Consecutive overtime ties at home might not keep the University of Denver atop the national polls Monday, but that doesn’t change the fact the Pioneers haven’t lost since opening weekend and will take a NCAA-high 10-game unbeaten streak (7-0-3) to Air Force on Friday.
This past Friday and Saturday in its fifth weekend of action since going 0-2 in hosting the the annual Ice Breaker Tournament, DU tied rebuilding Miami (Ohio) 1-1 and 2-2, the latter coming Saturday before a near sellout crowd at Magness Arena.
In the two-game finale of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference series, the RedHawks scored late in the third period to force a 5-on-5 overtime in which each team had a 5-on-4 power-play opportunity. For NCHC purposes only, the game continued with a scoreless 3-on-3 overtime and DU, for the second consecutive night, won in a shootout for the extra conference point.
Sophomore forward Dylan Gambrell, who had the game’s first goal, got the shootout winner. Freshman center Henrik Borgstrom did the same Friday.
Two tight games against Miami and former Denver assistant coach Enrico Blasi likely humbled Denver, but the games probably said more about the future of the RedHawks, who played nine freshmen including sensational goalie Ryan Larkin.
“I give them a lot of credit. I thought they were incredibly resilient and stuck to their game plan a lot better than we did,” DU coach Jim Montgomery said of the RedHawks (3-6-4, 0-4-2). “The thing that concerns me about this (DU) group is they don’t move the puck as well as last year’s group. Even when we weren’t scoring last year we were sharing the puck.
“We’re now having a lot of goals unassisted or with just one assist. I’ve never coached a team like that and it’s frustrating for me because I didn’t play the game trying to go through the whole (opposing) team. I played sharing, give-and-go hockey. I don’t know if you can fix that. That’s my concern.”
DU led in shots 22-3 after the first period, 37-11 going into the third and 47-23 after regulation. Larkin was the game’s best player — a night after being named the No. 1 star in a 38-save effort.
“It’s tough to celebrate right now. Obviously, we got a ton of chances,” Gambrell said. “Overall, we just have to get better getting to the net-front and really bearing down. There’s definitely an upside. We get that many chances and still come out with a tie. If we’re going to have success down the road, we’re going to have to score more goals.”
Gambrell struck on the power play 3:02 into the game. From the left circle, he buried a wrist shot through traffic and inside the far post after Miami’s Conor Lemirade was ejected 51 seconds into the game.
Troy Terry gave DU its second lead at 14:03 of the second period. He also scored with a wrist shot from the left circle — his first shot of the game. Terry, who scored DU’s goal Friday and had at least five other scoring chances, was unquestionably the best forward in the series.
The game was costly for DU, which lost senior wing Evan Janssen to a likely concussion on the first shift of the game. The Pioneers, who were playing without senior wing Emig Romig — who suffered a broken leg at North Dakota last weekend — now have two key seniors out of the lineup.
The hit on Janssen wasn’t originally whistled a penalty, but the officials conferred and went to video to figure out what happened. Ultimately, Lemirade — who is listed at 6-foot-6 and 246 pounds — was given a five-minute major and game misconduct for interference. Lemirade came from the opposite side of the ice and delivered a blindside hit on Janssen, who was attended on the ice after unsuccessfully trying to skate to the DU bench.
“He’s doing better now than he was then,” Montgomery said of Janssen, who appeared to be unconscious.
The Pioneers next play Friday at Air Force before hosting the Wisconsin Badgers and first-year coach Tony Granato on Saturday. Granato returned to his alma mater after a long NHL playing and coaching career, including stints with the Avalanche as assistant and head coach.