hooking), 3:11; Yip, BU (cross checking), 3:50; Testwuide, DU (slashing), 4:38; Glass, BU (interference), 7:27.
Third period — 5, Boston, Z. Cohen 6 (Saponari, Warsofsky), 18:52 (en). Penalties — Lawrence, BU (slashing), 1:04; McCarthy, BU (holding), 10:56.
Shots — BU 13-11-3 — 27. DU 14-7-13 — 34.
Power plays — BU 1 of 5. DU 0 of 7.
Goalies — BU, Millan (9-1-1) 34 shots-33 saves. DU, Cheverie (13-6-2) 26-23.
A — 6,050.
Mike Chambers: 303-954-1357 or mchambers@denverpost.com
DU Recap
The Post’s three stars
1. Matt Gilroy. Boston senior defenseman and co-captain seemingly never left the ice and produced the game’s only power-play goal.
2. Brandon Yip. Terriers senior wing had two points, including a goal.
3. Kieran Millan. BU freshman had 33 saves.
What you might have missed
Avalanche executives Francois Giguere and Craig Billington and former Avs center Mike Ricci were among a large group of NHL personnel scouting the game.
Up next
Vs. Michigan Tech, Friday-Saturday at Magness Arena. Mike Chambers
