Nov. 25, 2006

Box Score

DENVER - Junior Ryan Dingle (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) registered both Denver goals in the No. 10/11 Pioneers' 2-1 victory over the Air Force Falcons tonight before a sellout crowd of 6,062 at Magness Arena. Senior goaltender Glenn Fisher (Edmonton, Alberta) recorded 22 saves for his third straight win as DU improves to 8-4-1, 5-2-1 WCHA while Air Force falls to 7-7-1, 5-2-1 AHA. DU pushed its unbeaten streak to six games with a 5-0-1 mark.

"We didn't play a great game, but we buckled down when we needed to," DU head coach George Gwozdecky said. "We kept Air Force's big line in check and it's good to see us get the win. It was definitely a big one for us."

The Pioneers and Falcons were scoreless in the first period with Air Force controlling most of the play and outshooting Denver 6-4. The Pioneers started slow and failed to register a shot on goal until the 5:43 mark.

The Pioneers capitalized on a power-play opportunity at 3:52 of the second period when Dingle buried a cross-ice pass from redshirt freshman Brock Trotter (Brandon, Manitoba) in the low slot. Also assisting on the play was sophomore Chris Butler (St. Louis, Mo.).

Dingle then scored a shorthanded goal on a breakaway less than two minutes later at 5:24 when freshman Rhett Rakhshani (Huntington Beach, Calif.) chipped the puck out of the corner to Dingle who raced up the ice and beat Falcon goaltender Peter Foster with a quick wrist shot to the glove-hand side to make the score 2-0.

Air Force scored its first goal with less than two minutes left in the second period when Eric Ehn knocked Mike Phillipich's rebound out of midair past Fisher.

"It was a slow-developing play and we just fell asleep," Gwozdecky said. "The goal gave Air Force life at a very inopportune time for us."

The Pioneers held on to their lead and staved off a six-on-five when the Falcons pulled their goalie with 1:41 left in the game. Fisher saw his shutout streak ended at 158:03 but came up big for the Pioneers with 22 saves and his third straight win. He is now 6-2 on the season.

"We're excited to have great consistent goaltending in Glenn Fisher," Gwozdecky said. "We know he's going to make big saves just like he did tonight."

Air Force outshot DU 23-22 on the evening and the Pioneers were 1-for-7 on the power play, while the Falcons were 0-for-6 with the man advantage.

The Pioneers host Robert Morris in nonconference action tomorrow night at 7:07 p.m.