DENVER – Jarid Lukosevicius' overtime winner and second goal of the night helped the Denver Pioneers (5-0-1, 2-0-0-0) defeat the Western Michigan Broncos (3-5-0, 0-2-0-0), 4-3, on Saturday in Magness Arena.
The Pioneers scored a trio of power-play goals as they continued their best start since going 9-0-0 to open the 2001-02 season.  Emilio Pettersen had a goal and two assists, including the game-tying goal with 2:30 remaining in regulation.
 
"Unbelievable effort by our guys to not give up, not quit, stay positive on the bench and continue to build," Richard and Kitzia Goodman Head Coach David Carle said. "Nobody tried to do it on their own. We just stuck to our game plan and eventually we broke them down again and we were able to capitalize and break through."

The Pioneers capitalized on their first opportunity of the night as Jamie Rome was issued a five-minute major and game misconduct for boarding. Operating on the power play, Liam Finlay and Les Lancaster worked the puck to Slava Demin for a wrist shot from the left circle. Demin's first NCAA goal gave Denver a 1-0 lead at the first intermission.
 
Lukosevicius and Ian Mitchell extended their point streaks in the second period. At 7:27, Mitchell slipped past two defensemen before dishing a backhanded pass to Lukosevicius in front of the net.
 
Western Michigan cut the lead to 2-1 at 3:54 of the third period when Josh Passolt's wrist shot from the left circle beat Devin Cooley. The Broncos tied the game at 6:53 when Mattias Samuelsson's shot through traffic redirected into the net. Less than three minutes later, the Pioneers were unable to clear the rebound from a long-range attempt and Paul Washe crashed the net to give Western Michigan its first lead of the weekend.
 
Denver nearly made it 3-3 with a flurry of chances at 16:07 of the third period, but it wasn't until Pettersen's slap shot from the top of the left circle with 2:30 remaining that the Pioneers were able to force overtime.  Nearly three minutes into the extra period, Lukosevicius' received a pass from Michael Davies in the slot and buried the wrist shot to seal the victory and weekend sweep.
 
The Pioneers finished 3/8 on the power play and 2/2 on the penalty kill. Cooley made 23 saves as the Pioneers outshot the Broncos 40-26.
 
Mitchell is on a four-game point streak with seven assists. Lukosevicius is on a six-game point streak with seven goals and three assists.

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