Oct. 28, 2006

Box Score

DULUTH, Minn. - Freshman Rhett Rakhshani (Huntington Beach, Calif.) tallied two goals and fellow freshman Tyler Ruegsegger (Lakewood, Colo.) tallied his first career game-winning goal as the Denver Pioneers dominated the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs in a 4-2 win tonight before 3,651 at the DECC. Junior goaltender Peter Mannino (Farmington Hills, Mich.) stopped 23 shots for his first win as the No. 13/14 Pioneers earned the series split and improved to 4-4-0 overall and 2-2-0 in the WCHA. Minnesota Duluth falls to 2-2-2, 1-2-1.

"We played our best game of the season tonight," DU head coach George Gwozdecky said. "Our power play came to life and we had a dominant third period. It was good to see Peter get his first win and Rhett score his first goals as a Pioneer."

The Pioneers turned in their best game of the year after suffering a tough 2-1 loss last night. DU outshot UMD, 40-25, and clicked on 2-of-8 power-play opportunities. The Pioneers dominated the third period by netting two goals and outshooting the Bulldogs, 15-3. Last night, the Pioneers were outshot, 38-26, and blanked on all seven man-advantage opportunities.

Ruegsegger netted the game-winner on a blast from the high slot on the power play at 11:49 of the third period. He received a pass from Adrian Veideman (Sicamous, British Columbia) and ripped a shot past a partially screened Alex Stalock (36 saves) on the glove side. Rakhshani iced the game with an empty net goal from the high slot off one knee at 19:23.

Like last night, the Pioneers struck first when Ryan Dingle (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) won a faceoff from the right faceoff circle, crashed the net and buried a rebound off a shot by Chris Butler (St. Louis, Mo.) at 6:08 of the second period. Rakhshani made it 2-0 with his first career goal on the power play at 12:28. Patrick Mullen (Pittsburgh, Pa.) fired a shot on net that Geoff Paukovich (Englewood, Colo.) corralled and slid to Rakhshani, who buried a wrist shot high to the glove side of Stalock. Duluth quickly tied it with two power-play goals less than three minutes later. Joel Meyers scored from the low slot on a great feed from Matt Niskanen at 13:35. Niskanen tied with a one-timer from the top of the right circle at 15:14 off a pass from Mason Raymond.

Veideman added two assists for the Pioneers, while Paukovich and senior Mike Handza (Glenshaw, Pa.) earned their first points of the season. The Pioneers earned their third consecutive series split of the season. DU started the season with a 1-1 record at the Ice Breaker Invitational in Oxford, Ohio, before splitting two-game series' with St. Cloud State, RPI and Minnesota Duluth.

The Pioneers return to action on Nov. 10-11 with a two-game series at Wisconsin. Puck drop is set for 6:07 p.m. MT both nights at Kohl Center.