Box Score Oct. 20, 2006
Box Score
DENVER - Denver - Junior goaltender Jordan Alford stopped 38 shots and Seth Klerer tallied the game-winning goal as the RPI Engineers upset the No. 11 Denver Pioneers, 2-1, in nonconference action tonight before 6,112 fans at Magness Arena. Redshirt freshman Brock Trotter (Brandon, Manitoba) netted his second goal of the season, but the Pioneers fell to 2-3-0 overall and the Engineers improved to 1-0-1. The win was the first for former DU assistant coach Seth Appert, who took over the reigns at RPI this season. Appert served as an assistant coach at DU from 1997-2006.
"RPI did a great job and my hat goes off to them, because they played a great road game," said Denver head coach George Gwozdecky. "We couldn't get the puck to the net. We probably made one extra pass to try to get the puck into the scoring area when we should have been more willing to shoot the puck from other areas and look for the rebound."
The Pioneers got on the board first when Trotter struck on the power play. Senior captain Adrian Veideman (Sicamous, British Columbia) fired a shot from the point and Trotter, left all alone for the rebound, snuck the puck inside the right post to give DU a 1-0 lead.
RPI knotted the game at 1-1 at 12:04 of the second period on a 5-on-3 power-play goal. Jonathan Ornelas fed a streaking Kirk MacDonald, who beat DU junior netminder Peter Mannino (Farmington Hills, Mich.) high to the glove side.
The Engineers took the lead for good at the 5:10 mark of the final stanza when Klerer skated in and fired a shot past Mannino from the left face-off circle.
The Pioneers had multiple chances to tie the game down the stretch, including a shorthanded breakaway opportunity by senior forward Steven Cook (Denver, Colo.) that was thwarted by Alford with 2:51 remaining.
DU outshot RPI, 39-24, but finished 1-for-9 on the power play. RPI converted 1-of-5 opportunities with the man-advantage.
DU returns to action tomorrow night at Magness Arena to wrap up its weekend series with RPI. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:07 p.m. MST.
