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DENVER — On a night when the No. 1 Denver Pioneers raised the program’s eighth championship banner in celebration of last season’s national championship, and coming off a tie and win on the road against No. 5 Notre Dame, it seemed Denver had little to worry about facing Lake Superior.
The Lakers however, had other ideas, as Nick Kossoff stopped 63 shots and Lake Superior emerged with a 3-3 tie with Denver. Denver twice had to rally to even get the tie.
“We’re playing the number one team in the country with a ton of talent, so we knew our goaltending would have to be good and Nick has that ability to do it,” said Lake Superior coach Damon Whitten. “So I thought he did a great job. Obviously he gave us a chance to build that lead and hold on to that lead and fight and scrape for a win, so an outstanding performance by him and really critical. He needed that, and we needed that.”
Despite getting outshot 17-7 in the first period, and spending long stretches collapsing in their own zone and hanging on against a relentless Denver offense, it was Lake Superior that struck first, as the Lakers took advantage of a power play. Max Humitz got the puck at the left point and sent a pass to Brayden Gelsinger down low on the right side, and Geslinger roofed a puck to the opposite corner of the net past a diving Jaillet at 18:18.
“We just got to bear down in the offensive zone and put some of those chances away,” said Denver defenseman Adam Plant. “I mean, it’s unacceptable at home to have 70 shots and not put a team away.”
Lake Superior made it 2-0 early in the second. Off a scrum in the corner to Jaillet’s right, Borström got the puck and started forward, but the puck rolled off his stick right to Humitz, who whipped the puck past Jaillet at 2:27. Lake Superior almost made it 3-0 about six minutes into the second when Jaillet lost sight of it in his crease, but a DU player cleared it before Lake Superior could knock it in.
“I thought we took the crowd out of it,” said Whitten. “I thought we defended well in that first period. Obviously a couple of grade A’s, but we had a great power-play goal. Penalty kill did a good job all night long, so that was critical. You certainly want to be on the road, you want to not give them something early.”
Borström finally got Denver on the board at 10:46 when Colin Staub got the puck along the right boards and took a step toward the goal, then sent it through the slot to Borström on the far side, who fired a snap short in short side.
Denver came out firing in the third, putting continued pressure on Kossoff, but it took a magnificent play from Borström to get the equalizer. Borström got the puck deep in the Denver zone and skated to between the circles in the slot, then spied Dylan Gambrell up ice and saucered a perfect pass through the neutral zone, sending Gambrell in alone on Kossoff. Gambrell deked to his left, then beat Kossoff five-hole at 11:58.
“You know he’s a special player,” said Denver coach Jim Montgomery of Borström. “I mean what else can you say? Like the one rush he had where he went coast to coast and he shot it, Kossoff made a great save, but all of us were watching, including the guys on the ice. Someone should of had that rebound and put it home.”
Montgomery also denied that Kossoff got in his players’ heads.
“Played a great game,” said Montgomery, then added, when asked if he’d seen a performance like that before, “I mean, the Miami goalie last year back-to-back nights, and then two years ago (Cal) Petersen back-to-back nights. Since (it’s) the first half of the year, we’re not as crisp offensively as we’ll be in the second half.”
However, after tying it, Denver got sloppy in its own end, and freshman defenseman Ian Mitchell made a costly turnover behind his net to Diego Cuglietta, who sent it out to Gage Torrel down low near the right post. Torrel then sent it through the slot to Jake Hand, who beat Jaillet before he could slide over. The goal came at 14:26.
“I loved our resolve, I loved our grit, our compete, you know great pushback; like you said, the building was rolling,” said Whitten. “They were rolling and you know for a team that’s fairly young like us we could’ve pulled the tent, but we pushed right back, got a big goal. Again that’s the next step for our program is you have that late lead, now you’ve got to close it down and be the team like this on the road.”
Denver again regrouped, and Liam Finlay tied it off a great play by Jarid Lukosevicius, who got the puck behind the Lake Superior net and sent it to Finaly in the slot, who beat Kossoff with a quick shot.
“The number one was how resilient we were,” said Montgomery. “You know, I think it was the first shot maybe they had in the third and they score. Right? The only negatives in my mind are special teams, and we weren’t crisp on our breakouts. It was too many breakouts where we’re over-handling pucks, and we didn’t do that last weekend, but it’s early in the year and we need to continue to get better.”
