Feb. 28, 2004

Box Score

Freshman Matt Carle (Anchorage, Alaska) scored one goal and added three assists and senior Adam Berkhoel (Woodbury, Minn.) made 34 saves as the 11th-ranked Denver Pioneers completed their two-game sweep of seventh-ranked Minnesota with a 6-3 win tonight before a sold out crowd of 6,081 at Magness Arena. The sweep is Denver's first against Minnesota since Dec. 1-2, 2000, as Denver improves its record to 21-10-5 overall, 11-10-5 in the WCHA. Minnesota drops to 20-13-3, 13-12-1. The Pioneers and Golden Gophers are tied for fifth place in the WCHA with 27 league points. Denver extends its unbeaten streak to a season-high seven games, sporting a 5-0-2 record since Jan. 31.

"We fought, we battled, we were gritty and we got the win," Denver head coach George Gwozdecky said. "We had a great weekend and we control of our destiny for home ice in the first round of the WCHA playoffs."

The Pioneers came out strong when junior Luke Fulghum (Colorado Springs, Colo.) scored at 1:37 and senior Greg Keith (Delta, British Columbia) scored at 7:35 to give Denver a quick 2-0 lead. Minnesota pulled goaltender Kellen Briggs for the second consecutive game after the freshman allowed two goals on four Denver shots. The Gophers settled down and Barry Tallackson scored a power-play goal at 19:06 to cut the Denver lead to 2-1 going into the first intermission.

Denver jumped on Minnesota early in the second stanza when senior Lukas Dora (Lednice, Czech Republic) scored on an assist from Fulghum at 3:55 and Carle's power-play goal gave Denver a 4-1 lead at 5:19.

Minnesota's Matt Koalska cut Denver's lead to 4-2 when he beat Berkhoel after a Pioneer turnover. The Golden Gophers controlled much of the second period and held a 26-20 shot advantage heading into the third.

The Gophers' Jerrid Reinholz scored at 2:50 of the third period to make it a one-goal game. Minnesota continued to dominate the Pioneers until junior Matt Laatsch scored a huge goal for Denver. Laatsch converted a Minnesota turnover and ripped a slap shot from about 40 feet that beat Gopher goaltender Justin Johnson (20 saves). The goal gave Denver a two-goal lead with just 5:28 left in the contest. Senior Connor James (Calgary, Alberta) iced the game with an empty-net goal at 18:37.

Minnesota outshot Denver, 37-28, and went 1-of-5 on the power play. Denver was 1-of-3 on the power play to break a string of three consecutive games without a goal with the one-man advantage.

Denver will face in-state rival Colorado College on March 4-5. Puck drop is schedule for 7:35 p.m. MT in Colorado Springs this Thursday.