Denver didn’t help its chances of playing host to a National Collegiate Hockey Conference first-round playoff series Friday night, falling 5-3 to Miami (Ohio) at Magness Arena.
The loss to the fifth-ranked RedHawks dropped the No. 7 Pioneers to 11-9-1 in NCHC play. At the end of the night, the Pioneers were tied with Minnesota Duluth for fourth place in the league standings, at 35 points.
“We have to be better on special teams, our power play and our penalty kill,” DU coach Jim Montgomery said of the Pioneers, who were 0-3 with the man advantage and allowed a power-play goal. “Give credit to (the RedHawks). They were really good and we weren’t good enough.”
The top four teams will have home ice in the league’s best-of-three quarterfinals, with the winners of those series advancing to the league’s Frozen Faceoff in Minneapolis.
Junior winger Riley Barber, from Pittsburgh and a sixth-round Washington Capitals draft pick in 2012, had two goals and an assist, and Alex Gacek also scored twice for the RedHawks.
Junior Ryan McKay, the RedHawks’ No. 2 goalie from Palatine, Ill., had 23 saves for Miami, which improved to 13-7-1 in the NCHC.
Miami held a 2-0 lead after one period before DU senior center Daniel Doremus got the Pioneers within 2-1 at 11:27 of the second, on a redirection of a Trevor Moore shot. Barber’s second goal of the night, on a one-timer from the left circle, made it 3-1 at 59 seconds of the third before Pioneers left wing Emil Romig scored at 3:03 to close DU within one again. But Miami got breathing room again when Gacek, sprung on a pass off the glass by Matthew Caito, broke in alone on Tanner Jaillet and scored at 8:33.
Moore scored at 18:02 with the DU net empty to close the Pioneers within 4-3, but Gacek’s empty-netter at 19:04 clinched it for Miami.
Despite the loss, DU still seems in good shape to gain a berth in the 16-team national tournament, barring a complete collapse in the final three games of the regular season and the league’s postseason.
“It wasn’t a lack of effort, it wasn’t a lack of us trying to do the right things. If anyone gets blame for the missed opportunity, it’s me,” Montgomery said. “I didn’t prepare our team well enough on special teams and that’s where coaching really has the impact on a game.”
The RedHawks and Pioneers close out the series Saturday at 7 p.m, and DU’s seniors will be honored at their last regular-season home game.
Montgomery said of the senior night: “I hope we send the seniors off the right way. These are seven great young men from great families and for four years, they’ve poured everything they have into Pioneer hockey and being a great Pioneer. We have to send them off on the right foot.”
DU’s final regular-season series will be at St. Cloud State next weekend.
Terry Frei: tfrei@denverpost.com or
