St. Paul, Minn. – The No. 5 Denver Pioneers (21-11-5) fell to the No. 4 Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs (24-11-2) 3-0 in the Frozen Faceoff semifinal at the Xcel Energy Center on Friday night.

The Bulldogs scored 42 seconds into the third period and added two empty-net goals to defeat the Pioneers and advance to the Frozen Faceoff championship. Denver looks ahead to the Frozen Faceoff third-place game against Colorado College on Saturday before learning their opponent in the NCAA tournament during the selection show on Sunday at 5 p.m. MT.

"I thought it was a good hockey game, tight-checking and similar to most of our games against Duluth," Richard and Kitzia Goodman Head Coach David Carle said. "There wasn't a lot of time and space out there and it came down to execution. They made one more play than we did and ultimately that's all that was needed. I'm proud of our effort. I thought it was a playoff-style hockey game and a game that we needed. There are certainly some lessons and opportunities to grow from it."

In 24 games over the previous six years, Denver and Minnesota Duluth have played 15 games decided by one or fewer goals. The Frozen Faceoff semifinal, specifically the first two periods, was characteristic of recent history with goaltending dictating play. Cole Guttman and Jarid Lukosevicius had the best chances for the Pioneers through 40 minutes with Guttman going on a breakaway 30 seconds into the second period and Lukosevicius redirecting Les Lancaster's pass on the power play later in the frame. On the opposite end of the ice, Larsson made 21 stops through the first two periods and helped kill a pair of penalties.

Minnesota Duluth broke the deadlock only 42 seconds into the third period. After Dylan Samberg collided with Larsson on his drive to the net, Larsson had only moments to steady himself in the crease before Cole Koepke wired a shot through the five hole to make it 1-0. The Bulldogs appeared to make it 2-0 midway through the period as a shot bounced off the boards behind Larsson and resulted in a net front scrum, but goalie interference negated the goal. Hunter Shepard remained strong in net for the Bulldogs down the stretch, completing his 25-save shutout. Louie Roehl and Koepke added the empty-net goals to seal the victory.

Larsson finished with 30 saves. Denver went 0/2 on the power play and 2/2 on the penalty kill.

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