North Dakota's Ryan Duncan, right, watches his shot fly by Denver goalie Peter Mannino for a goal in the second period of a WCHA hockey game in Denver on Saturday Night. Photo Credit: AP/David Zalubowski
North Dakota forward and 2007 Hobey Baker Memorial Award winner Ryan Duncan recorded two goals and added one assist to lead the No. 8 Fighting Sioux to a 3-1 victory over the No. 3 Denver Pioneers tonight in front of 6,047 fans at Magness Arena.
Tyler Bozak recorded DU’s lone goal, while senior netminder Peter Mannino made 22 saves in the loss.
“Our first two periods weren’t anything to be proud of, but we played very hard and generated some good scoring chances in the third period,” Denver head coach George Gwozdecky said. “Unfortunately, what has been pretty good for us over the past couple of weeks wasn’t working for us tonight.”
The Fighting Sioux took a 2-0 lead on a pair of power-play goals. Chris VandeVelde made it a 1-0 game four minutes into the contest, while Duncan stretched the lead to two goals at the 1:04 mark of the second period.
Bozak then cut DU’s deficit in half with his team-leading eighth tally of the season at the 10:04 mark of the middle frame. Brock Trotter made a feed from behind the net to Bozak, who sent a one-timer past UND netminder Jean-Philippe Lamoureux (35 saves).
Just over a minute later, Duncan gave the Sioux a 3-1 lead and also rounded out the game’s scoring when he beat Mannino on a shorthanded breakaway at 11:14.
The Pioneers put 24 shots on Lamoureux during the final frame, but couldn’t solve the Fighting Sioux netminder.
DU outshot UND by a 36-25 margin in the game. The Fighting Sioux finished 2-of-7 on the power play, while the Pioneers were held scoreless in seven opportunities.
The Pioneers take to the road next weekend for a series against the St. Cloud State Huskies, with both Friday and Saturday night’s contests slated for 6:07 p.m. MT.
Notes: Bozak has registered a point in seven of his last eight games...DU freshmen and sophomores have tallied 37 of the team’s 40 goals...Trotter’s second-period assist snapped a personal two-game pointless streak...The redshirt sophomore leads DU with 15 points (6-9--15)...Tonight marked the 66th consecutive regular season sellout at Magness Arena.
4 comments:
Frustrating loss last night. Pios played a great third period but seemed flat and sluggish to start the game. Lamoureux made some great saves in the 3rd......but I think DU let him get into a comfort zone after two lackluster periods. This game would have been much different if the Pios had come out strong from the start.
2 shots on goal in the 1st period won't cut it. 2nd weekend in a row after last Friday's poor game against CC that DU has started slowly in a rivalry game. Hard to figure.....
It was a must win for ND. They wanted it way more than us. 0-7 on the PP and giving up the shortie hurt us big time! The PP just plain sucks! All the other teams in the top of the WCHA are right around 20%
No dance at 13%. Freshman inexperience is the only answer I have to the problem. It just doesn't make sense there's so much talent out there!
Du had a chance to stick a big knife in UND's season on Saturday night and let the opportunity slip away.
The power play was clicking on the big ice up in Minnesota. Perhaps they just need more space.
The PP also was terrible at the end of last season so the Freshman aren't the problem.
When DU has done well on the PP in recent seasons they've had a great puck handler "down low" (Stastny). The best puck handler on the team is probably Ruegsegger but he's on the point and can't be at two places at once.
This weekend they shifted Bozak down low so we may need to give him a little time.
If Bozak doesn't work out we may need so see about someone else with great puck handling skills & strength dow low.
dgg--point well taken concerning puck handling but I don't think it's limited to just that. This weekend it hit an all time low with the 2 on 0 break away. The pios were trying to force the puck--showing no patience. We had three PP's in the first period Saturday night and only had 2 shots on net the entire period! It looked like an advantage for UND to be short handed. You don't need to depend on a master stick handler to attain the zone and move the puck around the perimeter to find a gap. You need discipline and patience. Which comes from experience. Last years team's PP problems were very different then the current squad's. Last year they over passed the puck looking for the perfect highlight goal driving everyone @ Magness crazy. This year we can't even set it up more than half the time. Bozak looked unsure of himself in the role. Which is to be expected of a freshman.
Most alarming to me is I don't hear any sense of urgency coming from the coaching staff on the PP issue at all. The PP has floundered all season and I fear it's beyond rescue and will doom what could of been a championship season. It's a shame to squander the amazing goal tending. We go into St. Cloud this weekend they have a 25% PP. We're averaging 8 penalties per game. So that means if the averages play out we'd give up 2 PP goals to them each night. To make up the difference at 12% they'd have to have nearly 20 penalties. Yes, I know were doing well on the kill but who cares? Hope the WCHA has three guys with orange arm bands with two whistles each working the series! It's not a pretty picture people and sadly it should be fundamental!
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