ST. PAUL, Minn. - Anthony Maiani (Shelby Township, Mich.) scored the game-winning goal and senior netminder Peter Mannino (Farmington Hills, Mich.) stopped 32 shots to lift No. 6 Denver (25-13-1) in a 3-1 win over North Dakota (25-10-4) today in the semifinals of the Red Baron WCHA Final Five before 16,768 fans at Xcel Energy Center. The Pioneers will play for their league-leading 15th WCHA playoff championship tomorrow night at 6:07 p.m. MT against Minnesota.
“Our team played with great enthusiasm, confidence and resiliency today,” DU head coach George Gwozdecky said. “Peter was outstanding in net and Maiani placed a great shot for the game-winner.”
Matt Glasser (Calgary, Alberta) iced the game with an empty-netter with six seconds remaining and Rhett Rakhshani (Huntington Beach, Calif.) also scored for the victorious Pioneers, who extended their winning streak to three games and postseason winning streak against North Dakota to four games. Taylor Chorney scored North Dakota’s lone goal and Jean-Philippe Lamoureux made 27 saves in North Dakota’s second loss in 21 games.
Maiani tallied his team-leading fourth game-winning goal when he scooped up a loose puck, raced down the right side past defenseman Joe Finley and lifted a nifty backhanded goal past Lamoureux high to the stick-side. Maiani also scored the game-winner unassisted in DU’s 1-0 win against Minnesota Duluth last Saturday.
DU’s penalty kill shined with a 4-for-4 effort, including separate 5-on-3 North Dakota advantages within the first 21 minutes of the game.
Rakhshani staked DU to an early 1-0 lead when he ripped a power-play goal past Lamoureux at 5:58 of the second period. After a scoreless middle period, Chorney banged home a rebound tied the score at 1-1 at 6:16 of the third.
DU went 1-for-4 with the man-advantage and was outshot 33-30.
Notes: DU is sixth in the latest PairWise Rankings. The Pioneers are 5-0 all-time at the Xcel Energy Center in the WCHA playoffs. Mannino improves to 6-2 in the WCHA playoffs with his 62nd career win. DU is 23-1-1 when leading after two periods. Tyler Ruegsegger’s (Englewood, Colo.) assist marked his first point in five games since returning from an abdominal injury.
