Box Score

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Sophomore Jason Zucker (Las Vegas, Nev.) scored 2:18 into overtime to give No. 3 seed Denver a 3-2 win over No. 6 seed Michigan Tech in the WCHA Final Five quarterfinals Thursday afternoon at the Xcel Energy Center. With the win, the Pioneers advance to the WCHA Final Five semifinals against No. 2 seed Minnesota Duluth Friday afternoon.  

Ty Loney (Valencia, Pa.) and Luke Salazar (Thornton, Colo.) added goals for the Pioneers (24-12-4) and freshman Juho Olkinuora (Helsinki, Finland) earned his first playoff win with 27 saves.

Blake Pietila and Ryan Furne scored for Michigan Tech (16-19-4) and Josh Robinson made 41 saves in the loss.

“We’d like to change the game plan and win a game in the third period,” DU head coach George Gwozdecky said of DU’s recent late-game heroics. “It certainly was indicative of how our season has been this year, it has not been as fluid and consistent as perhaps we thought it would be back in September. But, through the challenges we have been able to play a little bit more consistently and find some success.”

Zucker fired a shot past Robinson at 2:18 of the extra frame after Joey LaLeggia (Burnaby, British Columbia) found Zucker open on the back door. Nick Shore (Denver, Colo.) also added an assist on the game-winner.

Loney gave the Pioneers an early 1-0 lead with a goal off a Drew Shore (Denver, Colo.) feed from behind the Michigan Tech net at 3:50 of the opening stanza.

Michigan Tech’s Pietila evened the game at 1-1 at 10:45 of the first as he beat Olkinuora on a breakaway.

Furne gave the Huskies’ a 2-1 lead just 18 seconds into the final frame, beating Olkinuora stick side from the right circle.

Salazar continued his hot play by tying the game at 2-2 at 15:28 of the third. Drew Shore dropped a pass to Loney in the slot and Loney found Salazar streaking down the far side.

Loney finished with a goal and an assist and Drew Shore had two assists in the win. Defenseman Josiah Didier (Littleton, Colo.) finished a team-best +3 and had five blocked shots.

Denver outshot Michigan Tech 44-29 and went 0-for-1 on the power play. The Huskies were 0-for-3 on the man-advantage.

Puck drop for tomorrow’s Denver and Minnesota Duluth matchup is set for 1:07 p.m. MT.

Notes: DU is 10^th in the latest PairWise Rankings. Salazar, who is on a three-game goal streak, has recorded four goals in the last five games, including two game-winners and two game-tying goals. Drew Shore’s 52 points (21g, 31a) are the most since Matt Carle and Paul Stastny had 53 each in 2005-06. Denver is 5-1-4 in overtime games.