In the second consecutive electrifying Saturday night atmosphere at Magness Arena, the University of Denver scored with 47.4 seconds remaining in regulation to advance to the WCHA playoff finals and end Alaska-Anchorage’s season.
Unfortunately for the NCAA Tournament-bound Pioneers, they learned before their 4-3 victory that junior center Tyler Ruegsegger’s season also is over.
Ruegsegger, who scored twice in Friday’s series-opening 3-2 victory over the Seawolves to forge a comeback from a 2-0 deficit, suffered a knee injury late in that game and is scheduled to be in a brace for four to six weeks. While rumors swirled that Ruegsegger has a chance to play in the Frozen Four in about four weeks, DU coach George Gwozdecky said the Lakewood native “is finished for the season.”
Losing Ruegsegger, who entered Saturday with team highs in goals (15) and power-play goals (12), occurs as the Pioneers prepare for the return of sophomore center Tyler Bozak, who has missed the past 18 games with a knee injury. The trade-off probably won’t begin until the first game of the NCAA Tournament on March 27 or March 28.
In the meantime, the Pioneers are headed to the WCHA Final Five in St. Paul, Minn. The defending Broadmoor Trophy champions will open Friday against Wisconsin.
The trip was confirmed after freshman Luke Salazar of Thornton one-timed in a beautiful backdoor pass from Kyle Ostrow, completing DU’s sweep of the WCHA first- round, best-of-three series.
Ostrow drove around the net and blindly threw the puck through the crease, and Salazar buried it.
“Mainly, I was just hoping someone was going to the net, and luckily he was there,” Ostrow said.
Ninth-seeded Alaska-Anchorage ends 14-17-5 after giving DU everything it could handle. The Seawolves outshot the Pioneers 28-14 entering the third period with the game tied 3-3.
“The game went as Anchorage wanted to play. They played a very smart positional, defensive game, and we fell into their trap numerous times,” Gwozdecky said. “We finally started getting our speed transition game, and you could see the game open up.”
Alaska-Anchorage 2 1 0 — 3
Denver 2 1 1 — 4
First period — 1, Alaska-Anchorage, Clark 13 (Backstrom), 6:54. 2, Denver, Rakhshani 15 (Maiani), 11:54. 3, Alaska-Anchorage, Grant 15 (LaFranchise), 14:37. 4, Denver, Martin 10 (unassisted), 18:39. Penalties — Aiken, UAA (hooking), 8:44; Martin, DU (double-minor, roughing), 19:33; Lee, DU (roughing), 19:33; Clark, UAA (double-minor, roughing), 19:33; Vidmar, UAA (roughing), 19:33.
Second period — 5, Denver, Mullen 4 (Maiani, Wiercioch), 14:36 (pp). 6, Alaska-Anchorage, Robinson 3 (Crowder, Wiles), 16:33 (pp). Penalties — Wiercioch, DU (slashing), 9:54; Testwuide, DU (interference), 11:10; Brookwell, DU (hooking), 11:52; Clark, UAA (unsportsmanlike conduct), 13:27; Robinson, UAA (interference), 14:11; DU bench (too many men), 14:11; Clark, UAA (roughing), 15:21; Jackson, DU (double-minor, roughing), 15:21.
Third period — 7, Denver, Salazar 15 (Ostrow), 19:12. Penalties — None.
Shots on goal — UAA 10-18-6—34. DU 9-5-11—25. Power-play opportunities — UAA 1 of 4. DU 1 of 2. Goalies — UAA, Christianson (8-8-4) 25 shots-21 saves. DU, Cheverie (22-10-5) 34-31. A — 4,746.
DU Recap
The Post’s three stars
1. Kyle Ostrow.
DU sophomore was fabulous before he assisted on the game-winning goal.
2. Patrick Mullen.
Senior Pioneers defenseman had a power-play goal to make it 3-2 and was stellar in his own end.
3. Luke Salazar.
Had the game-winning goal.
What you might have missed
By scoring DU’s first goal, junior wing Rhett Rakhshani became the 90th member of the Pioneer Century Club (100 career points).
Up next
Wisconsin, Friday at the WCHA Final Five in St. Paul, Minn. Time TBD.
Mike Chambers, The Denver Post
