March 16, 2002

Box Score

The Denver Pioneers rode the goaltending of junior Wade Dubielewicz and received goals from all four of their forward lines to claim the Broadmoor Trophy and WCHA Playoff Championship, defeating the Minnesota Golden Gophers, 5-2, at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn.

The win gave the Pioneers (32-7-1 overall, 21-6-1 WCHA) their league-best 13th playoff title and guaranteed themselves a spot in the upcoming NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey Tournament. The 10-minute long announcement of tournament pairings will air Sunday, March 17, at 7 p.m. Mountain on the ESPN News cable channel. Denver will play either in the West Regional at Yost Ice Arena, Ann Arbor, Mich. (March 22-23), or East Regional at the Worcester Centrum, Worcester, Mass. (March 23-24).

Dubielewicz (Invermere, British Columbia) earned the All-Tournament Most Valuable Player Award, as well as a spot on the All-Tournament team, with his 38-save effort. Senior forward Chris Paradise (St. Paul, Minn.) and sophomore defenseman Ryan Caldwell (Deloraine, Manitoba) were also named to the All-Tournament team.

Dubielewicz and the Pioneer defense was outstanding all night, holding the potent Minnesota power play to 1-for-7. Of the Gophers' 40 total shots, 12 came with them owning the extra attacker. Denver finished 1-for-3 on the power play and 27 total shots.

Coming into the game, the regular-season champion Pioneers had struggled with the man advantage, clicking just twice in 21 attempts over their last five games entering Saturday's contest. But Denver capitalized on their first power play opportunity, going up 1-0 when senior David Neale (Victoria, British Columbia) tallied his 10th of the season at 3:32 of the first period. Caldwell made a nice deke down low, eluding a Golden Gopher defenseman before dishing the puck to Neale in the slot. His low, soft shot slid under the arm of goalie Adam Hauser to stun the partisan Minnesota crowd of 18,126 (sellout).

The teams traded goals in the early going of the second period. Freshman Kevin Ulanski (Madison, Wisc.) notched his fifth goal of the season and third point of the Final Five when Jesse Cook's (Englewood, Colo.) slapshot from the point glanced off his leg and past Hauser just 1:29 into the second. The Gophers responded to shave the lead to 2-1, converting on a 4-on-2 chance when trailing defenseman Keith Ballard lifted a shot over Dubielewicz at 2:29. That goal ended Dubielewicz' shutout streak that had lasted since the 15:10 mark of the second period vs. Michigan Tech on March 8 at 158:26.

Sophomore forward Max Bull (Faribault, Minn.) regained the two-goal cushion for the Pioneers, collecting a loose puck in the high slot and ripping a high drive over Hauser's shoulder at 4:03 for his 7th marker of the year.

Minnesota pulled within 3-2 on their fourth power play of the period, when Troy Riddle tipped a point shot by Nick Angell over Dubielewicz' outstretched pad at 13:38.

Skating through the tense opening minutes of the third period, junior Greg Barber (Kelowna, British Columbia) gave Denver breathing room at 8:11 at 4-2 when he picked a pass off the boards from linemate Connor James (Calgary, Alberta) and beat Hauser over his glove hand for his 18th goal of the year.

Junior Kevin Doell (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) iced the contest with a sharp-angled, empty net goal at 19:15.