Jan. 27, 2007
Box Score
DENVER - Junior goaltender Peter Mannino (Farmington Hills, Mich.) stopped 24 shots to lead the No. 5 Denver Pioneers to a 2-0 win over No. 4 St. Cloud State in a dominating performance in WCHA action in front of 6,095 fans tonight at Magness Arena. Geoff Paukovich (Lakewood, Colo.) netted his fourth game-winning goal to help Mannino to his third shutout of the season and the Pioneers earned the series split to improve to 19-9-2 and 11-7-2 in the WCHA. St. Cloud State falls to 17-5-4, 11-5-4. The win ended a two-game losing streak for Denver, who avenged last night's 3-2 loss and move within two points of second-place St. Cloud State.
Brock Trotter (Brandon, Manitoba) also scored for the Pioneers, who outshot the Huskies 36-24 and turned in a perfect 4-for-4 effort on the penalty kill.
Mannino, who missed the last six games with a groin injury, improved to 7-1-1 in his last nine games with his ninth career shutout. He stopped four shots in the first, seven in the second and 13 in the third. He moved into sole possession of third place on DU's all-time shutout list.
"We played as complete a game as we've played all year," DU head coach George Gwozdecky said. "We're very pleased with the way the team responded after last night's game. There were many times when we gathered possession in the offensive zone tonight and we wouldn't give it up."
The Pioneers scored first midway through the first period when Paukovich slid home a no-look backhanded shot that deflected off SCSU goaltender Bobby Goepfert's (34 saves) right skate and through the five-hole on the power play at 11:14. Paukovich extended his point streak to five games with his sixth goal.
Denver jumped to a 2-0 lead early in the second period when Trotter punched in a rebound past Geopfert at 1:23. Chris Butler (St. Louis, Mo.) and Tyler Ruegsegger (Lakewood, Colo.) earned assists on the play.
St. Cloud State outshot DU 13-7 in the final period, but Mannino stopped all 13 shots to improve to 7-3-1 overall. The Pioneers finished 1-for-3 on the power play in the win.
DU returns to action Feb. 2-3 against Minnesota Duluth at Magness Arena.
