GREEN BAY, Wis.—Jason Zucker scored off a rebound of his own shot 11:14 into the second overtime to lift Denver past Western Michigan 3-2 in the NCAA regional semifinals Saturday night.
Zucker, the Western Collegiate Hockey Assocation’s freshman of the year, capped an improbable comeback for the Pioneers, who trailed 2-0 with less than five minutes left in regulation.
His goal allowed Denver to snap a three-game losing streak in NCAA games.
In a rematch of the WCHA finals, the Pioneers (25-11-5) will play No. 1 ranked North Dakota on Sunday for a trip to the Frozen Four. The Sioux won the last meeting in double overtime.
“For those who were ready to write us off, you should know better,” Denver coach George Gwozdecky said. “This team has shown—I hate to use the word resiliency because it’s such an overused term in sport—but certainly this team has always shown throughout the year that our third period is by far our best period of games.”
The rally left the Broncos (19-13-10) stunned and heading home after making their first NCAA tournament appearance since 1996.
“I can’t even put into words how proud I am of them and the effort they put forth,” Western Michigan coach Jeff Blashill said. “They have a great fight and courage and they continued to fight and unfortunately we just ended up on the wrong side.”
After a scoreless first period—in which the Broncos hit two crossbars and a post—Western Michigan’s Derek Roehl scored more than halfway through the second.
Roehl cleaned up a rebound on a shot that got Pioneers goalie Sam Brittain out of position and put it home with a backhanded shot at the 13:17 mark.
Trevor Elias scored at 3:32 of the third. But Denver’s Kyle Ostrow got the Pioneers within one on with a power-play goal at 15:31 and Matt Donovan scored 2:07 later to tie it.
Denver had a chance to win it in regulation as a shot trickled through Western Michigan goalie Jerry Kuhn’s pads but the puck missed the net by inches as the horn sounded.
