It was an uninspired first period as both teams were as cold as the winter storm engulfing Denver. The second period Denver heated up and delivered three unanswered goals to coast to a 4-1 win on Alumni weekend. The DU team sported their 75th anniversary ‘ketchup and mustard’ throwback uniforms for the first time this season.
The first period was scoreless with few grade-A chances for either team. Denver threw 11 shots at Owen Bartoszkiewicz and Matt Davis turned aside 7 shots-on-goal but neither team was in a mood to take an early lead.
The second period was another story as the Pioneers broke out of their icy funk. Jared Wright found twine with a helper from Eric Polekamp and an assist from Alex Weiermair. Less than three minutes later, Sam Harris took care of business to build a 2-0 advantage. Four minutes later, James Reeder on the powerplay got an assist from Polekamp for a 3-0 lead, all three goals tallied in a seven-minute span.
The third period featured an early goal by Lindenwood’s Tyler Loughman (2:26) when a lazy shot slipped past Davis, 3-1. Denver stayed composed and in control until Rieger Lorenz, on the powerplay, finished off the Lions on a feed from Carter King, 4-1.
Aside from the first period, it was a business-like win for the Pioneers. DU outshot the visitors 46-24 and Denver scored two powerplay goals and stopped the Lion’s sole man-up advantage opportunity. Saturday night’s game is the official alumni game for DU’s 75th Anniversary and features the new ‘old’ uniforms for a second night. The game starts at 7:00 pm MT at Magness Arena.
I just took a look at Lindenwood’s record. They’ve beaten Wisconsin and Miami this year. I was writing them off, but they could still be dangerous in game 2. Pios need to come out strong tonight.
Lindenwood played hard but DU missed several realistic opportunities to score. They are a scrappy team, and were a better test for the Pio’s than many people expected. I thought Lindenwood tended to overcommit to their forecheck, and that created some odd man rushes we didn’t take advantage of. If DU had 46 shots on goal, we must have had at least that many that weren’t on goal. DU seemed lax in the neutral zone at the start of the game, but then tightened things up in the second and third periods.
Our seats are ten rows up from the opponent box, and it was obvious that Lindenwood came to win. Their discouragement was written all over their faces after DU scored twice.
As always, Matt Davis made some great saves. Salminen winning so many faceoffs is making a big difference. DU had two minor penalties and Lindenwood had five. I’d expect that tonight’s game will get a bit chippy, so if DU can maintain composure, they’ll have some power play opportunities.