Marty was on their minds.
In the wake of Jesse Martin’s serious head and neck injuries, the University of Denver responded with its most complete hockey game of the season Friday night.
Playing for the first time without their popular senior center and alternate captain, the Pioneers erupted for three second- period goals in a 4-1 victory over rival Colorado College before a sellout crowd of 6,033 at Magness Arena.
Sophomore Drew Shore and juniors John Lee and Luke Salazar scored to give DU a 3-0 lead, and freshman goalie Sam Brittain (33 saves) was again outstanding in his fifth consecutive start.
“I was proud of our effort,” said DU coach George Gwozdecky, whose team concludes the two- game series with CC tonight in Colorado Springs. “You go through these traumatic situations so rarely, you don’t have a lot of experience to tap into. . . . Certainly, we had good energy, good intensity and we won a lot of battles. But I had no idea if we would have that kind of approach. We were hoping for it, we were planning for it, but when you through a traumatic incident like that, you just don’t know.”
DU triumphed in similar fashion last Saturday in Grand Forks, N.D., after Martin suffered a concussion and multiple fractures to his C2 vertebra from an illegal hit by North Dakota’s Brad Malone. It was 0-0 when Martin had no use of his extremities and was carted off the ice in a stretcher. DU rallied to win 3-0.
The Pioneers came into Friday expecting Martin to be recovering from surgery in a Minneapolis hospital to stabilize his neck. However, Martin on Friday was instead transferred to a hospital in nearby St. Paul, Minn., and surgery was postponed until Monday, and another surgical team has been assembled.
“We talked all this week about, although we care about Jesse, we have to move on and complete our goals,” DU senior Anthony Maiani said. “It was definitely a struggle, but we all overcame it pretty well.”
The Pioneers, who entered the game 2-of-35 on the power play (5.7 percent), scored at 5:12, 15:52 and 16:25 of the second period. The first two goals came on the power play — DU’s first two opportunities of the game with the man advantage.
Maiani, one of Martin’s linemates for three-plus seasons, one-timed a blast from the right circle that was redirected past goalie Joe Howe by Shore for a 1-0 lead.
Lee made it 2-0 with a slap shot from the point, and just 33 seconds later, freshman Jason Zucker shook off a defender behind the Tigers’ net and wrapped the puck into the crease, where Salazar tapped it in while Howe thought it was still on Zucker’s stick.
CC scored a power-play goal with 5:11 remaining, and Zucker added an empty-netter in the final minute.
The Tigers, who lost their third straight game and have dropped five of their last six, went 1-of-6 on the power play. They were 0-of-4 in the first two periods when DU took the majority of the penalties.
“They have a very aggressive kill on their sheet here and they outquicked us to some pucks,” CC coach Scott Owens said. “We couldn’t get anything set up, anything going.”
Freshman sensation Jaden Schwartz, who leads CC with seven goals and nine points, was held without a point for just the third time this season.
Mike Chambers: 303-954-1357 or mchambers@denverpost.com
