Denver 2 - Minnesota 0 FINAL


"The players got an earful. They may not feel better, but I do. I am agitated. I am really disappointed. I do not get on them very often, but you know what, the expectation of playing hard is a given. That is a given. That has to be the foundation.”
 -UM head Coach Don Lucia
The University of Denver went up to Minnesota and came away with a hard fought 2-0 victory on Friday night.  Shawn Ostrow was the hero scoring within the first minute of the third period.

DU's penalty kill unit was fantastic, killing all five Gopher plays while only allowing two shots. They also mustered several solid short handed scoring opportunities and had 8 shots in goal while shorthanded.

Jussi Olkinoura earned the shutout.




7 comments:

Jordan said...

DU's team defense was as good as it's been all season. Minnesota's passing was pretty bad most of the night, especially from their top lines. Glad that the #1 PP got blanked by the #1 team in PIM's.

I know George said he'd go with a rotation for the foreseeable future, but you have to wonder what the shutout means for the goalies.

Though any analysis we throw at this team probably doesn't mean jack. It all depends on which team shows up each night from here on out.

dggoddard said...

Gotta love the Gopher fans. Booing their own team in the third period as the struggled mightily on the power play.

Gopher fans: Tough but Fair.

anonevermore said...

Wow I'm very surprised that the University of Denver was victorious. I hope we don't get destroyed tomorrow.

5BWest said...

This is a huge win. This dramatically increases the chances for Gwoz to get #20 this season and the team to make the tourney. Maybe we can carry this over to tonight. It would be a huge lift to sweep a quality opponent on the road and lots of mental toughness.

Twister said...

Huge huge win last night. If DU could manage a 3-4 point weekend it would be massive. 2 points is already an accomplishment.

The Gophers were not sharp and didn't seem to play with much urgency. DU played a good road game and did what they needed to do. And pitched a shutout on top of it.

dggoddard said...

DU is 9-1-0 against the Gophers in the last 10 games.

DU started the 10 game streak with three straight shutouts by Marc Cheverie. So that's four shutouts in 10 games.

Gwozdecky is now the winningest all-time coach against the Gophers. He mentioned on the radio that Brittain likely to get the start tonight.

Not sure if he thinks Brittain has a better chance of winning, wants to get the rotation back on track for the playoffs or he's giving Jussi an extra rest.

Whats undeniable is that DU goaltending has not been sharp in the NCAA playoffs since 2005. In every NCAA game since 2005, DU has given up the first two goals of the game.

So maybe the plan is to keep Jussi fresh. He's played far, far better on Friday's than Saturday's this season. If Great Brittain can get hot down the stretch, we may be seeing the rotation in the playoffs.

Crazy L said...

Big Win! Tonight would be bigger.