DU 4 - Air Force 1

(above) Matt Glasser & Rhett Rakhshani look for a rebound

(above) Brian Gifford introduces himself to Air Force's Blake Page

(above) Rhett Rakhshani scored two goals against Air Force
We want to put ourselves in position to make up ground on the conference leaders with two difficult road trips in the next two weekends.
- Coach Gwozdecky
There are no unbeaten teams left in college hockey this season. DU put the Air Force Academy to the sword with a 4-1 victory in Magness Arena on Saturday night.

DU blew open a tightly fought contest, after Air Force tied the game 1-1 with less than 18 minutes to go in the game. Kyle Ostrow's goal less than a minute after Air Force had knotted the score, turned the tide.

Rhett Rakhshani added two goals for the Pioneers and Brandon Vossberg added an empty netter. Air Force coach Frank Serratore called Rakhshani's second goal, "A sick, skilled goal. That was a tough one to swallow."

Air Force played a great game and was an even match for DU throughout the night.

Marc Cheverie made 38 saves to earn player of the game honors.
Box Score

DenverPioneers.com Game Recap

Denver Post game recap by Mike Chambers

Theresa Spisak's game recap for USCHO.com

GoAirForceFalcons.com Game Recap
First Star: Marc Cheverie (Denver)
Second Star: Rhett Rakhshani (Denver)
Third Star: Andrew Volkening (Air Force)

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice work DU!!!!!

Anonymous said...

The Pios got the job done - they played hard, and deserved to win. That said, Air Force was, as advertised, a top 10 calibre team. Chevy really looked solid tonight, and if he can maintain this level of play, DU will be a very tough team to play in the second half...

Anonymous said...

AFA came out super physical in the first and set the tone, however DU adjusted to their physical level. DU played super tough, hustled all night. Beautiful work ethic all around tonight. Chevry was big too.

Anonymous said...

Two undefeated teams meet DU, results speak for themselves - go DU!

dggoddard said...

Gwozdecky said earlier in the week that DU was lucky to catch Air Force at home and on Saturday night.

He was right about that. CC ran into a buzzsaw last night and barely recovered against Colgate tonight.

Sometimes its not who you play in college hockey, but when you play them.

Props to Air Force. Good luck the rest of the way

Anonymous said...

I'm never one to kiss the opponent I just waxed, and I won't start here. Air Force was alright, but I though Ohio State played us better each night. So did Wisco. So if all y'all want to suck their diks, go ahead. To me, a better hockey team beat an inferior hockey team tonight. Let's call a spade a spade, folks. CC is good, but not great. DU might be great, who knows, but USAFA as VASTLY overrated.

Doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure this out.

Anonymous said...

Gwoz on AFA:

"I can't say we've played a better team all year"

I think Air Force and Minnesota are the best teams we've played. CC is a notch down from that.

That's the spade I am calling....

Anonymous said...

Has anyone looked at the very first KRACH ratings from college hockey news that were available after this game. The top five teams are air force, vermont, northeastern, princeton, and cornell. I would bet two of these "top five" teams don't make the national tournament

Anonymous said...

Air Force was just "alright"? Wow.... talk about not giving credit where it's due dude! That is the finest team DU has played all year and will play for the rest of the year. Serratore has ignited that program...the same way he did for DU from '90-'94. Air Force is a stellar program and DU gave it their all tonight and it showed. Yea, DU won, but Air Force would have beat any other team in the nation tonight with the way they played.

It's also nice to see that some of the folks from the Springs can come and cheer for their team in a respectable manner. Air Force fans are always classy and welcome here in Denver. CC and ND fans could learn a LOT from AF fans!

Gandalf The Red said...

Congrats to Denver on the big win! The WCHA needed that and your team came through!

Already looking forward to DU's visit to the Kohl Center in 2009.

Anonymous said...

How did Jackson play last night? Is he out of the doghouse?

Anonymous said...

Jackson provided a physical presence that was quite helpful this weekend...I think he's probably out of the doghouse, but competition for spots is intense..

Twister said...

Great weekend for the Pios!! I didn't see any of last night's game, but it sounds as though they really brought the effort and intensity needed. To score 10 and only give up 2 against two quality opponents is quite a feat.

Hopefully they keep the momentum going on the road and earn some valuable league points in the next two series before the break.