For all the brawn it showed butting heads with Boston College the night before, the University of Denver hockey team Saturday skated with shackles.
The 11th-ranked Pioneers scratched three of their best players with what the team said were illnesses, leaving Joey LaLeggia, Quentin Shore and Zac Larraza off the ice. They were in a hole before the puck dropped against No. 5 Boston College, the team that edged a full-strength DU by a goal on Friday.
Denver, though, didn’t lose its stride. The Pioneers got a whip-quick goal from Danton Heinen, his second of the night, with just 54.5 seconds remaining in overtime to top Boston College 2-1 at Magness Arena in front of a sellout crowd of 6,032.
Heinen’s game-winner came after a bouncing puck went from the stick of Daniel Doremus back to a backtracking Heinen on the left side. With his back to the corner, Heinen turned on a redirected shot that beat BC goalie Thatcher Demko high to the stick side.
“It was kind of a broken play,” said Heinen, a freshman. “The puck came rolling to me, and luckily I got it under his arm.”
“Great effort,” Denver coach Jim Montgomery said. “I thought our team played with desperation.”
Denver struck quick in the second period, weathered a storm when BC came back, then nearly won the game on the goal line in the third.
With less than two minutes remaining in the third, Denver’s Matt Marcinew stole the puck from BC’s Ian McCoshen and broke for the net. His wrist shot trickled through goalie Demko’s pads, but defenseman Teddy Doherty cleared the puck off the line to save the Eagles.
Just 21 seconds into the second period, Denver’s Trevor Moore took a pass in the corner. He shielded a defender and circled all the way from left to right, before laying off a pass to the back post than Heinen turned into an easy goal.
Like a flash, the Pioneers led. But they also scored 28 seconds into the second period Friday before falling 2-1. And Boston College again rallied.
Nearly 13 minutes into the second, Travis Jeke’s shot from just inside the blue line was deflected twice, finally by Boston College’s Destry Straight, whose tip got past DU goalie Evan Cowley for the equalizer.
Denver (4-2) outshot Boston College (4-2) 35-28 and with better chances, forcing Demko into difficult saves.
“We thought we controlled the play both nights,” Heinen said. “We were unlucky to not get the win last night. But it felt good to come back and rebound tonight.”
The Pioneers’ shot chart in the first period illustrated their early edge — with a smattering of chances in the slot.
DU’s best chance early was set up by Josiah Didier’s leveling hit a Boston College forward near the red line midway through the first. It turned into a breakaway chance for Daniel Doremus against Demko. But his shot went high and wide.
Nick Groke: ngroke@denverpost.com or
