COLORADO SPRINGS – Head coach
David Carle got the start he was looking in his first game at the helm as his University of Denver hockey team knocked off Air Force 4-1 on Friday at the Cadet Ice Arena. The win gave the Pioneers their first season-opening victory since 2014.
Freshman
Emilio Pettersen made an immediate impact in his first game for the Crimson and Gold, recording a goal and two assists giving him a game-high three points.
Cole Guttman joined his fellow freshman line mate, picking up his first career goal.
Sophomores
Ian Mitchell and
Jake Durflinger each recorded a goal in the win.
Senior
Jarid Lukosevicius handed out two assists for the Pioneers.
Carle, the youngest coach in the NCAA, was very proud of his team's effort in the opener. "I loved our effort tonight and felt that it started with
Devin Cooley. He was great all night. He was really calm in the net and made some big saves and played the pluck and was really intelligent at times with his stick. He was just big time for us, got us a huge save there in the third period to get us a whistle when we were out there for a 1:30 and [Tyson] McLellan couldn't get a change.
"There was a lot of really good things to build on. I was really happy with our third period to be able to skate them into the ground and continue to work and put pressure on them."
Denver struck fast, scoring less than three minutes into the opening period on a Durflinger goal off a great feed from
Jaakko Heikkinen at the 17:35 mark, upping the sophomore's career total to six.
Michael Davies was also credited with the assist on the play.
A power-play goal from Mitchell put the Pioneers up 2-0 with just over 11 minutes left in the first. The agile defensemen sniped home his first goal on the year from just inside the blue line off a beautiful pass from Pettersen.
DU dominated the first 20 minutes of action, outshooting Air Force 12-4 in the period. Cooley also put on a show in net, making several big stops the few times the Falcons got anything going on the offensive end.
In the second, Pettersen delivered the backbreaker, notching his first collegiate goal. The Norway native stole the puck and snuck it past AF's Billy Christopoulos with the backhand on the right side with 6:54 left on clock, breaking an evenly matched and scoreless period and putting Denver up 3-0.
The Falcons, though, fought back, getting on the scoreboard with 2:56 left before intermission by Evan Giesler, who took advantage of a power-play chance to notch his first goal of the season.
Guttman pushed the Pioneer lead back up to three at 4-1 after finding the back of the net with 15:36 remaining in the third. The speedy 5-foot-9 forward was setup by a nice feed from Pettersen, who picked up his second assist of the night.
DU never let AF have any chances after that, securing the victory on a special night for Carle.
Up Next
The Pioneers head back to Magness Arena for their home opener against Alabama-Huntsville on Saturday. The puck is scheduled to drop at 7:07 p.m. and can be seen on Altitude 2.
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