With a league-record 18 all-academic Western Collegiate Hockey Association selections, nobody had to explain to the University of Denver that it was in trouble Friday night.
Down by two goals late in the second period of its postseason opener against Alaska-Anchorage, the Pioneers figured the best way to dig out of their hole was to stay out of the penalty box.
Easier said than done, of course, but the Pioneers did just that while rallying for a 3-2 victory at Magness Arena to begin a three-game WCHA first-round playoff series against the feisty Seawolves.
Lakewood native Tyler Ruegsegger spearheaded the comeback by scoring back-to-back goals within a 1:58 span late in the second period. The game-winner came from Jesse Martin with 6:57 to play in regulation, and goaltender Marc Cheverie was exceptional in a modest 19-save effort.
Notwithstanding what appeared to be a big, clean hit by defenseman John Ryder — who nevertheless was whistled for elbowing early in the third period — DU did not visit the penalty box during the time it was down 2-0 until the final buzzer.
“We kept our composure, and that’s one thing we talked about,” said Martin, who one-timed a behind-the-net feed from Brian Gifford to give DU its first lead. “We talked about staying disciplined and we didn’t give them much of a sniff after we got going. We played our game.”
Ninth-seeded Alaska-Anchorage (14-16-5), which won twice last weekend at Minnesota-Duluth for the program’s first road sweep since 2000, lost for the first time in five games.
A DU victory in tonight’s Game 2 will send the No. 2-seeded Pioneers (21-10-5) to next week’s WCHA Final Five in St. Paul, Minn. If necessary, Game 3 will be Sunday night.
“Everything you can do to accentuate the positive has to be done if you’re going to come back (from a 2-0 deficit),” DU coach George Gwozdecky said. “We scored a big power-play goal to give us and the building some energy, and then Tyler Ruegsegger made a great individual play to get us the tying goal.
“There’s no question, you have to maintain great positional and self discipline at this time of year, and for the most part we were able to do that down the stretch.”
Ruegsegger and linemate Rhett Rakhshani (two assists) began minus-2, as both were on the ice when Tyler Moir opened the scoring 3:52 into the second period and Kevin Clark doubled the lead less than two minutes later.
Ruegsegger, who was in the trainer’s room after the game and unavailable for comment, made it 2-1 on a power play one-timer and tied it on a sensational rush at even strength.
He split two defenders at the offensive blue line to go in on a breakaway, lost his balance atop the crease but managed to slap the puck between Jon Olthuis’ legs while falling to the ice.
“Ruegsegger got us going and we woke up a little bit,” Martin said.
Alaska-Anchorage 0 2 0 — 2
Denver 0 2 1 — 3
First period — None. Penalties — Ruegsegger, DU (interference), 10:45; Grant, UAA (hooking), 14:44; Haddad, UAA (hooking), 19:12.
Second period — 1, Alaska-Anchorage, Moir 2 (unassisted), 3:52. 2, Alaska-Anchorage, Clark 12 (Crowder), 5:45. 3, Denver, Ruegsegger 14 (Colborne, Maiani), 15:35 (pp). 4, Denver, Ruegsegger 15 (Rakhshani, Wiercioch), 17:33. Penalties — Vidmar, UAA (hooking), 6:33; Robinson, UAA (hooking), 15:07.
Third period — 5, Denver, Martin 9 (Gifford), 13:03. Penalties — Robinson, UAA (tripping), 1:56; Ryder, DU (elbowing), 7:26; Crowder, UAA (boarding), 10:30. Clark, UAA (roughing), 20:00; Jackson, DU (roughing), 20:00
Shots — UAA 2-12-7 — 21. DU 6-13-12 — 31. Power plays — UAA 0 of 2. DU 1 of 6. Goalies — CC, Olthuis (6-9-1) 31 shots-28 saves. DU, Cheverie (21-10-5) 21-19. A — 4,218.
Mike Chambers: 303-954-1357 or mchambers@denverpost.com
DU Recap
The Post’s three stars
1. Tyler Ruegsegger.
DU junior from Lakewood scored consecutive goals within 1:58 to tie it.
2. Marc Cheverie.
Tied at 2-2 early in the third period, DU sophomore goalie made two outstanding saves.
3. Jesse Martin.
Pioneers sophomore had the game-winning goal.
What you might have missed
A scrum involving Seawolves forward Kevin Clark developed at the final buzzer. Clark was ejected the last time these teams played for a hit on defenseman Chris Nutini, who suffered a serious shoulder injury and has not played since.
Up next
Game 2, tonight at 7 p.m.
Mike Chambers, The Denver Post
Wrapup
AFA 4, Sacred Heart 3
AIR FORCE ACADEMY — Jacques Lamoureaux scored a goal in the third period to lift the Falcons to a victory Friday night.
The winner of the best-of-three quarterfinals advances to the Atlantic Hockey Association final four in Rochester, N.Y., next weekend.
Andrew Volkening had 22 saves for the Falcons, while Stefan Drew blocked 37 shots for the Pioneers.
Also scoring for Air Force were Scott Kozlak, Derrick Burnett and Jeff Hajner. All three of their goals came in the second period.
Sacred Heart was led by Erik Boisvert with two goals; teammate Matt Gingera added one.
Minnesota-Duluth 4, Colorado College 1
COLORADO SPRINGS — Josh Meyers and MacGregor Sharp scored first-period power-play goals and the Bulldogs (17-12-8) went on to take the first game of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association three-game series.
Meyers got his goal after Cody Lampl of the Tigers’ (16-11-10) drew a five- minute major for checking from behind, which also drew a game misconduct. Sharp scored when Kris Fredhem was off for hooking. CC drew within 3-1 on Eric Walsky second-period tally, then Justin Fontaine got an insurance goal for UMD in the third period.
Denver Post staff & wire services
