GRAND FORKS, N.D. — By impressively erasing a relatively large deficit in a challenging environment Saturday night, the University of Denver hockey team produced a character win while clearing some cobwebs from its history books.
The third-ranked Pioneers, behind steady goaltending from Marc Cheverie and a resilient offense spearheaded by Anthony Maiani, engineered a four-goal rally to stun No. 4 North Dakota 4-2 and sweep the four-game regular-season series between the rivals for the first time since the 1992-93 season.
The sellout crowd of 11,750 at Engelstad Arena saw the Fighting Sioux blow a 2-0 lead and get swept at home for the first time since 2006. DU, which triumphed 2-0 on Friday — the first win here for any current Pioneer — previously beat the Sioux 1-0 and 3-2 in Denver.
“I’m proud of our team. We showed great resiliency when this building was starting to shake,” said DU coach George Gwozdecky, whose team improved to 16-6-4 and took over sole possession of first place in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association at 12-4-4. “When we were down 2-0, we kept doing what we do well. We continued to keep them off the scoreboard with our penalty kill and just hung in there. It was a great statement game for us in this league and a real character win for this group.”
DU got second-period goals from junior Kyle Ostrow (10:31), freshman Drew Shore (13:32) and sophomore Joe Colborne (17:52) to erase its 2-0 deficit. Senior team captain Rhett Rakhshani added an insurance goal with 7:44 remaining.
“We came together,” Colborne said. “It was a huge character win for us. We may end up looking at this as being a huge turning point in our season.”
Maiani was the unsung hero. The junior wing made excellent passes to set up the first two goals, including a blind backhander from behind the net that Ostrow one-timed from the doorstep that opened the floodgates.
On the power play, Shore tied it with a wrist shot from between the circles off a Maiani rush from the left wing. And a little more than four minutes later, Colborne tapped in a sneaky slide pass from Rakhshani, a play that started when Shore found Rakhshani near the right post.
DU was 5-of-5 in penalty killing and 14-of-14 for the series. The Sioux have failed to convert with the man-advantage in 32 consecutive opportunities, but coach Dave Hakstol was more disappointed with his team’s overall play.
“We didn’t push back after their first goal,” Hakstol said. “That was a critical part of the game, and we didn’t respond.”
Shore, who scored for the first time since Nov. 20 against North Dakota, had a two-point effort along with Maiani, Colborne and Rakhshani. Shore unquestionably played his best game at DU.
“As the season goes on, the pace is slowing down for me,” he said. “The more I continue to play, the more comfortable I am out there.”
Denver 0 3 1 — 4
North Dakota 1 1 0 — 2
First period — 1, North Dakota, VandeVelde 8 (MacWilliam, Gregoire), 12:19. Penalties — Gleason, UND (interference), 13:12; Wiercioch, DU (tripping), 14:48.
Second period — 2, North Dakota, VandeVelde 9 (Gregoire, Frattin), 2:38. 3, Denver, K. Ostrow 10 (Maiani, Gifford), 10:31. 4, Denver, Shore 5 (Maiani, Colborne), 13:32 (pp). 5, Denver, Colborne 11 (Rakhshani, Shore), 17:52. Penalties — Wiercioch, DU (holding), :39; Donovan, DU (holding), 6:29; Blood, UND (holding), 12:11; Maiani, DU (roughing), 13:37; MacWilliam, UND (cross checking), 13:37; MacWilliam, UND (boarding), 18:59.
Third period — 6, Denver, Rakhshani 17 (Lee), 12: 16. Penalty — Ryder, DU (interference), 3:20.
Shots on goal — DU 9-13-6—28, UND 12-8-4—24. Power plays — DU 1-of-3, UND 0-of-4. Goalies — DU, Cheverie (14-3-3) 24 shots-22 saves; UND, Eidsness (12-7-4) 28-24. A — 11,750.
Mike Chambers: 303-954-1357 or mchambers@denverpost.com
DU Recap
The Post’s three stars
1. Anthony Maiani.
Set up DU’s first two goals.
2. Drew Shore.
The freshman from Denver had a goal and an assist in his best game as a Pioneer.
3. Joe Colborne.
“Big Joe” had the game-winning goal and an assist.
What you might have missed
DU and North Dakota entered the game a combined 8-12-5 in weekend finales. The Pioneers improved to 5-6-2 in that situation.
Up next
Mercyhurst, Friday at DU, 7:30 p.m.
Mike Chambers, The Denver Post
