Dec. 29, 2001

Box Score

Senior forward Chris Paradise (St. Paul, Minn.) netted two goals and sophomore netminder Wade Dubielewicz (Invermere, B.C.) turned away 26 shots to lead the University of Denver to an electrifying 2-1 win over No. 5 UMass-Lowell in the championship bout of the 2001 Wells Fargo Denver Cup Saturday (Dec. 29) night at Magness Arena.

Denver, with its fifth straight win, improves to 16-2-0 overall on the season and 5-1 against non-Western Collegiate Hockey Association foes. UML's school-record-setting nine game winning streak ends with the loss as the Pioneers hand the River Hawks their first non-conference loss, which drops them to 13-3-0 on the season. Denver also improves its overall Denver Cup record to 16-3-1 and defends its Denver Cup title after winning two straight and eighth overall in the tournament's 10-year history.

UMass-Lowell took advantage of an early break and capitalized to take a 1-0 lead late in the opening period with a shorthanded goal by Ed McGrane, his eighth of the season. McGrane stole the puck from Denver in the offensive zone and skated alone towards the net before chipping a shot over the stick hand of Dubielewicz. Seconds later, UML goalie Cam McCormick was whistled for an infraction, which resulted in a two-man advantage for the Pioneers. Denver regrouped and netted the equalizer when Paradise wristed a shot from the left circle over McCormick's glove hand, his sixth tally of the season, to tie the game 1-1. The Pioneers took their first lead of the game five minutes into the second frame on Paradise's second marker of the night. Paradise took control of the puck in the offensive end and skated through the slot before sliding a shot under the leg pad of McCormick to put Denver ahead 2-1.

"This game played out exactly as I had predicted," said Denver head coach George Gwozdecky. "UMass-Lowell was as good a team as we have seen all year. We were able to use our quickness and speed to create scoring chances, which they were unable to find an answer for. I thought that our seniors played a terrific game, something that we needed to have against an experienced and talented team such as UMass-Lowell."

For the game Denver out-shot the River Hawks 29-27 and tallied one goal in seven man advantage opportunities, while UML was held scoreless in all five of its power play tries.

The contest will be tape-delayed on Fox Sports Net Rocky Mountain and is scheduled to be replayed on Sunday (Dec. 30) at 1 p.m. mountain time.

2001 Wells Fargo Denver Cup All-Tournament Team Forward: Greg Barber (Denver), Greg Day (Bowling Green), Ed McGrane (UMass-Lowell)
Defense: Aaron Mackenzie (Denver), Peter Capouch (Harvard)
Goaltender: Will Crothers (Harvard)
Tournament MVP: Greg Barber (Denver)

The Pioneers will return to action next weekend (Jan. 4-5) at home in a two-game WCHA series against Wisconsin. The puck is set to drop at 7:35 and 7:05 p.m. mountain time respectively.