Box Score DENVER - Marc Cheverie (Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia) stopped 29 shots for his fifth shutout and six Pioneers scored as No. 2 Denver defeated Nebraska Omaha, 7-0, in the 18th annual Wells Fargo Denver Cup on Friday night at Magness Arena.
Senior Rhett Rakhshani (Huntington Beach, Calif.) scored two goals and assisted on another, while senior Tyler Ruegsegger (Lakewood, Colo.) and sophomore Joe Colborne (Calgary, Alberta) each had three assists as the Pioneers move to 12-5-2 overall. Nebraska Omaha falls to 9-8-4.
"I thought we had a great effort tonight," DU head coach George Gwozdecky said. "The score makes it seem that this game was one-sided, but Nebraska Omaha had some great chances and we needed Cheverie to be as strong as he was."
Anthony Maiani (Shelby Township, Mich.) started it off for Denver, scoring an unassisted goal just over three minutes into the game. Maiani tallied another point, assisting on Jesse Martin's (Edmonton, Alberta) shorthanded goal at 5:43. Cody Brookwell (Calgary, Alberta) rounded out the first period, netting a Ruegsegger pass from behind the goal to put the Pioneers up 3-0.
At 8:17 in the second stanza, Rakhshani scored his first goal of the night, with Patrick Wiercioch (Maple Ridge, British Columbia) and Ruegsegger earning helpers. Rakhshani's second goal came 1:36 into the third period.
Wiercioch tacked on the Pioneers' seventh goal-a season high for DU-at 16:24 of the third stanza.
Denver outshot the Mavericks, 35-29, and the Pioneers were 1-2 on the power play and held UNO to 0-for-4 with the man-advantage.
In game one of the Wells Fargo Denver Cup earlier this afternoon, St. Lawrence came back to upset #5/6 Boston College, 5-2.
The Wells Fargo Denver Cup continues tomorrow as St. Lawrence takes on Nebraska Omaha at 4:07 p.m. and Denver faces BC at 7:07 p.m. The team with the best record of the two-day showcase will be crowned champion of the tournament.
Notes: With three assists, Ruegsegger extended his point streak to a career-high eight games. Cheverie has nine career shutouts. Nebraska Omaha will join the WCHA next season. DU's Matt Donovan (Edmonton, Alberta) and BC's Chris Kreider are playing for Team USA at the 2010 IIHF World Junior Tournament in Saskatchewan. Former Pioneer Paul Stastny was named to the USA Olympic Hockey Team today.
