DULUTH, Minn. – The No. 5 Denver Pioneers hockey team held off the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs to win 2-1 at Amsoil Arena on Saturday in the final meeting of the regular season between the NCHC foes.
 
Senior captain Carter King and Samu Salminen scored for the Pioneers (18-6-0, 7-5-0 NCHC), and junior defenseman Eric Pohlkamp recorded two assists for a multi-point night. Forwards Sam Harris and Jack Devine also had a helper apiece.
 
"I thought their D-zone puck pressure was better tonight than it was a night ago. It made it hard on us, but we didn't really deter from the gameplan. We stuck to the script," said Richard and Kitzia Goodman Hockey Head Coach David Carle. "We could have been rewarded a little bit with a potential 3-0 goal being wiped off by the penalty and then another one that just trickles along the goal line like last night.
 
"Lots to be proud of—how we dug in, the physicality that we played with, and I just think that's going to be a bit of a blueprint victory as we head down the stretch with 12 games to go. Everyone's in the thick of it in our league; it's certainly a dogfight for home ice and everything nationally as well. Points are critical right now."
 
Denver goaltender Matt Davis stopped 29-of-30 shots faced, as the only puck to get past him was on a deflection by Duluth's Owen Gallatin with traffic in front with 4:27 left in the second period.
 
The Pioneers led 1-0 after the first period and had a 2-0 lead before UMD (10-13-1, 6-8-0 NCHC) got on the scoreboard. Salminen gathered a rebound and tallied on a backhand shot with 44 seconds remaining in the opening frame, and King took passes from Devine and Pohlkamp to score on a breakaway 3:09 into the second stanza.
 
King's marker was his 13th of the season and ended up being the game-winner, the eighth of his career.
 
Minnesota Duluth goaltender Klayton Knapp finished with 28 saves in the loss, one night after he stopped a career-high 42 shots in a 4-3 win over the Pios on Friday. Both teams finished with 30 shots on goal.
 
Denver held UMD scoreless on three power-play opportunities but couldn't convert on its only chance, which came with 8:30 left in the third period.
 
The Bulldogs are one of two NCHC squads that won't play in Denver during the regular season (Western Michigan).
 
UP NEXT: Denver returns home next weekend to host the Omaha Mavericks at Magness Arena. Friday's game begins at 7 p.m. MT and Saturday's start time is at 6 p.m. MT, and both outings will be broadcast on NCHC.tv. Limited tickets are available.
 
 
POSTGAME NOTES

• Denver is 9-2-0 in the last 11 meetings against Minnesota Duluth
• The Pioneers are now 137-90-13 all-time vs. the Bulldogs and sport a 51 45-8 mark in Duluth.
• Denver had its stretch of scoring a power-play goal end at five games.
• Aidan Thompson played in his 100th career game, becoming the third member of DU's junior class to reach the century mark this season (Rieger Lorenz, Jared Wright).
• Richard and Kitzia Goodman Hockey David Carle guided the Denver bench in his 250th career game.
• Jack Devine's assist pushed his point streak to five games (3g/3a).
• Eric Pohlkamp had two assists for his fourth multi-point game of the season and is on a four-game point streak (2g/3a).
• Sam Harris is on a three-game point streak (2g/1a).
• Boston Buckberger matched a career high with four shots on goal (sixth time overall, second this season).
• Kent Anderson tied a career best with four blocked shots (third time).
• DU ended a two-game losing streak on the road (Jan. 4-24).
• Denver had one power-play opportunity, tying for its fewest of the season (third time).

 
GOAL SUMMARY
1st Period
19:16 DU (1-0) – Samu Salminen took a rebound off a shot by Eric Pohlkamp and slid a backhand shot past the stretched left pad of the UMD goaltender.
 
2nd Period
3:09 DU (2-0) – Eric Pohlkamp sent a pass up the ice, and Carter King slid the puck blocker side along the ice with a backhand shot during a breakaway.
15:33 UMD (2-1) – Carter Loney sent a shot from the high slot that was redirected in traffic by Owen Gallatin and went top shelf into the net.
 
3rd Period
No Scoring
 
 
QUOTABLES
Richard and Kitzia Goodman Hockey Head Coach David Carle
On the series at Minnesota Duluth: "Their goaltender again played well. I thought they as a team played better. It was just a little more tighter checking, not a lot of time or space out there for either team. Actually, I'm probably a little surprised that we both ended up with 30 shots on the night. Proud of the effort. It's our first time where we felt like we played well enough to win in a loss, probably, and then how do you respond from that. Nothing is given in this league. Just because you played well on Friday doesn't mean you're automatically come out and be allowed to win on Saturday. I thought they played extremely well, made it really difficult on us."
 
The Kieran Cebrian-centered line with Rieger Lorenz and Jared Wright: "I thought them and Salminen's line was really good as well. The Cebrian line played a lot against Plante and that excellent line that they have with those three freshmen. Very dangerous and for the most part they did a good job of shutting those guys down. We kept them off the scoresheet, which again was a big part of us getting the result we were going for. The Salminen line was great, generated a lot off faceoff plays and things of that nature. It took everyone tonight, and I'm really proud of our team."
 
On the upcoming series with Omaha: "Kind of had a slow start to the year, a lot of new bodies but they've played better as of late. They have earned some big sweeps and are in a good spot. Obviously ahead of us in the standings and a team that we'll need to catch. Always play us tough, it's our only two games against them this year, so we're looking forward to getting back to Magness Arena in front of our home fans."
 
Senior Forward Carter King
On the team bouncing back from Friday's loss: "I thought we liked the way we played last night. The execution and some bounces didn't go our way, so it was just sticking to what went well last night. I thought we did that tonight and were able to capitalize when we needed to. Glad we got the win tonight."
 
On UMD's strong push in the series finale: "That is the challenge of weekends and playing teams back-to-back is that you know each team is going to make changes and try and play a better game the next night. We thought if we played our game and stuck with what our strengths are, we knew we were going to have success, and I thought that is what happened tonight."
 
On his goal: "It was a nice breakout and Devo (Jack Devine) gave me a nice pass. I knew I had the D-man going wide and just figured that the goalie was going to commit to the weak side so I would slide it back the other way. Trying to go five-hole, but he pushed hard and sealed five-hole, so it was lucky."
 
On facing Omaha next week: "It's the final stretch here and weekend-to-weekend, we're just trying to get better, work on our game. Understand the challenges of that weekend, fix them and then move on to the next one. We're just looking to build our game in time for playoffs, and I think this is another step in the right direction for us."
 

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