Saturday night, Denver hockey (3-2-1) faced the Boston College Eagles with a chance to deliver a perfect homecoming weekend sweep. Goalie Tyler Krivtsov was solid in cage for the Pioneers for a second consecutive night but an untimely rebound by Krivtsov in the final minute surrendered a one-goal lead. The two teams failed to light the lamp in five-minute OT and the game finished knotted at deuces.
It was a lethargic and sometimes chippy first period. Five minutes into the period, DU’s Kyle Chyzowski was whistled for a five minute major (hit to the head) and a game misconduct. The Eagles caught pipe with the advantage but DU stoned the man advantage. Denver struggled connecting passes and left Krivtsov to fend for himself on a number of occasions. Sam Harris ended the period charging into the Eagles crease with a scoring opportunity and was spiked head-first into the ice by BC goalie Louka Cloutier as a melee broke out. BC doubled up DU on shots-on-goal 10-5.
In the second period, the Eagles held the early advantage. However, at 5:34, on what appeared to be a harmless Pioneer offensive possession, Kristian Epperson lofted a seeing eye shot parallel to the goal from the left flank and gifted DU a 1-0 lead. Caswell chipped in with the assist. DU started to play a more connected game on both ends of the ice. On a break down ice, DU’s Blake Fiddle took a feed at the right point and sailed a wrister past Cloutier, 2-0 (13:46), Denver. BC contested the goal but the officials did not see goalie interference. A frustrated BC grew more testy in the waning moments of the period. A roughing non-call on the Eagles was followed by BC’s top line finding paydirt on a batted goal, 2-1. The prior non-call occurred when a BC player drove Ryan Miller into the glass, wrapped him up as he fell to the ice and lifted him up and slammed him into the ice again. An official was watching 10 feet away and swallowed his whistle.
Early in the third period, Denver failed on its 5th powerplay opportunity of the game. The Eagles upped their puck pressure but Krivtsov stood tall in the cage through the midway mark. It clearly felt that there was at least one or more goals to be scored as DU clung to its one-goal advantage. It was end-to-end hockey entering the final five minutes with each team probing the others defense. At 2 minutes, BC pulled their goalie and Teddie Stiga found a rebound off Krivtsov in front of the DU goal and pounded it home, 2-2 (19:14).
The teams skated to a tie in five-minute overtime. The Pioneers lost the shootout but that will not count in the (NPI) national standings.
It’s clear that for whatever reason, teams are going to play DU tough, physical or just plain dirty to take them out of their game. Denver went 0-5 on the powerplay tonight and that may have been the difference in a tight contest. BC outshot the Pioneers 28-26 and had the edge in faceoffs wins +18.
Next up is the beginning of conference play against Omaha, Halloween Weekend.
“It’s clear that for whatever reason, teams are going to play DU tough, physical or just plain dirty to take them out of their game.” No doubt true! Tonight’s game, even with a tie, was a terrific hockey game. Just wow. I told my wife that I feel lucky to watch such great hockey.