Nov. 18, 2006

Box Score

DENVER - Redshirt freshman Brock Trotter (Brandon, Manitoba) and sophomore defenseman Chris Butler (St. Louis, Mo.) both registered a goal and an assist and junior netminder Peter Mannino (Farmington Hills, Mich.) recorded 30 saves as the No. 11 Denver Pioneers battled to a 3-3 tie with the Michigan Tech Huskies in WCHA action before a crowd of 6,087 at Magness Arena. Following the tie, DU stands at 7-4-1, 5-2-1 while MTU moves to 6-4-2, 3-3-2.

"I thought our start was good and that as a whole we had a much better effort tonight," said Denver Head Coach George Gwozdecky. "We said before this series that our team is continuing to go through a transition phase. They're learning about each other and what they have to do to win games."

The Pioneers struck first at the 5:51 mark of the opening frame when a second effort by Brandon Vossberg (St. Paul, Minn.) found its way into the back of the net. Junior forward Geoff Paukovich (Englewood, Colo.) controlled the puck in DU's offensive zone before making a pretty feed to Vossberg, who had his first attempt blocked before beating MTU goaltender Rob Nolan for his first career goal.

With just over three minutes remaining in the first period Trotter notched a power-play tally to extended DU's lead to 2-0 heading into the first intermission. Trotter took a pass from Tyler Ruegsegger (Lakewood, Colo.) inside the left faceoff circle and shelved a shot over Nolan's left shoulder at the 16:09 mark.

The visitors tied the game with two goals early in the second period. Michigan Tech's Jordan Foote made it a one-goal game at 4:32 when he put a low shot past a screened Mannino from just inside the blueline. Less than a minute and a half later, Jimmy Kerr converted on the power play to knot the game going into the final frame.

Butler gave the Pioneers a 3-2 lead 3:51 into the third stanza with his third goal of the season. Ruegsegger started the play by skating into the offensive zone before he was knocked off the puck. Butler then skated in and blasted the loose puck just inside the upper-left hand corner of the net to give the Pioneers a one-goal advantage.

The Huskies responded 1:09 later when Ryan Angelow snuck past DU's defense and fired a wrister over Mannino's shoulder to tie the game, 3-3.

Both teams had numerous opportunities on the offensive end over the final 20 minutes of the game, but both Mannino and Nolan kept the opposition in check.

MTU outshot DU 33-21 on the evening. The Pioneers were 1-for-5 on the power play, while the Huskies were 1-for-7 with the man advantage.

The Pioneers return to action with a pair of nonconference home games next weekend, hosting Air Force (Nov. 24) and Robert Morris (Nov. 25). Puck drop is set for 7:37 pm. on Friday and 7:07 p.m. on Saturday.