Senior goaltender Peter Mannino (Farmington Hills, Mich.) recorded 25 saves, while Rhett Rakhshani (Huntington Beach, Calif.), J.P. Testwuide (Vail, Colo.) and Matt Glasser (Calgary, Alberta) each scored as the No. 8 Denver Pioneers (21-10-1, 15-8-1 WCHA) earned a season sweep of Alaska Anchorage (7-18-7, 3-18-5 WCHA) with a 3-1 victory tonight in front of 6,031 fans at Magness Arena.
DU’s win, coupled with Minnesota Duluth’s loss to Colorado College earlier tonight, clinched home ice for the Pioneers in the first round of the WCHA Playoffs for the fifth consecutive season.
Mannino, who earned his 20th victory of the season and the 58th of his career, moved into a tie with Rodney Schneck for fourth place on DU’s career wins list.
“We played a really tough series and got better as the weekend went on,” Denver head coach George Gwozdecky said. “I’m very proud of their accomplishments, not only this weekend, but also being able to wrap up home ice in the first round of the WCHA Playoffs.”
Rakhshani recorded the first period’s lone goal when he deposited the rebound of a Patrick Mullen (Pittsburgh, Pa.) attempt over a sprawling Jon Olthuis (25 saves) six minutes into the contest.
Testwuide gave the Pioneers a 2-0 lead at the 7:58 mark of the middle frame on a blast from the top of the right faceoff circle that picked the top right corner of the net.
Alaska Anchorage forward Tommy Grant answered at 11:39 with a low shot that slipped past Mannino.
Glasser then rounded out the scoring with his fourth tally of the season at 18:12 when he held onto the puck during a 2-on-1 rush and put a low shot under Olthuis’ right pad.
DU outshot UAA by a 28-26 margin and went 1-for-4 on the power play while holding the Seawolves scoreless on five opportunities.
The Pioneers return to action next weekend when they travel to Houghton, Mich., to face the Michigan Tech Huskies. Puck drop is scheduled for 5:07 p.m. MT on both Friday and Saturday.
Notes: The Pioneers are sixth in the latest PairWise Rankings...DU has tallied a power-play goal in 11 of its last 14 games...The Pioneers have won eight consecutive contests against Alaska Anchorage...The Seawolves’ last win against DU was Dec. 10, 2005...The Pioneers are 49-for-54 (90.7%) on the penalty kill in their last 11 games.
