Box Score DENVER -- The line of junior Chris Paradise (St. Paul, Minn.), sophomore Matt Weber (Binghamton, N.Y.) and freshman Connor James (Calgary, Alberta) combined for nine points as the University of Denver hockey team completed the season series sweep of Alaska Anchorage with a 5-1 victory Saturday night at Magness Arena. With the win the Pioneers improve to 17-13-4 on the season, 12-11-3 in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. The series sweep is the first since January 26-28 when they defeated Alabama-Hunstville and the season series sweep is the first since last season when they won all four meetings against Michigan Tech.
Weber opened the floodgates early in the first period when he chipped in a pass from sophomore Kevin Doell (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) to put the Pioneers up 1-0 at 3:12. Just over six minutes later Denver's power play unit set up in the offensive zone and exploited the Seawolves penalty kill when freshman Ryan Caldwell (DeLoraine, Manitoba) fed Paradise with a cross-ice pass that Paradise one-timed into the back of the net to to extend Denver's lead to 2-0. Paradise recorded his second tally of the evening late in the frame when he danced by a diving UAA defenseman and wristed a shot through the five-hole of Alaska Anchorage goalie Kurt Johnson to give the Pioneers a three goal advantage, 3-0 heading into the first recess.
The second period started off slow with much of the action taking place in the neutral zone. The Pioneers recorded the first shot on goal by either team in the period when James skated into the offensive zone on the right side and fed Weber with a pass on the left side of the crease that he slapped by Johnson to give Denver a 4-0 lead at 6:45. Alaska Anchorage answered shortly thereafter with their lone goal of the night following a Pioneer turnover in the defensive zone. Mike Scott picked up the loose puck in front of the net and wristed it top shelf after Denver sophomore net-minder Wade Dubielewicz (Invermere, B.C.) went low to stop the shot. The Pioneers scored again two minutes later when Weber fired a rocket from the left circle that beat Johnson on his glove side to record the his third goal of the night and give the Pioneers their final margin of victory, 5-1 at 11:17.
The scoreless third period was a defensive battle on both ends of the ice with neither team yielding a scoring opportunity. For the game, Denver scored twice in five power play opportunities and held Alaska Anchorage scoreless in all five of their attempts.
The Pioneers return to action next weekend, March 2-3 when they host WCHA foe Minnesota-Duluth in the final series of the regular season. The puck is scheduled to drop at 7:35 and 7:05 p.m. respectively.
