Feb. 14, 2004

Box Score

Sophomore Gabe Gauthier's (Buena Park, Calif.) goal at 18:50 of the third stanza was the game winner and senior Ryan Caldwell's (Deloraine, Manitoba) third goal of the night sealed a wild 9-7 win for the 12th-ranked Denver Pioneers over the Minnesota State tonight in WCHA action at Magness Arena. Denver improves to 18-10-4 overall and 8-10-4 in the WCHA, while Minnesota State falls to 6-19-5 and 5-15-4.

Denver held a 6-2 lead after two periods before Minnesota State rallied to tie the game at 7-7 with just over three and one-half minutes left in the contest. The Pioneers relinquished a seven-goal lead in an 8-7 loss to Mankato on Dec. 20, but slammed the door this time with big goals from Gauthier and senior captain Caldwell, who netted his first career hat trick with an empty-net goal at 19:56 of the third period to finish the weekend with five points.

"This was a huge win for us," head coach George Gwozdecky said. "We made some critical mistakes tonight and gave up a big lead, but our forwards and defenseman were able to regroup and complete the sweep."

Denver took a 4-1 lead in the first period on two goals from Caldwell and one each from senior Greg Keith (Delta, B.C.) and junior Matt Laatsch (Lakeville, Minn.). The Pioneers dominated the penalty-riddled first period by outshooting Minnesota State, 19-10.

Minnesota State gained momentum in the second period and scored three goals in 1:15 to start the final period. Shane Joseph finally tied the game for Mankato at 16:24 of the third before Gauthier took a great feed from sophomore Brett Skinner (Brandon, Manitoba) and scored the game winner. Gauthier finished with two goals and one assist, while juniors Jon Foster (Suffern, N.Y.) and Laatsch each added one goal and one assist. Junior Jeff Drummond (Leduc, Alberta) added two assists to increase his scoring streak to five games.

Senior Adam Berkhoel (Woodbury, Minn.) got the win with 27 saves, while MSU's Kyle Nixon (30 saves) took the loss. Denver outshot Minnesota State, 39-34, to earn its second WCHA sweep of the season. Denver is tied for sixth in the WCHA with Colorado College, a 4-1 winner over North Dakota tonight. Both Denver and Colorado College have 20 league points. Minnesota holds down fifth place with 23 points.

Denver returns to WCHA action at Michigan Tech on February 20-21.