DENVER – The No. 4 Denver Pioneers hockey team (17-5-5, 7-4-4-3) had its 11-game unbeaten streak snapped with a 3-2 loss to the No. 10 Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs (14-9-2, 9-4-2-0) on Friday at Magness Arena.
 
Minnesota Duluth was the beneficiary of a penalty-laden first 40 minutes for Denver. The Bulldogs went 3/6 on the power play to take a 3-2 lead by the second intermission. That lead held despite a third-period push that saw the Pioneers continue to dominate at even strength and outshoot Minnesota Duluth, 17-4.
 
"I liked a lot of our game," Richard and Kitzia Goodman Head Coach David Carle said. "Five-on-five, I thought we were excellent. I loved our push in the third and wish we could've put one in the back of the net. We need to learn that we can't take as many penalties as we did. Our penalty kill needs to be better and that starts with me preparing our guys for it."

Minnesota Duluth took the lead three times on the man advantage. The Bulldogs opened the scoring with Nick Swaney's wraparound at 7:40 of the first period, took a 2-1 lead in the final minute of the frame with Justin Richards' goal during Brett Stapley's five-minute major and game misconduct for contact to the head, then struck again at 14:29 of the second with Cole Koepke scoring to make it 3-2. Through two periods, 11 of Minnesota Duluth's 23 shots came on the power play.
 
Justin Lee scored for the Pioneers to make it 1-1 at 12:22 of the first period with a wrist shot from the point for his first career goal. Trailing 2-1 early in the second, Denver made good on its second power play of the night with Ian Mitchell dropping the puck for Bobby Brink, who dangled through Nick Wolff and received a fortunate bounce off defenseman Louie Roehl's stick on his goal-mouth pass intended for Emilio Pettersen.
 
Denver finished the game with an offensive onslaught, but was unable to solve Hunter Shepard, who made 39 saves for the Bulldogs and shutout the Pioneers on two power plays in the third period.
 
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Bobby Brink is on a four-game point streak with two goals and three assists…Brett Stapley has one goal and nine assists in his last eight games…Ian Mitchell has three goals and seven assists in his last nine games…Denver went 1/4 on the power play and 3/6 on the penalty kill…Magnus Chrona made 24 saves…
 
UP NEXT: Denver Hockey presented by Centura Health will close its home series with No. 10 Minnesota Duluth on Saturday, Feb. 1. Puck drop is set for 7:07 p.m. MT
 
FROZEN FACEOFF TICKETS: Tickets for the 2020 Frozen Faceoff in St. Paul, Minn. are on sale now. More information is available here.
 
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.  
 
SHOP PIONEERS: Get dressed for Game Day! Get your Pioneers gear at ShopPioneers.com, the official online store of University of Denver Athletics.

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