It was a lethargic #6 Denver hockey team (12-7-1, 8-2-0) that came off a 20-day break. It could have been tryptophan, star forward Eric Pohlkamp returning late from the Spangler Cup in Switzerland, and/or the absence of Brendan Morrow at the World Junior Championship (with a broken finger). Or, maybe, just give these Blackbears credit for rolling into Magness and taking this game from the Pioneers. And yes, the final score of 5-2 fairly reflected Maine’s on-ice dominance over DU on the night.
The Blackbears outshot Denver for the game (34-31) and Pioneers goaltender Quentin Miller had to make some nifty saves to hold the game close. The first period ended 0-0 while the Blackbears had the jump on Denver with 15 shots-on-goal to Denver’s 12. Denver had a power play but came up empty-handed – a trend that has frustrated and baffled Denver this season.
The roof caved in on the Pioneers in the second frame. The quicker Blackbears pounced with two goals. At 3:41, Lukas Peterson pounded the puck past Miller for a 1-0 lead. Five minutes later, Maine sniped another goal at even strength when Sully Schoolle beat Miller through traffic, 2-0. That goal silenced the large (quiet) crowd and a surprisingly large number of Maine fans at Magness Arena. Denver got a golden scoring opportunity when Maine’s Oskar Komarov was called for a 5-minute penalty for cross-checking. It was deja vu all over again – Denver could not score with the man-advantage. The period ended with Denver mired in a two-goal deficit.
The Pioneers seemed to come out flat to open the final period, too. The inevitable happened when Maine’s Thomas Pichette solved the Pioneer defense and Miller for a 3-0 edge. Two-and-a-half minutes later, DU’s Boston Buckberger finally took advantage of the extra-man advantage, taking a pass from Kyle Chyzowski to the left of goaltender Albin Boija and Buckberger rifled the pass into the net, 3-1. Any hope of a comeback evaporated two minutes later when Thomas Pichette collected his second goal of the period, 4-1. Denver started to generate some dangerous shots and scoring opportunities and Kristian Epperson halved the deficit for Denver (even strength), 4-2 to offer a slight glimmer of hope. The Blackbears clogged up center ice and out-hustled DU for pucks in the corners until the last five minutes of the game when goaltender Quentin Miller was pulled. After several full-rink shots and icing, the Blackbears finally put DU on ice with a minute to go when Brandon Holt launched a shot across-ice into the empty goal, 5-2 final.
It was just one game – but a very ugly game. Denver will have their hands full with this same Blackbear crew Saturday night. A similar effort by Denver will not be rewarded.
Too much holiday cheer?
Looks like a tough January ahead for the Pioneers by their
performance tonight.
Lots of home games. DU will be fine.
We started out looking good, that lasted until our first power play when they physically shut us down. Maine pretty much dominated after that except our desperate flurry at end that produced chances and goals. Not a particularly fun game to watch as pioneer fan. Good crowd and impressive turnout by Maine fans- lots of jerseys ( I hope they didn’t come west to ski!)
I chalk it up to bad night, we seem to have these in recent years in early January- I’m not too concerned for the big picture just because of this game
Frustrating game and a disappointing way to start the new year. On the one hand, give Maine a lot of credit–they are a good team, played an effective road game, and deserved the W. They were the much better team in the 2nd period and most of the third. On the other hand, DU just didn’t have enough juice in this one overall. Pios looked flat in the 2nd period and for much of the third, couldn’t get to their forecheck or use their speed much in transition, turned the puck over, and spent most of the night chasing the game. Not a recipe for success against a good team such as Maine. Yes, DU had some good looks late in the game with the goalie pulled, but at that point it was too little too late. Additionally, the 5-minute PP didn’t do much at all. I can’t remember seeing any quality scoring chances. Watching that stretch of the game was an exercise in frustration.
Pios will need a much better effort tonight if they want to avoid being swept. And the schedule for the next few weeks is a meat grinder–WMU in town next weekend and then a road trip to Grand Forks.
Anyway, happy new year to all DU fans and to the folks at LetsGoDU–thanks for your work to make this blog great!
Most teams don’t give us (Maine) credit. Denver fans tell it like it is good and bad which is what we do up in Maine. When the boys play bottle up D , they can beat anyone but with 13 freshman, its been a process.
With 10 freshmen, DU’s season so far also continues to be a process. Hoping for improvement before it’s too late.
Denver Gazette doing more reporting on CC instead of DU. Nothing on last night’s game. ??