Oct. 15, 2005
Box Score
ORONO, Maine - Goaltender Ben Bishop stopped 23 shots and Josh Soares and Keenan Hopson each had one goal and an assist to lead the Maine Black Bears to a 4-2 victory and two-game sweep of the back-to-back NCAA National Champion Denver Pioneers before a standing-room only crowd of 5,641 tonight at a foggy Alfond Arena. Like last night, the host Black Bears surrendered the game's opening goal, but stormed back with four unanswered goals to improve to 3-1 overall. DU played a better all-around game than last night, but struggled on the power play for the second consecutive night to fall to 0-2.
"Give Maine credit for the weekend sweep," said head coach George Gwozdecky. "I am much happier with our effort tonight, but we put ourselves in a tough position following last night's loss. We need this kind of effort at the start of a series, especially on the road in a hostile environment. "
Freshman Chris Butler's (St. Louis, Mo.) first career goal gave DU an early 1-0 lead when he took a centering pass from fellow freshman Brock Trotter (Brandon, Manitoba) and beat Maine goaltender Ben Bishop low to the stick side. Gabe Gauthier (Buena Park, Calif.) started the play deep in the Pioneer zone and hit a streaking Trotter down the ice.
Maine quickly tied it at 7:53 when Derek Damon scooped up a rebound in the high slot and beat DU goaltender Peter Mannino (Farmington Hills, Mich.) high to the blocker side. Keenan Hopson capitalized on a Pioneer turnover in the neutral zone and beat Mannino on a breakaway at 12:10 to give the Black Bears a 2-1 lead.
The Black Bears made it 3-1 when Soares picked up a rebound on a Rob Bellamy shot that ricocheted off of the right post. Soares beat a sprawling Mannino (17 saves) to the stick side for the two-goal advantage at 5:38. DU killed off a five-minute major checking from behind penalty on Geoff Paukovich (Englewood, Colo.) and Mannino made an outstanding save on a Michel Leveille breakaway to keep the game close heading to the final stanza.
Maine's John Hopson iced the game early in the third when his whirling goal in the low slot bounced off of Mannino's glove and into the back of the net at 2:46. Ryan Dingle (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) netted DU's first power-play goal of the weekend with 26 seconds remaining to make the final score 4-2.
The 6-foot-7 Bishop made four saves in the first period, 11 in the second and eight in the third for his second consecutive victory.
DU went 1-of-7 on the power play to finish 1-of-16 over the weekend with the man advantage. DU outshot Maine, 25-21, but lost the weekend shot battle 49-41.
The game was delayed several times in the second period due to foggy conditions. Both teams emptied their benches and circled the ice to burn off the fog on the ice.
DU returns to action in search of its first victory on Friday, Oct. 21 at Air Force. The Pioneers open their regular-season home season on Saturday, Oct. 22 against Notre Dame.
