A penalty shot happens, and everybody in the stands and on the bench stands up. It is a natural outgrowth of a failed one, then, that fortunes can deflate for the team that missed.
Such was the case Saturday night for the University of Denver Pioneers, who were shut out 4-0 at Magness Arena by the defending NCAA champion Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs.
At 15:30 of the second period, the Pioneers trailed only 1-0 and sophomore left wing Jason Zucker stood at center ice waiting for the referee to blow the whistle so he could skate in for a penalty shot. Normally one who likes to go backhand on breakaways, Zucker thought he saw a big enough opening to go 5-hole on Bulldogs goalie Kenny Reiter.
Zucker put a good hard shot on Reiter, but the senior netminder snapped the pads quickly and the puck came to a rest in his snowy crease. Just a few minutes after the building and Pioneers bench sagged back in their seats, the Bulldogs put two more goals in the net and the game was essentially over.
“I should have scored. I think that would have changed the game a little bit, but they played better than us and they deserved the two points tonight,” said Zucker, a 2010 second-round draft choice of the NHL’s Minnesota Wild. “My go-to is backhand, but he was backing up pretty quick and I didn’t know if he’d be able to get down. He made a good save on it, and credit to him.”
The eighth-ranked Pioneers (3-3-2, 2-2-2 WCHA) did not play a bad game, outshooting the 14th-ranked Bulldogs 29-25. But they didn’t capitalize on a couple of early power plays, and the pedigree of a champion team is such that it can sense when teams have let them off the mat and make them pay. In short, Duluth seemed to play with more confidence throughout — especially after Reiter’s big stop on Zucker. Thirty-seven seconds after, Duluth center Jack Connolly beat Pioneers goalie Juho Olkinuora to make it 2-0, and Travis Oleksuk made it 3-0 at 17:43 on his second goal of the night.
“There’s no question,” DU coach George Gwozdecky said, when asked about the momentum switch after the penalty shot. “Just before that, Olkinuora had made a huge save, and then we come down and get the penalty shot. I think Jason was more deflated than anyone else. He was really angry with himself and frustrated. That continues through with a number of our top players; the desire is there, but . . . a number of our guys are struggling.”
Gwozdecky spoke with confidence about the future of this season’s team, however.
“We’ll get through this,” he said. “I knew we’d go through something like this. Because of the kind of team we have, there was going to be a time where we’d go through a bit of a quiet period. Not that I wish it on us, but we’re going through it early and we’ll work our way out of it.”
DU Recap
The Post’s three stars
1. Travis Oleksuk.
UMD forward scored his team’s first and third goals.
2. Kenny Reiter.
Bulldogs goalie stopped 29 shots for the shutout.
3. Jack Connolly.
Duluth senior center scored a nice goal.
What you might have missed
Dallas Gaume, the Pioneers’ all-time leading scorer, attended the game and was recognized during a stop in play.
Up next
Colorado College, 7 p.m., Saturday at Magness Arena
