DULUTH, Minn. — Usually it’s the University of Denver hockey team that prefers to start strong, stay ahead and find a way to win the close games. But Saturday night it was Minnesota-Duluth that started fast, jumping to leads of 2-0 and 3-1 in the first period en route to a 6-3 win and a split of the WCHA series.
When Denver beat UMD 3-2 on Friday night, it boosted the Pioneers to a 7-1 record in one-goal games. And DU (11-5-2, 9-3-2 WCHA) lifted itself into position for another one-goal affair by rallying for goals by Matt Glasser and Anthony Maiani in the second period to gain a 3-3 tie.
But the Bulldogs stunned DU with a goal by Kyle Schmidt midway through the third period, then Jack Connolly scored his second of the game at 13:47 and Rob Bordson punctured any hopes of a DU win with a tally at 17:11.
“They certainly kept coming tonight,” DU coach George Gwozdecky said. “Their top line was very good.”
That line accounted for the first two and the last two of the Bulldogs’ goals.
“This game was similar to last night’s, and it could easily have been a one-goal game,” Maiani said. “Both teams battled hard, but last night we finished and tonight they did. Their top line was unbelievable tonight. We couldn’t stop them.”
When it was suggested that DU goalie Marc Cheverie, who came into the game with a 1.79 goals-against average and a .940 save percentage, may have been off his game — giving up three first-period goals while making only three saves, and stopping only 21 shots for the game — Maiani jumped to his defense.
“It wasn’t Chevy’s fault,” he said. “It’s up to us, the forwards and defense, to focus in on how we play in the defensive end.”
Denver 1 2 0 — 3
Minn.-Duluth 3 0 3 — 6
First period — 1, UMD, Bergman 1 (Fontaine, M. Connolly), 4:38. 2, UMD, J. Connolly 11 (Fontaine, M. Connolly), 7:00. 3, DU, Ruegsegger 9 (Donovan, Nutini), 7:18. 4, UMD, Oleksuk 4 (Bordson, Seidel), 8:49. Second period — 5, DU, Glasser 2 (Donovan) 4:23. 6, DU, Maiani 3 (Ruegsegger, Rakhshani), 14:19, (pp). Third period — 7, UMD, Schmidt 7 (Oleksuk), 9:20. 8, UMD, J. Connolly 12 (M. Connolly, Schmidt), 13:47. 9, UMD, Bordson 4 (J. Connolly, Montgomery), 17:11, (pp).
Shots on goal — DU 7-14-5 — 26. UMD 6-12-9 — 27. Power-play opportunities — DU 1 of 5; UMD 1 of 4. Goalies — DU, Cheverie (27 shots-21 saves). UMD, Hjelle (26-23).
Attendance — 4,568. T — 2:20.
