DU Beats Reno Aces In OT In Snoopy Tourney


Denver Pioneers 5 Reno Aces 4 OT

Special to LetsGoDU by DJ Powers

The opening game for the Denver Pioneers in the Snoopy’s Senior World Hockey Tournament on Thursday night needed overtime to be decided. Jim Wiste tallied two goals, including the game winner.

The Pioneers were without regulars Cliff Koroll and Ron Grahame this year due to prior commitments.

While the game started off a bit slow for Denver, they quickly established some good pressure in the Reno end.

At the 3:28, the Pioneers would draw the first penalty of the game when defenseman Wayne Smith was called for a hold. Denver successfully killed off the penalty.

At about the six and a half minutes into the period, Tom Miller gave Denver a glorious scoring opportunity when he went in on a breakaway but lost control of the puck by the time he had the chance to shoot.

The Pioneers continued to pressure and another great scoring opportunity came again about a minute later when Bill Goodacre was unable to get the puck by the Aces netminder.

While Denver had most of the scoring opportunities approaching the halfway point of the period, it would be Reno that would get on the board first. The Aces scored at the 9:50 mark when with a shot fired from the slot beat Pioneers goaltender Tom Jones.

Denver would continue to get some excellent scoring opportunities, but were unable to capitalize on them.

At the 13:45 mark, the Aces would be called for a hook, giving the Pioneers their first power play of the game. Exactly one minute into Reno’s penalty, defenseman Blake Emery would tally the unassisted equalizer for Denver when his shot bounced off of the Aces netminder’s pad and into the net.

As the period progressed the game began to open up a bit as Denver continued to dictate the tempo of the game.

At the 18:01 mark, Reno would once again take the lead when a high shot beat Jones for the score.

Denver came out with some good pressure to start the second period. About a minute and a half into the middle stanza, John MacMillan’s relentless drive to the net would draw Reno’s next penalty. The holding call came at the 1:53 mark, giving the Pioneers their second power play of the game.

Denver did an excellent job in moving the puck during this power play and it would pay off at the 5:08 mark. Jim Wiste tied the game after poking home the loose puck amid the mass of humanity in front of the Reno netminder. Don Cameron and defenseman Bob Peers would be credited with the assists.

One of the things that the Pioneers did very well throughout the game was having their defensemen involved in the offensive play. After Wiste’s goal, Denver continued to dominate both territorially and in puck possession.

At the 9:01 mark, Reno would once again regain the lead when a rebound was shot past Jones from just inside the right faceoff circle. The score was now 3-2 Reno.

The Aces nearly extended their lead at about the 10-minute mark when a bad Pioneers turnover led to a two-on-none situation. Fortunately for Denver, the puck looked to have rolled off of the stick of the Reno puck carrier before he could get a shot off.

At the 14:22 mark, Denver would once again knot things up with a goal by Pat Halas. The goal came as a result of a beautiful feed by Goodacre, who found Halas in the slot. Halas’ shot beat the Aces netminder just inside the near post for the score. Goodacre drew the lone assist.

At the 17:12 mark, Smith made his second trip to the penalty box when he was called for hold. One of the best power play opportunities came in the waning seconds of the period when a Reno player was attempting to fight off the coverage by Bill Pettinger. Pettinger did an outstanding job of tying up the stick of the Reno player to prevent him from getting at the loose puck.

The third period opened with Denver short-handed for the remaining 51 seconds of Smith’s holding call. While still shorthanded, the Pioneers generated a couple of good scoring chances. The best of which came just as the penalty was about to expire. Tom Miller fired a low shot through traffic that ended up going off of the post.

Denver stepped their pressure in the Reno zone after killing off the penalty. And their efforts would once again be rewarded at the 2:51. Wayne Wiste gave the Pioneers their first lead of the game when he tipped home Peter McEwen’s shot from the slot for the score, making it 4-3 Denver.

The Pioneers did an excellent job of maintaining puck control and in their forechecking in this period. And it would be two things that would frustrate the Aces for much of the remainder of the game.

At the 8:21 mark, Denver would get the opportunity to extend their lead when Reno was called for a trip. After successfully cashing in on their previous two opportunities, this time around the Pioneers had trouble getting their power play working, mainly due to passes not quite connecting.

The remaining 17 seconds of Denver’s power play would be negated when Pettinger would be called for a hook at the 11:32 mark.

The penalty would prove to be costly for the Pioneers. At the 14:04 mark, Reno tallied their first and only power play goal of the game off of a shot flipped up and over Jones for the score.

The Aces were given a chance to take the lead once again when Halas was called for a hook at the 15:04 mark. Denver would once again successfully kill of the Aces power play.

As the period and regulation time winded down, both team had some glorious opportunities that came in odd-man situation but neither was successful in finishing the plays.

At the 19:35 mark, McEwen nearly gave the Pioneers win but couldn’t beat the sprawling Reno netminder.

With the score tied a 4-4; the game went to overtime with no penalties carried over.

Denver came out as hard as they had finished regulation time. The Reno goaltender was clearly the busier of the two netminders in the extra session.

Jim Wiste would become the hero of the game at the 2:05 mark when he picked up the rebound and proceeded to flip a backhanded over the Aces netminder for the game-winner. Halas drew the lone assist.

Denver went 2-for-3 on the power play, while Reno went 1-for-4 on the power play.

Next up: Denver Pioneers vs. the Hodgepodge Elite on Saturday.


Official 2008 Denver Pioneers Roster (revised and updated)

Goaltender
#1 Tom Jones

Defensemen
#2 Wayne Smith (DU 1963-66)
#3 Bob Peers (DU 1963-66)
#4 Blake Emery
#5 Bob Brawley (Michigan State 1964-67)
#6 Peter McEwen

Forwards
#8 Tom Miller (DU 1967-69)
#9 Bill Goodacre (Colorado College 1958-62)
#11 Wayne Wiste (DU 1965-67)
#12 Don Cameron (DU 1964-67)
#14 Jim Wiste (DU 1966-68)
#15 Pat Halas
#16 John MacMillan (DU 1957-60)
#18 Bill Pettinger (DU 1969-71)
#19 Norm Kvern (DU 1964-65)


- DJ Powers Staff Writer - NCAA
Future Considerations (http://www.futureconsiderations.ca/)
[And your humble DU Snoopy Tournament correspondent]

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