DENVER – Sophomore forward James Reeder scored with 80 seconds left in the third period for the No. 6 University of Denver hockey team to force overtime, but the Pioneers fell in the extra period and lost 4-3 to the Alaska Anchorage Seawolves on Friday night at Magness Arena.
 
Denver (3-3-1) and UAA (1-4-0) wrap up their series during homecoming weekend at DU on Saturday at 6 p.m. MT. The game will be broadcast on NCHC.tv.
 
The Pioneers outshot the Seawolves by a 49-20 margin but trailed going into the final minutes of play. Reeder tallied the equalizer while DU had rookie goaltender Quentin Miller pulled for the extra attacker, knocking in a rebound from a shot by freshman Kyle Chyzowski.
 
"You would like to see more offense of execution, certainly in the looks of the shot count and the chance count that we had," said Richard and Kitzia Goodman Hockey Head Coach David Carle. "Then when we broke down, we broke down and they capitalized on their chances. Obviously, we didn't give up a ton of volume but the volume we did give up, there's some quality there that they were able to capitalize on."
 
Dimitry Kebreau scored the game-winner with 1:05 remaining in the 3-on-3 OT session for UAA, while Joey Potter netted two goals, with his second giving the Seawolves a 3-2 advantage at 7:05 of the third period.
 
Junior forward Kieran Cebrian opened the scoring at 9:25 of the first stanza, and Rieger Lorenz netted a penalty-shot goal at 12:10 of the second. Lorenz gained the opportunity after being slashed on a breakaway during a penalty kill.
 
It was the first score on a penalty shot by Denver since Jon Foster on Nov. 30, 2002 against Air Force.
 
Miller finished with 16 saves on 20 shots faced while making his fourth consecutive start. Goalie Tyler Krivtsov of Alaska Anchorage stopped 46 pucks in the win.
 
DU wasn't able to score on any of its five power-play chances, and UAA finished 1-for-6 on the man advantage, with Aidan Westin finding the back of the net during a major penalty with 3:08 left in the first period to tie the contest at 1-1 going into the intermission.
 
In the faceoff circle, the Pioneers won a season-high 63.8 percent of their draws.
 
UP NEXT: Denver hosts Alaska Anchorage in the series finale on Saturday at 6 p.m. MT before heading back on the road for a Frozen Four rematch and the start of conference play at Western Michigan on Nov. 7-8 in Kalamazoo.
 
 
POSTGAME NOTES

• Rieger Lorenz scored the first penalty-shot goal by a Pioneer since Jon Foster on Nov. 30, 2002 vs. Air Force. Carter Mazur had the last penalty-shot attempt on March 12, 2022 vs. Minnesota Duluth (no goal).
• Reid Varkonyi registered his first career point with an assist.
• The Pioneers scored their second pulled-goalie goal of the season with James Reeder's tally in the third period (Hagen Burrows, Oct. 17 at Lindenwood).
• DU fired 40 or more shots on goal for the third time this year.
• Denver was hosting a home game on Halloween for the first time ever. DU is now 4-8-2 all-time on Oct. 31.
• Alaska Anchorage was making its first visit to Magness Arena since March 8-10, 2013 when the Pioneers and Seawolves were each league members of the old WCHA.
• Denver is now 50-17-7 all-time against UAA and owns a 27-8-2 mark in home games against the Seawolves.
• The Pioneers had their five-game home winning streak and eight-game (7-0-1) unbeaten streak dating back to March 13, 2009 against UAA come to an end.
• DU suffered its first home non-conference loss since Jan. 6, 2023 vs. Alaska Fairbanks (3-1 loss), ending a 14-game unbeaten streak in such outings (13-0-1).
• Eric Pohlkamp recorded a career-high 15 penalty minutes.
• UAA scored the first power-play goal against DU this season, coming on a five-minute major penalty. Denver had killed off each of its first 13 infractions in the first six games of the season.

 
GOAL SUMMARY
1st Period
9:25 DU (1-0) – Reid Varkonyi danced with the puck along the blue line before passing it off to Kieran Cebrain, who tallied on a wrister from the slot.
16:52 UAA (1-1) – PPG, Aidan Westin redirected Ryan Johnson's quick pass into the top of the net while stationed in the low slot and with 57 seconds remaining on DU's major penalty.
 
2nd Period
12:10 DU (2-1) – PSG, After being slashed on a breakaway, Rieger Lorenz was awarded a penalty shot and scored on the chance by going forehand-to-backhand with the puck and slipping it past the UAA goalie's stretched pad.
15:20 UAA (2-2) – Joey Potter's outside shot got through traffic and ended up in the back of the cage.
 
3rd Period
7:05 UAA (2-3) – Joey Potter tallied on a rush after flying past the DU defenders and scoring 1-on-1 on the Pioneers' netminder.
18:40 DU (3-3) – James Reeder knocked in a rebound off Kyle Chyzowskis shot from the left side while Denver had the goaltender pulled for the extra attacker.
 
Overtime
3:55 UAA (3-4) – Dimitry Kebreau scored on a wrister from the slot during the 3-on-3 extra stanza.
 
 
QUOTABLES
Richard and Kitzia Goodman Hockey Head Coach David Carle
On usage of the power play: "It continues to be an issue for us. Needs to be a tool, something that we use to be able to separate ourselves from teams and grow a lead, and unfortunately we weren't able to do that tonight. We had a lot of looks, certainly in the second period, a lot of zone time, but an inability to be able to finish has been our challenge from the get-go this year and we continue to work on it. Again, it continues to be our challenge now, mentally trying to come together and come back with a more concerted effort to be able to finish and limit the high quality of the chances we did give up."
 
On responding in the series finale: "It's a quick memory, and we need to continue to look in a mirror and stick together. We'll all be very frustrated about the outcome of the game, [and] we've got some looks we need to bear down [on]."

 
TICKETS: Single-game tickets and 5-game mini plans for DU hockey's 2025-26 campaign are on sale now. Click here for more information.