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One week after what were two of their worst games in well a long time, games in which their defense couldn’t seem to get organized, the No. 3 Denver Pioneers rebounded, finishing off a sweep of No. 1 St. Cloud State with a 5-1 victory Saturday behind two goals from Adam Plant and 21 saves from Tanner Jaillet. The Pioneers held St. Cloud’s potent offense, which led the country in scoring and averaged close to five goals a game coming into the weekend, to three goals in the two games.
“I just thought everybody that played had a concerted effort to get on the right side of puck, and we were relentless coming back to our net,” said Denver coach Jim Montgomery. “That’s a really good hockey team. They’re very dangerous offensively, and we did a lot of good things and there’s still a lot of areas to improve for us.”
The first period was very evenly played, up-and-down, fast-paced hockey. Both teams had two power plays, but neither could convert. St. Cloud had a few more offensive chances, with 13 shots to Denver’ nine.
However, a penalty right at the end of the period to Blake Winiecki proved costly to St. Cloud, as Denver started the second period with a full power play, and converted when Colin Staub broke in on a two-on-one with Adam Plant, passing it to Plant as he broke to the right side. Plant looked pass to Staub as he reached the right circle, then rifled a shot top corner glove side past rookie goalie Dávid Hrenák at 1:28 of the period.
“We took a penalty right at the horn, a very questionable penalty, they score on the power play; their power play killed us this weekend, and our power play didn’t do anything, so you start with that,” said St. Cloud coach Bob Motzko. “It was a really good first period for us. We came ready to play. And then, I’m a little disappointed in how we didn’t handle some adversity there.”
Just 32 seconds later, Denver made it 2-0 when Tyson McLellan drove to the right circle and beat Hrenák in almost the exact same spot, rifling it over Hrenák’s shoulder.
Asked if he and McLellan had a scouting report to shoot in that direction, Plant laughed, saying, “I mean even if there was I probably wouldn’t be the guy they’d be looking for shooting scouting, but it’s just going pucks to the net. He’s a new goalie; I think he’s a freshman, so he hasn’t seen a lot of college games, he doesn’t have a lot of experience, so high-pressure situations like that, you’ve got to test him.”
After killing off another St. Cloud power play, Denver capitalized on its own power play. It was Plant again, beating Hrenák with a snap shot low from the middle of the blue line at 9:35.
“We worked hard in practice, we went back to the details, and that’s what it takes to be a good defensive team, and you know, give credit to everyone in that dressing room; everyone played really well this weekend,” said Plant. “We put defense first, and that’s why we ended up on top.”
However, St. Cloud got that goal right back when Robby Jackson won the a footrace to the puck behind the Denver net and sent a pass out to the slot to Kevin Fitzgerald, who was driving in on Tanner Jaillet. Fitzgerald beat Jaillet with a quick shot low glove side at 11:14.
St. Cloud’s momentum was hurt though when captain Jimmy Schuldt, the team’s leading scorer and top defenseman, was called for a five-minute major for checking from behind. Schuldt also got a game misconduct. However, Denver wasn’t able to capitalize on that chance, and the best scoring chance was short-handed one from St. Cloud.
“I thought our penalty kill gave us energy every time, gave us momentum, and I thought five-on-five we started to take it over in the second period,” said Montgomery. “The five-minute power play I thought was the actually the worst five minutes of the period for us, but in the third period our power play did a really good job. I thought that Adam Plant’s unit was awesome with how they generated momentum for us.”
The Huskies started putting pressure on Denver and drew a penalty that carried over into the third period, but weren’t able to score, and right after Denver killed it, Eaton Brodzinski was called for five minutes for boarding, and Denver’s power play went to work. Henrik Borgström set in motion, carrying it deep to the left faceoff circle, then passing it back to Ian Mitchell at the left point. Mitchell sent a snap shot on net that Dylan Gambrell deflected low stick side past Hrenák at 2:43 of the third.
“Everybody can see he didn’t come close to hitting him in the back,” said Motzko of the penalty on Schuldt. “And then we have to kill five minutes. You lose your top defenseman and we kill it off. That’s the disappointing thing and then we wanted to hunker right back down. Then we took another penalty just after that, then they score, and that took that took the game away.”
Jarid Lukosevicius made it 5-1 at 14:02 of the third when he picked up a rebound in the slot after Troy Terry drove the net and got the initial shot on net. Lukosevicius poked it in on the rebound.
Next weekend, Denver will host No. 2 North Dakota, meaning the Pioneers are facing the top two teams in the country on back-to-back weekend. Montgomery is expecting a battle, and said the fact the NCHC has the top three teams in the country shows how difficult the conference is.
“I mean you know it’s going to be a very different style of game against NoDak. They are going to be in your face, and it’s going to be a lot more physical and you’re going to have to win a lot more wall battles. The NCHC is such a grind; I think every team’s .500 except for one maybe right now, and only four games in, so it’s going to be a it’s going to be a great run.”
NCHC roundup
No. 2 North Dakota 3, Miami 3
In a back-and-forth game, North Dakota rallied from a two-goal deficit, tying it on Dixon Bowen’s goal just 33 seconds into the third period, and then took a 3-2 lead late in the game on a goal from Shane Gersich at 16:22 of the third period, only to see Josh Melnick tie it for Miami at 18:36 of the third. Neither team could score in the five-minute overtime, nor the three-on-three OT. North Dakota got the extra NCHC point in the shootout when Christian Wolanin scored on a slap shot, the only player of four on either team to score.
“We’re happy; five out of six points is almost as good as it gets,” Wolanin said.
No. 18 Western Michigan 5, No. 12 Minnesota Duluth 0
Luke Bafia got the scoring going for Western Michigan at 1:09 of the second period, and also assisted on the third goal of the period as Western Michigan earned a split of the weekend series with Minnesota Duluth. Ben Blacker made 31 saves in the win, and Hugh McGing and Adam Muir each had two assists. The Broncos also killed six Minnesota Duluth power plays.
Colorado College 4, Omaha 0
Alex Leclerc made 41 saves and Nick Halloran scored the game-winner on a power play at 10:18 of the first period as Colorado College earned a split of its series with Omaha. Halloran also assisted on CC’s second goal, scored by Westin Michaud. Mason Bergh, who also had two assist, scored in the third period at 15:45.
