DENVER In a fitting end to a well-played contest between a pair of rivals, the No. 5 Denver Pioneers (20-10-5, 16-8-4 WCHA) and No. 13/15 Colorado College Tigers (16-10-10, 12-9-7 WCHA) battled to a 1-1 tie tonight in front of a sellout crowd of 6,128 at Magness Arena.
Kyle Ostrow (Calgary, Alberta) scored his 13th goal of the season for the Pioneers midway through the second period, but a Chad Rau tally for the Tigers with 1:39 left in the third period sent the game to an extra session. Marc Cheverie (Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia) stopped 31 shots for the Pioneers, including six in overtime.
The Pioneers finished second in the WCHA standings and will be the No. 2 seed in the WCHA Playoffs when they host Alaska Anchorage on March 13-15.
“Both goaltenders played very well and it was a typical game you see when these two teams get together,” Denver head coach George Gwozdecky said. “To be honest I’m a little bit tired from trying to keep the emotions in check for our team. Colorado College made a really good play on their goal, but both teams made some mistakes tonight.”
It took over 30 minutes, but Ostrow’s power-play tally finally opened the game’s scoring 10:07 into the second period. Jesse Martin (Edmonton, Alberta) made a nice feed across the crease to Ostrow, who buried a quick shot past CC netminder Richard Bachman (32 saves).
Ostrow has now recorded points in four of his last five games, totaling four goals and two assists during that span.
The Pioneers came up with a big penalty kill late in the game after Brandon Vossberg (St. Paul, Minn.) was assessed a five-minute major and game misconduct for checking from behind at 11:29.
However, the Tigers evened the contest at the 18:21 mark of the third period when Rau one-timed a feed from defenseman Ryan Lowery and beat Cheverie to send the game to overtime.
In a move that may have caught some people off guard, Colorado College head coach Scott Owens pulled Bachman in the closing seconds of overtime. The Tigers were hoping to no avail to gain the victory and leapfrog Wisconsin for the No. 3 seed in the WCHA standings. Instead, the Tigers finished fourth and will host Minnesota Duluth next weekend.
Notes: DU sits fourth in the latest PairWise Rankings...The Pioneers will host a first round WCHA Playoff series for the sixth consecutive season...DU and CC tied three of their four contests this season, with the Tigers winning the other... The Pioneers went 1-of-8 on the power play tonight while holding the Tigers scoreless on seven opportunities...Junior forward Rhett Rakhshani (Huntington Beach, Calif.) returned to action after missing last Saturday’s game against St. Cloud State with a lower-body injury...The Pioneers honored seniors Julian Marcuzzi (N. Vancouver, British Columbia), Patrick Mullen (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and J.P. Testwuide (Vail, Colo.) prior to puck drop...The 6,128 fans in attendance tonight represented DU’s largest crowd of the season.