Denver had the better chances in overtime, including a one-minute power play at the end, but couldn’t convert. During the exhibition three-on-three OT, Lukosevicius got a goal off a rebound, sending the fans home happy.
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Around the NCHC
No. 3 St. Cloud State 5, No. 13 Boston College 2
St. Cloud State’s offense continued at its fearsome pace, as the Huskies rallied from a two-goal deficit to defeat the visiting Eagles, 5-2. The three Poehling brothers continued to spark the offense, as Ryan assisted on Kevin Fitzgerald’s goal at 10:48 of the second that sparked the rally, and Jack scored the goal that tied it at 12:10 of the second. Jack Ahcan scored the game-winner on a power play at 7:18 of the third, sniping a snap shot from the middle of the blue line past Eagles netminder Ryan Edquist, who made 42 saves. Robby Jackson scored a power-play goal at 13:28 of the third, and Nick Poehling added an empty-netter at 19:29. St. Cloud has scored four or more goals in all four of its games this season.
No. 8 Minnesota 2, No. 4 North Dakota 1
For the fourth time in five games, North Dakota struggled offensively, but this time the defense and Cam Johnson weren’t enough, as the Fighting Hawks suffered their first loss of the year, 2-1, to visiting Minnesota. Rem Pitlick gave the Gophers a 1-0 lead at 11 minutes of the first, and Steve Johnson scored the game-winner at 12:08 of the third. Rhett Gardner’s power-play goal at 13:40 spoiled Eric Schierhorn’s shutout bid, but Schierhorn made 34 saves, while Johnson made 16. North Dakota was 1-for-6 on the power play.
No. 9 Minnesota Duluth 5, Merrimack 5
When Riley Tufte scored at 12:12 of the third period, the Bulldogs’ fourth consecutive goal after falling into an early two-goal deficit, it seemed the home crowd would get to celebrate. Instead, Minnesota Duluth’s defensive woes continued, as Merrimack scored three goals in a 1:59 span to take a 5-4 lead, with Jared Kolquist scoring the goal that sparked the rally and assisting on the other two. Peter Krieger scored at 18:45 with an assist going to Tufte to salvage something for Duluth, and neither team could score in the OT or the three-on-three exhibition OT. Drew Vogler made 38 saves for Merrimack, while Nick Deery stopped 21 for Duluth.
Omaha 5, Arizona State 1
Five different players scored, and goalie Evan Weninger made 26 saves as Omaha won its home opener, 5-1, over Arizona State. Tyler Vessel scored the game-winner at 9:00 of the second, and Mason Morelli scored at 13:02 to give the Mavericks some breathing room. Jakob Stridsberg broke Weninger’s shutout bid at 4:19 of the third with a power-play goal.
Miami 7, Maine 5
Gordie Green assisted on Karch Bachman’s power-play goal at 5:16 of the first, then scored 19 seconds later to give Miami a lead it would never relinquish. Green had two more assists in the second period, including on Kiefer Sherwood’s four-on-four goal at 17:44 of the second that made it 5-3, and then scored just eight seconds into the third to make it 7-3 after Louie Belpedio had scored on a power play at 18:54 of the second. That goal however, ended up being the game-winner, as Maine got two more goals in the third. Grant Hutton scored two for Miami, which got its first win of the year, and Mitchell Fossier scored twice for Maine. Ryan Larkin made 20 saves in the win.
Michigan State 6, Western Michigan 4
Mitchell Lewandowski’s goal at 18:34 of the third proved to be the game-winner, as the Spartans rallied from a 4-3 deficit to defeat Western Michigan, 6-4, at home. Western Michigan trailed 3-1 after one, giving up two goals in the first 1:07 of the game. Austin Rueschhoff scored for Western Michigan in the first, and then the Broncos struck quickly, getting goals 15 seconds apart at 1:31 and 1:46, with Rueschhoff assisting on the first and scoring the second. When Colt Conrad scored just 16 seconds into the third to put Western up, it seemed the Broncos would overcome their poor start, but Anthony Scarsella started the Spartans’ rally at 12:52 of the third. John Lethemon made 26 saves in the win.
