Box Score DENVER - Senior
Brian Gifford (Moorhead, Minn.) scored the game-winner and junior
Marc Cheverie (Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia) made 19 saves to lead No. 1/2 Denver (26-7-4) to a 2-1 win over Michigan Tech (5-29-1) tonight in the first game of the best two-of-three opening round WCHA playoff series at Magness Arena.
Junior Jesse Martin (Edmonton, Alberta) also scored for Denver, who outshot Tech 40-20 in the contest. Carl Nielsen scored Tech's lone goal late in the opening stanza and Josh Robinson had 38 saves.
"We weren't as sharp offensively as we have been," DU head coach George Gwozdecky said. "Part of the reason was Robinson and the other is that we've been burning the midnight oil trying to get our final exams done. We got the first win of the series and I think we'll be much sharper tomorrow night."
Martin buried a feed from junior Anthony Maiani (Shelby Township, Mich.) 37 seconds into the game and dominated much of the opening stanza, but Tech tied the score at 15:31 with a goal Nielsen.
Gifford scored the decisive goal at 15:45 of the second period with assists going to freshmen Drew Shore (Denver) and Chris Knowlton (Colorado Springs).
"Great pass by Shore to set up a great one-timer by Gifford," Gwozdecky said. "It couldn't have come at a better time for Brian or us."
DU went 0-for-4 with the man-advantage, while Tech was 0-for-2.
The Pioneers can punch their ticket to the WCHA Final Five with a win tomorrow night. Puck drop is set for 7:07 p.m.
Notes: Martin's goal was the fastest to start a game for DU this season. Tech leading scorer Brett Olson left the game with an apparent injury at the 4:40 mark of the third period and didn't return. Gifford has a two-game goal streak. Cody Brookwell, Joe Colborne, Jon Cook, Nate Dewhurst, Matt Glasser, Dustin Jackson, John Lee, Chris Nutini, Kyle Ostrow, Lars Paulgaard, Rhett Rakhshani, Tyler Ruegsegger, John Ryder, Luke Salazar, Brandon Vossberg, Patrick Wiercioch, Gifford, Cheverie and Martin were named to the All-WCHA Academic Team (3.0 GPA or better) earlier today. The 19 selections breaks last season's WCHA record of 18 also set by Denver. FSN Rocky Mountain will air all games of the 2010 Red Baron WCHA Final Five held March 18-20 in St. Paul, Minn.
