DENVER Marc Cheverie (Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia) stopped 31 shots to lead the No. 5/7 Denver Pioneers (15-6-2, 11-4-1 WCHA) to a 3-1 win over Michigan Tech (5-17-2, 1-13-2 WCHA) tonight before a sellout crowd of 6,030 at Magness Arena. Denver remains in first place in the WCHA with 23 points with its fourth consecutive win over the Huskies.
Jesse Martin (Edmonton, Alberta), Kyle Ostrow (Calgary, Alberta) and Rhett Rakhshani (Huntington Beach, Calif.) scored for Denver and Patrick Mullen (Pittsburgh, Pa.) chipped in two assists. Martin added an assist for his fifth multi-point effort this season.
Martin buried a perfect pass from Mullen from the low slot to give DU a 1-0 lead in the first period. Tech tied the score with a 4-on-3 power-play goal from Geoff Kinrade with 39 seconds remaining in the opening period.
DU regained the lead with a goal from Ostrow at 16:01 of the second and Rakhshani iced the win with an empty-net goal with four seconds remaining in the final stanza.
Cheverie earned his 15th win of the season with another stellar effort. The sophomore made 12 saves in the first period, 12 in the second and seven in the third for his ninth win in his last 11 starts.
The Pioneers outshot the Huskies 38-32, but went 0-for-4 on the power play. Tech went 1-for-4 with the man-advantage. Rob Nolan took the loss with 35 saves.
DU returns to action at North Dakota on Jan. 23-24. Both games will be televised live on FSN Rocky Mountain.
Notes: Anthony Maiani’s 11-game point streak ended tonight. Rakhshani has 3-25 during his five-game point streak. Martin has scoring points in eight of his last nine games. DU was swept 5-4 and 4-1 at North Dakota last season.
