All too often this season, the #8 Denver Pioneers (18-11-3, 14-6-1 NCHC) have put themselves behind the eight-ball with frequent slow starts. It was a big part of the reason why they muddled through the middle part of the season with only one win in seven tries, and coming off a five-game unbeaten streak, it looked like their slow-starting woes were going to strike again as they allowed the Omaha Mavericks (10-19-0, 6-13-0 NCHC) to score first on an early power play at Baxter Arena in game one of the Pioneers’ penultimate series of the regular season. But after one dominant shift halfway through the second period, DU flipped the script, dominated the remaining 30 minutes of the game, and cruised to a 5-2 road victory. The Pioneers, who have now clinched home ice advantage for at least the NCHC Tournament quarterfinals, have three regular-season games remaining.

The opening 20 minutes was an all-too-familiar scene to fans of the Crimson & Gold this season. Denver was punched in the mouth by a motivated opposition and couldn’t immediately recover. Throughout the first period and well into the second period, Denver chased the game while the Mavericks used their strong physical game to keep the Pioneers off balance and away from the puck. Fortunately for DU, freshman goaltender Johnny Hicks was his characteristic self and only allowed a single power-play goal to get by him through the first 30 minutes while his skater teammates worked to find their game. And they eventually did.

Midway through the second period, with the Mavericks continuing to dominate the game, the Pioneers finally found their footing in the offensive zone with their first really strong shift of the game. For the better part of two and a half, maybe even three minutes, Denver zipped the puck around the Mavs’ zone, forced UNO goalie Simon Latkoczy to make a number of heroic saves to maintain the hosts’ lead, and even though they didn’t end up scoring right then, it was clear, even in that moment, that the momentum had shifted.

A few minutes later, after Samu Salminen’s strong forecheck forced an Omaha turnover below Latkoczy’s net, Rieger Lorenz found James Reeder across the slot, and Reeder did not miss the open net to tie the game. As big as the tying goal was, Clarke Caswell drove a stake through Omaha’s heart with his tap-in goal in the closing seconds of the second period after being kicked out of the faceoff circle. Things were already looking good for the Pioneers entering the third with a tied game after the way the game started, but Caswell giving the visitors a lead was all DU needed to step on the gas and run away with this victory. Kyle Chyzowski and Reeder each scored again in the opening 10 minutes of the third period before Omaha could respond with a second goal, and by that time, the game was effectively over.

Lorenz added an empty-netter with three-and-a-half minutes left to extend his goal streak to four games and hammer the final nail into Omaha’s Friday night coffin.

The victory pushes Denver up one spot to #10 in the NPI, just ahead of Minnesota Duluth, which is idle this weekend, and officially clinches home ice for at least the first round of the NCHC Tournament. It is the 11th-straight non-COVID-affected season that the Pioneers earned the right to host the opening round of the conference tournament. The only season they did not finish high enough to host the best-of-three quarterfinals was in the conference’s inaugural season, 2013-14.

Highlights

Top photo courtesy of Omaha Athletics