It was game two of the NCHC Frozen Faceoff quarterfinals at DU’s Magness Arena Saturday Night. DU entered the game with a 1-0 Frozen Faceoff series lead on Miami and a chance to close out the RedHawks hockey season. Denver played with speed and energy, generating an explosive four-goal second period, to defeat Miami, 6-2. Next up is an NCHC playoff game against Western Michigan at Magness Arena next Saturday.
Two minutes into the game, Miami’s Ethan Hay beat Johnny Hicks in traffic, 1-0 RedHawks. Denver went into the penalty box but still created two unsuccessful odd-man breaks but were unable to cash in on the scoring chances. Miami’s Kocha Delic got called for hooking. Denver once again created some outstanding chances, but Miami’s goaltender Matteo Drobic was up to the task. A Miami cross-checking penalty gave DU the man advantage once again but the Pioneers could not solve Drobic, their second scoreless powerplay of the period. In the final minute, Denver was called for tripping but Miami was unable to generate a man-up goal as the first-period buzzer sounded. Denver outshot the visitors 13-2 in the first 20 minutes but, surprisingly, trailed.
It was a dominant second period by Denver as the Pioneers speed and skill was on full display. Miami cracked under the Denver assault. Five minutes into the frame, the Pioneers found the puck in traffic after it bounded off the top of the cage and fell beside goaltender Drobac. James Reeder cleaned up the carom in the crease and punched it into goal, 1-1. A minute later, a snipe from the right circle by Kieran Cebrian beat Drobac high, 2-1. Denver’s offense shifted into high gear as DU controlled the offensive zone. Six minutes into the period, Hagen Burrows powered a strike past a sprawling Drobac, as DU caved in the RedHawk defense, 3-1. The Redhawks created several odd-man rushes in the final ten minutes, but DU goaltender Johnny Hicks was up to the task. With a minute to go, Kyle Chyzowski picked up a bounding puck in traffic around the crease and lifted a roof shot, 4-1. DU exited the period with four goals and led in shots, 33-10.
The final 20 minutes were academic. The first eight minutes of the final period were defensive as both teams clogged middle ice and each team generated a single shot. At the 10-minute mark, DU went on the powerplay. Sam Harris fed Eric Pohlkamp, and he delivered a wrister past Drobac, 5-1. Denver pulled goalie Hicks with 7 minutes to go and started to liberally substitute. At 4:18, Miami’s Doug Grimes scored on DU backup Paxton Geisel, 5-2. Shortly thereafter, Jake Fisher was called for tripping but Geisel withstood the Miami powerplay as the RedHawks played in Denver’s defensive end. With under a minute remaining, Denver capped the scoring on an empty-netter, 6-2, by Jake Fisher to complete an outstanding effort by the Pioneers on the night.
Next up is an intriguing NCAA semifinal matchup against Western Michigan next Saturday night at 6:00 pm MT at Magness Arena.
Dominate win tonight.
Pios look ready to take on WMU and then head out to Grand Forks the following week (assuming the Sioux beat UMD) for the NCHC championship.
The Pios once again fell into the (very annoying) pattern of slow starts that have been so numerous this year, but found their legs in the second. Once they got the cycle going down low, Miami could not keep up. Hicks was great on the limited shots he saw.
Looking forward to next Saturday. DU and Western dominated each other this season on the road, with DU sweeping big in Lawson, and Western sweeping big in Magness, so there is plenty of video to review.
Going forward, I hope DC and the staff find a way to get the DU team to be more motivated and focused coming out of the chute in the first period. This time of year, the margins are small against good teams, and falling behind early could cost them dearly in the playoffs.
Hopefully, DU gets some bodies back soon. Missing Epperson, Brown, Pitner and Miller with injuries/ilnesses made the lineup a bit thin, which was ok against Miami, but could make things much harder against the upper division playoff teams that DU will face the rest of the way. Hoping for better news on that front this week….
I got my tickets to the Western Michigan game for this weekend. Pretty excited about having the conference tourney games continue on campus. Should be exciting, one and done (kind of, not the same stress/finality as NCAA tourney) with last two national champs playing in Magness in a big game.
Good tune up for the real tournament, looks like we’re pretty firmly set as a 2 seed regardless of rest of NCHC results