There just wasn’t much intrigue to this game. But that was supposed to be the case. #6 Denver (22-8-1, 11-7-1 NCHC) was expected to throttle NCHC and NCAA basement-dwelling Miami (3-24-2, 0-19-0 NCHC) and they did just that. The Pioneers scored twice in the first and second periods and coasted through the third period to a 5-1 victory. Aidan Thompson, who recorded two assists, recorded his 100th and 101st career points in his 106th career game.
Jake Fisher opened the scoring with a strong forecheck play to force Miami goalie Ethan Dahlmeir into a mistake before waiting out the RedHawks netminder and firing the puck into an open net. Fellow freshman James Reeder doubled the Pioneers’ lead with a tip-in with 22 seconds left in the opening period after some gorgeous passing on the power play.
In the second period, Garrett Brown scored his first career goal with an unassisted wrister before Jack Devine tallied his 148th career point on a five-hole goal for DU’s second power-play goal of the game on two tries. Thompson’s 100th point came on this marker.
Colorado Avalanche prospect Colby Ambrosio ruined the Pioneers’ shutout bid early in the third with a power play goal of Miami’s own just 1:10 into the final frame but Carter King, assisted by Thompson and Devine, responded with a goal of his own just 18 seconds later to round out the 5-1 result.
The Pioneers can ill afford to drop any more points over their final three weekends of the season and they took care of business in the first of their final six games. If the Pioneers are going to move up in both the NCHC standings and Pairwise Rankings, they’re going to need some help elsewhere in the country.
For the moment, they move two points ahead of 5th place North Dakota into 4th place in the NCHC standings. The Fighting Hawks host Minnesota Duluth this weekend. Meanwhile, today’s victory over the 63rd-ranked team did nothing for them in the PWR, as expected and they stay at #10 there.
Game two in Oxford, OH is slated to start at 4 pm MT tomorrow afternoon/evening.
I needed a no intrigue game. By the end of the night, we did move up to #9. Thank you ASU, Northeastern, and Wisconsin or some combination there of. Still we need to win our next 5 or we could fall precariously close to not making the tournament. I like ASU and would love to see them make the tournament. They must also win out, but a loss to WMU tomorrow night probably won’t drop them in the PW rankings. After that it will be difficult to get to #13, which I think will be the cut off #. Too many Hockey East teams ahead of them or just behind them who will be knocking off each other and possibly not having much PW implications. Maybe some HE team sitting 6-7, loses to a bottom feeder. We could use that. (OSU, Lowell and Amherst are factors in this equation also). But right now I only care about us. Go Pios.
Go Pios. 1 down, 5 to go.
Miami’s program is really down. Only 1500 in attendance! I hope Miami can make some changes to get this program in gear!
When it was formed, the NCHC was able to cherry pick many of the elite teams in the country…and Miami was one of them. If memory serves, Miami competed in the first two Penrose Cup finals. Losing the first year (to DU) and winning the second year. Since then it’s been hard times for the RedHawks. This is one Pio fan who would love to see the program return to respectability and successfully compete again in the NCHC (except vs DU of course).