Feb. 19, 2005

Box Score

DENVER - The Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs scored first and added five second-period goals to thump the top-ranked Denver Pioneers, 6-3, in WCHA action tonight at Magness Arena. Six different Bulldogs scored in the game to end Denver's season-high, 10-game unbeaten streak. Minnesota Duluth improves to 12-15-5 overall and 10-13-3 in the WCHA, while Denver drops to 22-7-2, 17-5-2. The Pioneers also fall to second place in the WCHA behind first place Colorado College, a 2-1 winner tonight at third place Wisconsin. Denver trails CC by two points with two games in hand.

"Duluth released a season of frustration on us tonight," head coach George Gwozdecky said. "We had nothing in our hand, but still found a way to play a strong third period. Duluth was the better team, but we'll turn the page and move on from this game."

Duluth's Brett Hammond scored the lone goal of the first period at 12:59 and UMD never looked back. The Bulldogs outshot Denver, 13-8, in the first period and stunned Denver with a five-goal second period. Tim Stapleton, Marco Peluso, Evan Schwabe, Tim Hambly and Luke Stauffacher scored successive goals in the second period to take a commanding 6-0 lead. The Bulldogs scored a variety of goals in the period, including two power-play efforts (one 5-on-3) and a breakaway (Peluso). Denver's Paul Stastny (St. Louis, Mo.) finally got the Pioneers on the board with a power-play goal with eight seconds left in the period. Duluth outshot the Pioneers, 13-10, and converted both power-play opportunities in the period.

DU played a strong third period by outshooting Duluth 18-4. Brett Skinner (Brandon, Manitoba) and Geoff Paukovich (Englewood, Colo.) scored on the power play to make the final score 6-2. Matt Carle (two assists) and Stastny (one goal and one assist) led the Denver offensive attack.

Isaac Reichmuth earned the win for Denver with 33 saves, while Denver's Peter Mannino (Farmington Hills, Mich) suffered his first loss in 10 games. Mannino (18 saves) surrendered five goals before giving way to Glenn Fisher (Edmonton, Alberta) at 11:15 of the second period.

Denver outshot Duluth, 36-30, and went 3-for-7 on the power play. Denver allowed its opponent to score the first goal for the fourth consecutive game. Duluth finished 2-for-7 with the man advantage.

The Pioneers return to action with a two-game WCHA series at Minnesota State on Feb. 25-26.