Gauthier Tames the Huskies

Dec. 3, 2004

Houghton, Mich. - The No. 7 University of Denver hockey team extended its winning streak to four games with a 5-1 victory over the Michigan Tech Huskies tonight at John J. MacInnes Student Ice Arena. Junior forward Gabe Gauthier (Buena Park, Calif.) scored two power-play goals and added two assists for his second four-point game of his career. The Pioneers improve to 9-5-0, 6-3-0 WCHA. The Huskies drop to 1-13-1 and 1-12-0 WCHA.

Entering this weekend's series, the Pioneers owned the league's worst power-play. Tonight, the Pioneers made their record seem misleading. Denver started the game against the nation's ninth best power-play unit by killing off a Huskie power-play with four short-handed scoring chances. Tech goalie Cam Ellsworth stopped all four shots before Denver went on the man advantage.

Gauthier opened scoring at 8:43 of the first period and jump started the Denver power-play after he redirected a shot by junior defenseman Brett Skinner (Brandon, Manitoba) from the blueline.

Michigan Tech answered back with a power-play goal of its own at 12:39 of the first period from Lars Helminen who was credited with the goal after the puck tipped off the left shoulder pad of Denver goalie Glenn Fisher (Edmonton, Alberta).

Tech's Mike Batovanja and John Scott committed back-to-back penalties to start the second period. Freshman forward Paul Stastny (St. Louis, Mo.) netted a wrist shot on the two-man advantage to quiet the Michigan Tech crowd and give Denver a 2-1 lead. Skinner earned an assist on the goal for his team-leading 13th assist of the season.

Senior forward Jeff Drummond (Leduc, Alberta) finished the scoring the second period when he fired in a wrist shot low to the glove side off a Michigan Tech turnover in front of Ellsworth.

Senior forward Jon Foster (Sufern, N.Y.) extended the Pioneers' lead in the third period on a single-handed effort in front of MTU goalie Cam Ellsworth. Foster fired three shots on goal before stuffing it in under the left pad of Ellsworth. Foster led the team in shots on goal with eight. He leads the team with 60 this season. Denver earned a season high 51 shots on goal in the 5-1 win.

"We have played very stiff competition over the last few months and in a game where we are heavy favorites, we did not want to put ourselves in a trap mentally, said Head Coach George Gwozdecky. "I think that some of the strategies we put in place for tonight worked. We played hard. We played smart. We showed our speed and our strength and we scored three power-play goals tonight because of it."

Denver will have a bye week before traveling to Minnesota-Duluth for a two-game WCHA series on Dec. 17-18. CSTV will broadcast the game live from Duluth on Friday, Dec. 17. Puck drop is scheduled for 6:05 p.m. MT both nights.

Game Summary
First Period
1. DU - Gabe Gauthier 7 (Brett Skinner 12, Matt Carle 8) PPG 8:43
2. MTU - Lars Helminen 5 (unassisted) PPG 12:39
Second Period
4. DU - Paul Stastny 5 (Brett Skinner 13, Gabe Gauthier 8) PPG
5. DU - Jeff Drummond 7 (Gabe Gauthier 9, Kevin Ulanski 6) 18:31
Third Period
6. DU - Jon Foster 9 (Geoff Paukovich 3) 1:20
7. DU - Gabe Gauthier 8 (Paul Stastny 4, Kevin Ulanski 7) PPG 15:59
Scoring		1-2-3--F
Denver		1-0-0--1
Michigan Tech	1-2-2--5
Shots on Goal: DU (16-13-22--51), MTU (5-8-7--20);
Saves: DU - Fisher (4-8-7--19); MTU - Ellsworth (15-11-20--46);
Penalties: DU 8-16, MTU 10-20; Power Plays: DU 3-7, MTU 1-5;
Referee: Jon Campion. Assistants: Joe Romano, Sean Jacques.
Attendance: 2,154.

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