Butler's blueline blast saves DU during Winter Carnival
Feb. 10, 2007 from DU Athletics Website
HOUGHTON, Mich. - Sophomore defenseman Chris Butler's (St. Louis, Mo.) blast from outside the blueline at 16:12 of the third period helped the No. 5 Denver Pioneers to a 4-4 overtime tie against the Michigan Tech Huskies in WCHA action tonight during Winter Carnival in Houghton. Butler added two assists for the three-point effort and Ryan Helgason (Woodbury, Minn.), Rhett Rakhshani (Huntington Beach, Calif.) and Brock Trotter (Brandon, Manitoba) also scored for DU (20-11-3, 12-9-3 WCHA), which avenged a 2-1 loss to Tech (13-14-5, 8-11-5) last night to earn the overtime tie.
"I am proud of our effort to get an important league point," DU head coach George Gwozdecky said. "We never gave up and got a huge goal from Chris Butler to get the tie. Michigan Tech is much improved and was tough to play against this weekend."
The Huskies were poised for the sweep when Malcolm Gwilliam's wrist shot trickled past Glenn Fisher (Edmonton, Alberta) at 10:43 of the final period. The goal gave Tech a 4-3 lead until Butler's heroics.
Butler scooped up a puck in the neutral zone and surprised Tech's Rob Nolan (26 saves) with a big blast for the equalizer. The goal was the ninth of the season for Butler, who turned in one of his best performances of the season.
DU jumped on Tech with two early goals. Helgason scored at 4:33 and Rakhshani netted his ninth goal on the power play at 5:35. Peter Mannino (Farmington Hills, Mich.) made three saves on Tech's first power play until Jimmy Kerr made it 2-1 at 7:55 with the man-advantage goal. Geoff Kinrade tied it at 2-2 when he ripped a shot past Mannino from the high slot at 16:16. Tech outshot the Pioneers 14-8 and DU lost Brian Gifford (Moorhead, Minn.) for the game with a five-minute major checking-from-behind and game misconduct at 16:56.
Trotter gave DU a 3-2 lead when he ripped a wrist shot past Nolan at 8:28. Tech tied it 20 seconds later on a Tyler Shelast goal, which ended the night for Mannino (20 saves). Fisher (14 saves) came off the bench for Mannino and spearheaded a penalty kill that thwarted a 5-on-3 advantage in the middle of the stanza. Tech outshot the Pioneers 10-6.
Tech outshot DU, 38-30, and finished 1-for-4 on the power play. DU finished 2-for-5 with the man-advantage. Winter Carnival tourney MVP Lars Helminen led the Huskies with three assists, while Shelast finished with a goal and assist.
DU returns to action Feb. 23-24 against North Dakota at Magness Arena.
Notes: Peter Mannino allowed five goals in the series after allowing four goals during his six-game winning streak from Dec. 9 - Feb. 2. Ryan Helgason netted his first goal in five games.
Feb. 10, 2007 from DU Athletics Website
HOUGHTON, Mich. - Sophomore defenseman Chris Butler's (St. Louis, Mo.) blast from outside the blueline at 16:12 of the third period helped the No. 5 Denver Pioneers to a 4-4 overtime tie against the Michigan Tech Huskies in WCHA action tonight during Winter Carnival in Houghton. Butler added two assists for the three-point effort and Ryan Helgason (Woodbury, Minn.), Rhett Rakhshani (Huntington Beach, Calif.) and Brock Trotter (Brandon, Manitoba) also scored for DU (20-11-3, 12-9-3 WCHA), which avenged a 2-1 loss to Tech (13-14-5, 8-11-5) last night to earn the overtime tie."I am proud of our effort to get an important league point," DU head coach George Gwozdecky said. "We never gave up and got a huge goal from Chris Butler to get the tie. Michigan Tech is much improved and was tough to play against this weekend."
The Huskies were poised for the sweep when Malcolm Gwilliam's wrist shot trickled past Glenn Fisher (Edmonton, Alberta) at 10:43 of the final period. The goal gave Tech a 4-3 lead until Butler's heroics.
Butler scooped up a puck in the neutral zone and surprised Tech's Rob Nolan (26 saves) with a big blast for the equalizer. The goal was the ninth of the season for Butler, who turned in one of his best performances of the season.
DU jumped on Tech with two early goals. Helgason scored at 4:33 and Rakhshani netted his ninth goal on the power play at 5:35. Peter Mannino (Farmington Hills, Mich.) made three saves on Tech's first power play until Jimmy Kerr made it 2-1 at 7:55 with the man-advantage goal. Geoff Kinrade tied it at 2-2 when he ripped a shot past Mannino from the high slot at 16:16. Tech outshot the Pioneers 14-8 and DU lost Brian Gifford (Moorhead, Minn.) for the game with a five-minute major checking-from-behind and game misconduct at 16:56.
Trotter gave DU a 3-2 lead when he ripped a wrist shot past Nolan at 8:28. Tech tied it 20 seconds later on a Tyler Shelast goal, which ended the night for Mannino (20 saves). Fisher (14 saves) came off the bench for Mannino and spearheaded a penalty kill that thwarted a 5-on-3 advantage in the middle of the stanza. Tech outshot the Pioneers 10-6.
Tech outshot DU, 38-30, and finished 1-for-4 on the power play. DU finished 2-for-5 with the man-advantage. Winter Carnival tourney MVP Lars Helminen led the Huskies with three assists, while Shelast finished with a goal and assist.
DU returns to action Feb. 23-24 against North Dakota at Magness Arena.
Notes: Peter Mannino allowed five goals in the series after allowing four goals during his six-game winning streak from Dec. 9 - Feb. 2. Ryan Helgason netted his first goal in five games.
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