LetsGoDU

Second Period Lapses Cost Pioneers

(left) Huskies players on the bench congratulate Andreas Nodl after scoring the game winning goal

From: The Denver Post
By Tom Fenton

St. Cloud, Minn. - This much was obvious after the University of Denver's performance Saturday night: The Pioneers have potentially electrifying offensive talent, but they are a work in progress.

Playing in a building where they had not lost since 2002, Denver looked good early before crumbling in a six-minute span of the second period. The result was a 5-2 loss to St. Cloud State in front of an announced crowd of 6,011 at National Hockey Center. The win gave the host Huskies (1-1-0 WCHA, 1-1-0 overall) a split of the weekend series.

The Pioneers (1-1-0, 2-2-0) needed a Patrick Mullen overtime goal to win 4-3 in Friday's conference opener for both teams.

"They're a good team," said Denver junior center Ryan Dingle, whose goal 11:24 into the first period gave the Pioneers a 2-1 lead. "The atmosphere here was crazy. Obviously, they had some energy in the building on their side. But we need to take this weekend as a learning experience and bring it back home. Hopefully, we'll be ready."

A series of defensive lapses in the second period proved costly for DU. A missed pass here and a missed assignment there contributed to St. Cloud State scoring three times in a span of 5:13.

"Two points is definitely good, but we would've liked to have taken four, especially after Friday night," said wing Brock Trotter, who played on an all-freshman first line with Tyler Ruegsegger and Rhett Rakhshani. "But they played really well. It was a tough battle the entire weekend, but we'll definitely take the split."

Denver outshot St. Cloud State 33-20, but goals by Ryan Lasch, Andreas Nodl and John Swanson turned a 2-1 Huskies' deficit into a 4-2 lead.

"We had a couple of defensive miscues in the neutral zone where our defensemen misplayed the situation and they came down and made great shots and scored," DU coach George Gwozdecky said. "They did a great job of being opportunistic - kind of like we were Friday night."

Swanson's goal at 13:21 of the second period earned Pioneers goalie Glenn Fisher - Friday night's winner - an early trip to the bench after giving up four goals on 11 shots. Saturday marked the first time Fisher had started consecutive games in the same weekend in his career.

"It was just mental errors and positioning," Dingle said. "That's one thing that's going to be a little iffy early in the season. As long as we tighten that up, we've got no worries. We have all the offensive talent in the world, and we just need to harness that and take care of defensive zone."

St. Cloud senior goalie Bobby Goepfert showed the form he displayed in earning first-team all-WCHA honors last season, shutting down DU's offense the final two periods and finishing with 31 saves.

DU's goals came in a span of 2:26 in the first period on bang-bang passing plays that were converted by Ruegsegger and Dingle.

"In many ways we had a much stronger performance (than Friday)," Gwozdecky said. "But I thought the difference was Bobby Goepfert. He performed like he was capable of and there were a couple times where our guys couldn't believe the puck didn't go in.

"We're a little disappointed with the result, but coming on the road and getting a split - that's a good weekend. I like the team we're slowly developing into."