Hockey

Pioneers Pummel Redhawks, 7-1

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Denver hockey (8-4-0, 4-2-0 NCHC) met the Miami Redhawks (2-9-1, 1-5-0) once again in Magness Arena Saturday night. Denver got off 83 shots and 48 shots-on-goal in the rout. The win leaves the Pioneers undefeated at home for the season.

In the first period, Denver dominated the Redhawks, outshooting the visitors 16-3. The Pioneers finally found net midway through the period with a goal by DU’s red hot freshman goal scorer Carter Mazur assisted by Reid Irwin and Antti Tuomisto. The first frame ended 1-0, Denver.

Denver spent the entire second period in the Redhawks defensive zone, scoring four unanswered goals in an offensive clinic. Denver outshot the Redhawks 16-4 in the second (racking up 55 shots in the first two periods) on the exhausted Redhawks team who appeared listless in the face of a quick puck-moving Denver side.

The first goal in the second period was a shorthanded goal by the Pioneers  McKade Webster assisted by Carter King and Sean Behrens. The shorty seemed to demoralize the outmanned Miami side.

Three minutes later, Carter Mazur scored his second goal of the night to put Denver up 3-0. The Pioneers continued to camp in the Miami end when Connor Caponi scored Denver’s third goal of the period at 13:32 to extend Denver’s advantage to 4-0. Caponi was assisted by McKade Webster and Carter King.

Mike Benning capped the 4-goal second period onslaught with assists from Bobby Brink and Cole Guttman.

In the third period, Miami got on the board early with a low bar wrister by Jack Olmstead. Denver continued to control the puck and delivered two more goals of their own before the period ran out. A Bobby Brink goal gave Denver a 6-1 lead. Five minutes later with time running out in the final frame, Denver got their second shorthanded goal of the night when Connor Caponi tucked the puck into the Redhawks net with assists by Carter King and Shai Buium.

The 7-1 win was clearly the most dominant performance by Denver hockey this season and showcased their speed, puck handling, and offensive firepower. The only problem for Denver was a 0-5 result on the powerplay. Still, it is hard to find any fault with the Pioneers play on a night where they exhibited great effort and controlled the game from beginning to end.

DU is off next weekend and takes to the ice on December 3rd against Arizona State on the road.

3 thoughts on “Pioneers Pummel Redhawks, 7-1”

  1. That’s the most complete game the Pios have played this season. Looking forward to many more just like it!

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  2. That was a series of domination! DU scored 11 goals, and only let in two against. You rarely see that kind of score disparity in NCHC play. DU now up to #6 in a very early rendition of the PWR, but NCAA qualification is certainly a goal that this team can attain, if they can keep scoring and have Chrona only giving up a goal per game. Magnus’ saves percentage has now edged over .900 for the first time in a while, and let’s hope he builds on this weekend as DU needs quality goaltending the rest of the way.

    The Pios are now the second-highest scoring team in the NCAA, averaging over 4.4 goals per game, a huge leap from the 2.8 gpg they scored last year. Carle’s hunches about his young players more than replacing the scoring of the 10 guys with eligibility remaining who were not retained, has proved to be a master stroke of his coaching acumen this season.

    However, there are still many aspects of DU’s game that still need improvement, starting with winning on the road outside Colorado. This starts at ASU in early December, as the Sun Devils beat and tied DU the last time the Pios were in Tempe. ASU has the very best power play in the country (36%), lighting up the Pios earlier this season for all six goals it scored in Denver in October. DU’s PK improved a bit vs Miami, but it is still a statistically very poor 56th out of 59 teams at 68%. The good news is that DU’s second-ranked offense (4.42 GPG) should score against ASU’s 50th-ranked team defense, which is giving up 3.67 gpg.

    The Pios need to be focused on the Sun Devils, with the UMD trip looming the following week, as this has the makings of a trap week, especially following Thanksgiving.

    Things are certainly looking up for the Pios, but now they need to show they can win on the road. The ASU and UMD trips should tell us a lot about how good this DU team is, and if they have learned from the substandard road performances back East and in Grand Forks earlier this season…

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