For the second time in a month, the University of Denver on Saturday night blew a third-period lead and lost in overtime at home. Those missed points could prove costly for the Pioneers in their quest to capture the MacNaughton Cup as Western Collegiate Hockey Association regular-season champions.
Before a sellout crowd of 6,050 at Magness Arena, St. Cloud State standout Ryan Lasch forced a turnover beside the net and scored an unassisted goal 20 seconds into OT, keeping DU just a point ahead of WCHA second-place North Dakota.
The Fighting Sioux (34 points), who have two games in hand over the Pioneers (35 points), tied Colorado College 4-4 on Saturday afternoon in Grand Forks, N.D., to begin that two-game series.
DU concludes the regular season against visiting CC on Saturday night, when North Dakota wraps up a two-game set at Wisconsin.
In the national picture, the Pioneers remain in an envious position. They entered Saturday second in the Pairwise Rankings (PWR) and dropped only to third, tied with Michigan. The top five PWR teams will get No. 1 regional seeds for the 16-team national tournament.
“As disappointing as the outcome is, as I told our team, they have every reason to keep their heads up and feel good about their season so far,” DU coach George Gwozdecky said. “Before the season began, I think everybody would have thought we’d take battling for first place (in the WCHA) and the first seed with one weekend to go.”
Lasch, a junior from Lake Forest, Calif., nearly broke a 1-1 tie late in the third period, but goalie Marc Cheverie made a blocker save on his breakaway bid. Lasch won it by racing behind the net and stealing the puck from an unsuspecting Dustin Jackson while the DU forward tried to skate it up ice.
“I ended up stripping the puck and shooting in one motion because anything can happen there in overtime,” Lasch said.
DU led 1-0 entering the third period, but center Drew LeBlanc tied it with a power-play goal at 5:11, during the second of two straight penalties by Pioneers senior defenseman J.P. Testwuide. Lasch drew both infractions.
“Ryan Lasch was tough on us tonight,” Gwozdecky said. “Big-time players make big-time plays, and he was the difference tonight, very tough for us to contain.”
On Jan. 1, DU blew a 2-1 third-period lead to Alaska-Anchorage and lost 3-2 in OT. In addition to Saturday’s regular-season finale, the Pioneers will play at home during the March 13-15 WCHA first-round, best-of-three playoffs against ninth-seeded Alaska-Anchorage or No. 10 Michigan Tech.
Mike Chambers: 303-954-1357 or mchambers@denverpost.com
Pioneers Recap
The Denver Post three stars
1. Ryan Lasch.
Huskies center had the winning goal.
2. Jase Weslosky.
St. Cloud goalie kept his team in it with 19 saves in the first two periods.
3. Tyler Ruegsegger.
Junior center scored DU’s goal.
What you might have missed
DU’s Rhett Rakhshani missed the game with a lower- body injury that he suffered early in Friday’s 3-1 victory. The junior wing said his injury is not serious and he expects to practice Monday.
Up next
Colorado College, 7 p.m. Saturday at Magness Arena
