OMAHA  –  Bobby Brink's shot from the left faceoff dot with 14 seconds left in regulation helped the No. 4 Denver Pioneers hockey team (15-4-5, 5-3-4-3) tie Omaha 2-2, extend its unbeaten streak to nine games and ultimately pick up the extra point in the NCHC standings with a victory in NCHC three-on-three overtime on Saturday at Baxter Arena.
 
With Devin Cooley pulled for the extra attacker, Brett Stapley fed Bobby Brink, who disguised his shot before beating freshman goalie Isaiah Saville with a wrist shot to send the Pioneers and Mavericks to overtime for the second straight night. Denver had a trio of chances in the first overtime but were held scoreless until NCHC three-on-three overtime when Brink forced a turnover in the defensive zone and fed Stapley, who sprung Michael Davies for a breakaway to decide the extra conference point.
 
Prior to Denver's game-tying goal, Saville's performance had appeared to negate an otherwise dominant game from the Pioneers. Denver fell behind 2-0 on a pair of quick goals late in the first period but managed to outshoot Omaha 47-13 – its largest shot margin of the season.
 
"Overall, we felt like if we kept playing we were eventually going to break through," Richard and Kitzia Goodman Head Coach David Carle said. "To go down 2-0 and for our guys to stick with it was a real positive. We're obviously excited we were able to break through at the end of the game."
 
Omaha had only two shots before scoring twice in the final three minutes of the first period. Four seconds into the Mavericks' first power play of the night, Zach Jordan created a rebound off the end boards for Taylor Ward to score from the bottom of the left circle. Omaha made it 2-0 on only its fourth shot of the night with 24 seconds left in the first as Tristan Keck fired a one-timer on a botched puck retrieval in the Denver zone. 
 
The Pioneers cut their two-goal deficit on the power play early in the second period. With Cole Guttman standing in the slot, Emilio Pettersen bypassed Guttman with a rink-wide pass to Brink, who found Guttman unattended on the return pass to make it 2-1 at 1:25 of the period.
 
The win moved Denver to 15-0-3 in its last 18 meetings with Omaha. The Pioneers' nine-game unbeaten streak is their longest of the season.
 
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Brett Stapley is on a five-game point streak with one goal and seven assists…Denver went 1/5 on the power play and 2/3 on the penalty kill… Devin Cooley made 11 saves…Cole Guttman has seven goals and three assists in his last nine games…Bobby Brink has three goals and five assists in his last seven games…Ian Mitchell has one goal and six assists in his last six games…
 
UP NEXT: Denver Hockey presented by Centura Health travels to Miami for a two-game series on Jan. 24-25
 
2020 DENVER ATHLETIC HALL OF FAME RECEPTION: Denver announced its 2020 Athletic Hall of Fame class in January. The inductees will be honored on the DU campus May 16. For more information, registration for the reception and donation information, click here. 

DONATE: Fans interested in making a donation to the hockey program can do so by clicking here. Your contribution will make a direct impact on the success of YOUR Pioneers. Thank you in advance for your unwavering support of our student-athletes and their quest for excellence.  
 
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