Dec. 8, 2006

Box Score

DENVER - The No. 13 Denver Pioneers used a goal and an assist from freshman Tyler Ruegsegger (Lakewood, Colo.) and 32 saves from senior goaltender Glenn Fisher (Edmonton, Alberta) to earn a hard-fought 3-3 tie with the Minnesota State University Mavericks in WCHA action before a sellout crowd of 6,035 at Magness Arena. The Pioneers also received a goal apiece from Chris Butler (St. Louis, Mo.) and Zach Blom (Englewood, Colo.). DU now stands at 9-6-2, 5-4-2, while MSU moves to 3-10-3, 2-7-2.

"We played very well in the first period. Our transition game was there, we jumped to openings and defensively we were strong," said Denver Head Coach George Gwozdecky. "From the very first shift in the second period, we were asleep. Glenn Fisher was terrific in the third period and really stole a point for us tonight."

The Pioneers lit up the scoreboard first as Ruegsegger notched his fifth goal of the season 56 seconds into the contest. A failed clearing attempt by Minnesota State from behind their own net bounced off the skate of Brian Gifford (Moorhead, Minn.) and was directed in front of the net, where Ruegsegger stood waiting.

The Mavericks struck back just over two minutes later when Travis Morin got behind the DU defense following a faceoff win, caught a tipped pass from Jerad Stewart and beat Fisher to the right side to tie the score at the 3:05 mark of the opening period.

Butler gave DU a 2-1 lead heading into the first intermission when he notched a power-play goal at the 9:44 mark. Ryan Dingle (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) won a faceoff in DU's offensive zone back to defenseman Keith Seabrook (Delta, British Columbia). Seabrook fed a cross-ice pass to Butler, who fired a shot that went over MSU netminder Mike Zacharias' (22 saves) shoulder and into the upper-left hand corner of the goal.

The second period provided 20 minutes of back-and-forth action, with Minnesota State's Steve Wagner recording the lone goal. Wagner took a tipped pass from Kevin Huck and snuck a shot under Fisher's glove from the slot with 24 seconds remaining in the period.

Jason Wiley gave the Mavericks a 3-2 advantage at the 9:12 mark of the third period when his point-blank attempt trickled through Fisher's legs and into the net.

Blom, seeing his first action of the season, tied the game at 3-3 less than three minutes later with his first goal of the season. Ruegsegger set up the play by making a nifty move to avoid a defender before passing the puck through the slot to Blom, who rifled a shot past Zacharias from the top of the left faceoff circle.

Neither team was able to score in the closing minutes of the third period or the extra frame.

MSU outshot DU 35-25. The Pioneers were 1-8 on the power play, while the Mavericks were 0-5 with the man-advantage.

The teams play game two of the series tomorrow night. Puck drop is set for 7:07 p.m. MT.