Dec. 9, 2006

Box Score

DENVER - Junior forward Ryan Dingle (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) recorded his second-career hat trick and junior goaltender Peter Mannino (Farmington Hills, Mich.) made 21 saves as the No. 13 Denver Pioneers defeated the Minnesota State University Mavericks 5-1 in WCHA action before a sellout crowd of 6,029 at Magness Arena. Junior forward Geoff Paukovich (Englewood, Colo.) and sophomore forward Patrick Mullen (Pittsburgh, Pa.) each added a goal for DU, while freshman Rhett Rakhshani (Huntington Beach, Calif.) and redshirt freshman Brock Trotter (Brandon, Manitoba) recorded two assists apiece. With the win, DU moves to 10-6-2, 6-4-2, while MSU falls to 3-11-3, 2-8-2.

"We had a real sense of urgency and desire to win tonight," said Denver Head Coach George Gwozdecky. "I was really pleased with our overall effort and how few mistakes we made. Our guys worked very hard and really came to play."

Dingle gave the Pioneers a 1-0 lead with 52 seconds remaining in the opening frame on his team-leading 13th goal of the season. Rakhshani started the play in DU's defensive zone by flipping the puck high into the air off the sideboards. Trotter gained control in the neutral zone and led a rush up-ice before handing the puck off to Dingle, who buried a shot from the top of the right circle high to MSU netminder Mike Zacharias' (24 saves) glove side.

Dingle struck for the second time just 1:40 into the middle frame, this time from the left faceoff circle. Rakhshani picked up a loose puck in front of Mannino and carried it the length of the ice before making a pretty feed to Dingle, who fired a shot past Zacharias for his 14th tally of the year.

The Pioneers went up 3-0 when Dingle completed the hat trick at the 7:17 mark of the third period. Trotter controlled the puck behind MSU's net and fed Dingle on the goalmouth, who put the puck past an outstretched Zacharias.

The Mavericks made it a 3-1 game 9:05 into the third period on a Kurtis Kisio goal. Trevor Bruess led an MSU rush up-ice and made a pass to Kisio, who shot the puck into an open net before Mannino could slide across the crease.

The Pioneers added two more goals with MSU's Brian Kilburg off due to a 5-minute major for checking-from-behind late in the third period. Paukovich notched his first tally of the season at the 15:29 mark after sneaking behind the MSU defense and tapping in a pinpoint pass from Tyler Ruegsegger (Lakewood, Colo.). Mullen made it a four-goal game at 18:44 when he one-timed a cross-ice pass from senior forward Mike Handza (Glenshaw, Pa.).

DU outshot MSU 29-22. The Pioneers were 3-10 on the power play, while the Mavericks were 0-7 with the man-advantage.

The Pioneers return to action Dec. 15-16 with a pair of WCHA road games at Alaska Anchorage. Puck drop is set for 9:37 p.m. MT on Friday and 9:07 p.m. on Saturday.

Game Notes: Dingle is now tied for the WCHA lead in goals scored (15) and tied for second in game-winning goals (3) ... Tonight was Denver's 44th consecutive regular season sellout.