Nov. 9, 2001
Box Score
The University of Denver hockey team remained undefeated on the season, cruising to a 9-2 victory over Michigan Tech, Friday (Nov. 9). The win marked Head Coach George Gwozdecky's 300th career victory, 150th at Denver. The Pioneers improved to 7-0-0 overall (5-0-0 in the WCHA), Denver's best start since the 1987-88 season.
After killing the game's first power play, the Pioneers opened the scoring as senior Chris Paradise (St. Paul, Minn.) took the puck at center ice, skated in on net and beat MTU goalie Brian Rogers at 4:46. Just over a minute later, sophomore Lukas Dora (Lednice, Czech Republic) gave Denver a two-goal cushion with his fourth marker of the year, assisted by senior defenseman James Armstrong (International Falls, Minn.). With 10:12 remaining in the opening stanza, the Pioneers increased their lead to three goals as Paradise notched his second goal of the game on Denver's first power play chance. After Rogers made the initial save, the puck rebounded back to Paradise, who launched a rocket from close range to give Denver a 3-0 lead. Junior Greg Barber (Kelowna, British Columbia) notched his second point-and first goal-of the night on Denver's second power play opportunity. After a scramble in front of the net, Barber collected the rebound and beat Rogers top-shelf. Junior goalie Wade Dubielewicz (Invermere, British Columbia) made 11 saves in the opening 20-minutes as the Pioneers took a 4-0 lead into the first intermission.
Just three minutes into the second period, Denver increased its lead to 5-0 as freshman Luke Fulghum (Colorado Springs, Colo.) beat Rogers for his first career goal, giving Denver a 5-0 advantage. Michigan Tech coach Mike Sertich decided to pull Rogers in favor of freshman Cam Ellsworth. Just seconds after coming into the game, on the first shot on the new goaltender, Denver pushed its lead to 6-0 when junior Kevin Doell (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan), while falling down, chipped the puck over the glove-side shoulder of Ellsworth. After a five-minute checking from behind penalty to Tech's Chris Durno, sophomore Connor James (Calgary, Alberta) notched his fourth goal of the season, skating the puck the entire length of the ice and stuffing it under Ellsworth on the short-side. Michigan Tech ended Dubielewicz's bid for his fourth-career shutout at the 11:06 mark of the second period. The Pioneers were caught deep in the Husky zone while MTU's Colin Murphy took the puck at center ice and broke in on Dubielewicz one-on-none. Dubielewicz's attempted to poke-check the puck but the puck slipped under his outstretched body and into the net. With 1:35 to play in the middle period, Denver pushed its lead to 8-1 after sophomore Max Bull (Faribault, Minn.) registered his first goal of the season on Denver's fifth power play. Through 40-minutes of play, the Pioneers outshot Michigan Tech 26-16, including 13-5 in the second period.
Freshman Jon Foster (Suffern, N.Y.) gave Denver a 9-1 lead with a power play marker just 3:42 into the third period. It was the Pioneers fifth power play goal in six tries. Following an interference penalty to Bull, Michigan Tech notched just its fourth power play goal as Brian Perez beat Dubielewicz five-hole to cut the Pioneers' lead to 9-2 with 5:55 left to play. Dubielewicz finished with 28 saves, while Denver capitalized on five of six power play tries.
Denver and Michigan Tech will conclude the WCHA series tomorrow night in Houghton, Mich. The puck will drop at 5:05 p.m., MT at MacInnes Student Ice Arena. The game can be heard in Denver on KCKK AM 1600 and on the internet at www.DenverPioneers.com.
