Men's Ice Hockey 3/14/2014 12:00:00 AM

Denver Hockey Drops NCHC Playoff Opener 4-3 at Omaha

Box Score

OMAHA, Neb. –The University of Denver hockey team allowed a season-high three power play goals as it fell short by the score of 4-3 at Omaha in the opening game of a best-of-three NCHC first round series on Thursday night at the CenturyLink Arena.

Omaha’s Brock Montpetit scored the eventual game winner on the power play with 9:03 left in regulation as he deked past a pair of Pioneers’ defenders on a rush up the center of the ice before putting a shot past Denver goalie Sam Brittain (Calgary, Alberta) on his stick side. Montpetit finished the night with two power play scores and an assist to lead the Mavericks.

The three power play goals by Omaha were the most allowed by the Pioneers in a single game this season and just the fourth time in 37 games this season that Denver has allowed multiple scores when playing a man down.

The Pioneers will look to even the best-of-three playoff series and avoid elimination when the two teams reconvene on Friday night at 6:37 p.m., MT in Omaha.

Denver is opening the postseason on the road for the first time since 2002-03 campaign when it traveled to North Dakota for the opening round of the conference playoffs – a span of 10 seasons.  The Pioneers entered this season’s conference playoffs as the No. 6 seed, while Omaha is playing as the No. 3 seed.

The Pioneers played without its top player in the faceoff circle Quentin Shore (Denver, Colo.), for the fifth consecutive game.

Denver slips to 16-15-6 overall while Omaha moves to 17-16-2 on the season. 

"Special teams weren’t good enough tonight and we as a staff need to make corrections, we thought we did but things didn’t materialize the way we wanted,” DU head coach Jim Montgomery said. “Give UNO full credit, they were good on their special teams and we weren’t good enough, but when we score three five-on-five goals we have to win.”

Denver took the lead just 7:27 into the action on a wrist shot from the center of the blue line by senior David Makowski (St. Louis, Mo.), his 10^th tally of the season.  Freshman Will Butcher (Sun Prairie, Wis.) found Makowski at the top of the point, who then fired the shot that beat Omaha goalie Ryan Massa, who was being screened perfectly on the shot by freshman Evan Janssen (Green Bay, Wis.).

Omaha answered with a pair of goals over a span of 1:08 at the end of the first. The Mavericks opened the scoring following a turnover by Denver deep in its own zone which set up Omaha on a two-on-one break.  Montpetit found Ryan Walters all alone on the left side of the net for the tap in score to knot the scoreboard at 1-1.

Dominic Zombo gave Omaha the lead at 2-1 on a power play score with just 38 seconds left in the opening period.  Ian Brady hit Zombo with a pass just outside the crease which was tapped past Brittain by Zombo for his 17^th goal of the season.

Freshman Matt Marcinew (Calgary, Alberta) had a chance to tie the game just 1:44 into the second period as he got loose on a breakaway opportunity, but his backhanded attempt was turned away by Massa.

Denver managed to deadlock things once again at 2-2 just moments later on a goal by Ty Loney (Pittsburgh, Pa.) 2:34 into the second period.  After junior Daniel Doremus (Aspen, Colo.) won a draw in the Omaha zone, Loney secured the puck and went top shelf past Massa for ninth of the season.

Omaha tabbed another power play goal, this time with 1:41 left in the second period to claim a 3-2 advantage.  Montpetit won the puck at the boards in the Denver zone and then rushed Brittain unopposed before flipping the puck over the senior’s short side shoulder.

The Pioneers had a five-minute power play in the middle of the second period after Omaha’s Michael Young was ejected for delivering an elbow to the head but failed to net a score after attempting just a pair of shots over the man advantage.

The two teams combined for a total of 42 penalty minutes over the initial two periods of action and 50 overall for the contest.

Junior Joey LaLeggia (Burnaby, B.C.) tied the score for the third time at 3-3 as he capitalized on some careless puck management by Omaha behind its own net.  LaLeggia collected a failed clearance attempt just outside the crease and went high to beat Massa for his 11^th goal of the season 3:41 into the third period.

Denver was outshot 30-27 by Omaha in defeat and finished 0-for-3 on the power play while attempting only five shots.

Brittain posted 26 saves in defeat.  Massa made 23 stops.

The Pioneers and Mavericks will continue the best-of-three opening round NCHC on Friday beginning at 6:37 p.m., MT.  Friday’s game will be video streamed live on PioneerVision.

All of the Pioneers’ postseason games will also be broadcast live on Denver’s 102.3 FM ESPN Radio.

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