Behind junior goaltender Wade Dubielewicz’s 30 saves, No. 2 Denver shut out visiting Wisconsin, 3-0, in front of a sellout crowd of 6,112 at Magness Arena Friday. Dubielewicz stopped every shot from the Badgers en route to his first shutout of the season and the fourth of his career.
The teams skated to a scoreless tie after the opening 20 minutes of play before the Pioneers posted the game’s first tally midway through the second. Skating a man up, junior Kevin Doell redirected a point shot by junior Greg Barber. Initially, it appeared as though Wisconsin goalie Scott Kabotoff made a great save, but the puck trickled over the goal line, giving Denver a 1-0 lead.
Just 1:59 into the third period, sophomore Connor James gave Denver a two-goal cushion. Senior defenseman Bryan Vines began the play from his defensive zone, chipping the puck forward to senior Chris Paradise. Paradise hit James streaking into the Badger zone on the left side and James broke in on a two-on-one, got in close and roofed a soft shot into the far corner as Kabotoff never reacted on the shot.
Paradise sealed the win with his goal at 13:39 of the final stanza, assisted by James and senior Jesse Cook.
Denver outshot Wisconsin 40-30 in the game and scored the contest’s lone power-play marker. The Pioneers finished 1-for-7 with the extra attacker, while keeping the Badgers scoreless in three opportunities.
After picking up a 2-1 victory last week in the championship game of the Wells Fargo Denver Cup, Dubielewicz was again on top of his game, stopping five Badger breakaways and numerous point-blank shots.
Denver and Wisconsin will conclude the two-game WCHA series with a 7:05 p.m. game Saturday at Magness Arena.
