Box Score DENVER – A late third-period goal by Sean Little was enough for No. 10 seed Wisconsin to defeat No. 3 seed Denver 1-0 in the first game of the WCHA Playoffs Friday night at Magness Arena.
Little scored the game-winning goal on a 2-on-1 rush with 5:50 remaining in the game to give Wisconsin game one in the best-of-three series.
Netminder Joel Rumpel made 28 saves in the shutout, as Wisconsin improves to 17-16-2.
Denver freshman Juho Olkinuora (Helsinki, Finland) gave the Pioneers 29 saves, but the Pioneers fall to 21-12-4. Denver must win tomorrow night to continue play in the WCHA Playoffs.
“We had our chances to score, I thought we had good opportunities on the power play, but we didn’t execute very well,” DU head coach George Gwozdecky said. “Our pace and our speed were good, but in the third, we were tightening up a little. They made a good play on the winning goal, their guy undresses our defenseman and it turns into a 2-on-1. Olkinuora had good night for us, but we just couldn’t score. This is a playoff series and we have to get ready for tomorrow night.”
The game was scoreless until the 14:10 mark of the final stanza when Little tapped a Jake McCabe centering pass in behind Olkinuora.
Wisconsin outshot Denver 30-28 and went 0-for-3 on the power play. The Pioneers were 0-for-4 on the man-advantage.
The Pioneers take on the Badgers in the second game of the WCHA Playoffs Saturday night. Puck drop at Magness Arena is set for 7:07 p.m. MT.
Notes: DU is 13th in the latest PairWise Rankings. The Pioneers are 1-10 all-time in the WCHA Playoffs against Wisconsin. The Pioneers have been shut out three times this season.
