Dec. 29, 2006

Final Stats

DENVER - Brock Trotter (Brandon, Manitoba) tallied two goals and Peter Mannino (Farmington Hills, Mich.) recorded his second consecutive shutout with 25 saves as the No. 10 Denver Pioneers blanked Mercyhurst 3-0 in Wells Fargo Denver Cup action tonight at Magness Arena. Rhett Rakhshani (Huntington Beach, Calif.) and Chris Butler (St. Louis, Mo.) added two assists each and Geoff Paukovich (Englewood, Colo.) tallied his second goal as the Pioneers extend their unbeaten streak to five games at 4-0-1 and improve to 13-6-2 overall. Mercyhurst falls to 4-9-2. The Pioneers advance to the championship game of the Wells Fargo Denver Cup tomorrow night against UMass Lowell.

"We turned in a solid effort after the long holiday layoff," DU head coach George Gwozdecky said. "Peter really deserved the start after turning in a sensational performance at Anchorage. He's really elevated his game the last month. We emphasized the importance of advancing to the championship game of this tournament and the team responded."

DU dominated play throughout the evening and launched a season-high 51 shots in its fourth consecutive win. Mannino extended his shutout minutes streak to 130:55 with his eighth career shutout, which moved him into a tie for third place on DU's all-time shutouts list.

Paukovich staked the Pioneers to a 1-0 lead with a backhanded shot in the low slot at 4:45 of the opening stanza. Trotter gave DU a 2-0 lead at 17:22 of the first period with the first of his two power-play goals. Trotter iced the game with his other power-play goal at 2:23 of the third period.

DU went 2-for-6 on the power play and held Mercyhurst to a 0-for-5 effort with the man-advantage. Mercyhurst goaltender Jordan Wakefield made 48 saves in the loss. The Pioneers ended their two-game Wells Fargo Denver Cup losing streak and improved to 23-5-1 all-time in the holiday tournament.

UMass Lowell advanced to the Wells Fargo Denver Cup championship game with 3-2 shootout win over Brown after the teams skated to a 1-1 overtime tie. Brown held a 1-0 lead on a first period goal by Ryan Garbutt. UMass Lowell earned the tie with a second period power-play goal from Jason Tejchma. UMass goaltender Vinny Monaco made 22 saves, but was overshadowed by the play of Brown goaltender Dan Rosen who stopped 47 shots. UMass Lowell outshot Brown 48-23 and went 1-for-5 on the power play. Brown was 0-for-4 with the man-advantage.

Brown and Mercyhurst faceoff in consolation action tomorrow at 4:07 p.m. MT. DU and UMass Lowell play in the championship game at 7:07 p.m.

Notes: DU seeks its 12th Wells Fargo Denver Cup championship in 15 years of competition tomorrow night. The Pioneers extended their regular-season sellout streak to 45 games with a crowd of 6,030. Trotter netted his first two-goal game of the season and second career. Trotter took over the team scoring lead with 24 points on 10 goals and 14 assists. Mannino is tied with former DU All-American Wade Dubielewicz for third place on DU's all-time shutouts list.