LetsGoDU

Dingle's Hat Trick Keys Weekend

From: Denver Post

By Candace Horgan

Denver Pioneers coach George Gwozdecky singled out his top line of Brock Trotter, Ryan Dingle and Rhett Rakhshani after Friday night's dispiriting tie with the Minnesota State Mavericks and challenged the trio to perform.

They rose to the occasion Saturday night at Magness Arena, as Dingle tallied a hat trick and the trio combined for seven points.

"I took them to task pretty good after the game last night, and I thought they responded extremely well," Gwozdecky said. "I think we had a pretty good meeting with those three guys and they understood what we were trying to get across."

The Pioneers struggled early to get quality chances. On two power plays, DU continued its recent woeful performance with the man advantage, yielding several odd-man rushes that forced goaltender Peter Mannino to come up big and keep the game tied.

The first period looked to go scoreless before Dingle scored on a harmless-looking play at 19:08. Trotter poked the puck up the right-side boards to Dingle, who skated just past the blue line and rifled a wrist shot high glove-side past goalie Mike Zacharias.

Dingle came up big again early in the second period. Moments after Mavericks center Trevor Breuss' tip-in just missed an open net, Dingle picked up the puck while streaking down the left side and again beat Zacharias with a wrist shot, this time shooting high stick side from the top of the circle.

Trotter and Dingle continue to display an impressive chemistry on the ice, as they each seem to know where the other is.

"The two of us live together. We like to hang out, and he and I, and especially Rhett - put the three of us together and we'll have some fun out there," Dingle said.

Dingle got his third goal of the night on a power play at 7:17 of the third period on a nice setup by Trotter.

Trotter carried the puck behind the net, spun to his forehand and slid a pass to Dingle alone at the right post.

"I think we settled down a little tonight and it paid off," Dingle said. "It feels good to finally pop a few in with the help of Rhett and Brock."