Fourth-ranked Minnesota Duluth was shutout for just the second time this season by the team that blanked them the first time, losing 1-0 to seventh-ranked Denver in NCHC play Saturday night before a crowd of 6,462 at Amsoil Arena.
Pioneers sophomore goaltender Devin Cooley made 27 saves in his first appearance since going down with an injury Jan. 4 at Wisconsin. He was the backup to freshman Filip Larsson during Friday’s 5-2 Bulldogs win.
Cooley made 13 saves in the third period to preserve the shutout for the Pioneers (16-7-4 overall, 8-7-2 NCHC). Junior goaltender Hunter Shepard only had to make two saves for the Bulldogs (18-8-2, 11-6-1) in the third as he finished with 15 total on 16 shots.
“We gave ourselves a chance,” UMD coach Scott Sandelin said. “They are a good team. They are a team that probably came into tonight going, ‘You’re not beating us twice,’ and they played that way. They played hard, which we knew they would.
“Those are good tests right now, those are good battles. At least our guys went out in the third and gave us a chance. And give their goalie credit, too.”
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The Pioneers - who used 38 saves from Cooley to beat UMD 2-0 on Nov. 16 in Denver - took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission via a goal from freshman defenseman Slava Demin eight minutes in. His shot from the blue line went through heavy traffic to give Denver the first goal of the game for the second night in a row.
There was no quick response by the Bulldogs, however, unlike Friday’s game. Denver scored 2:50 into the game and the Bulldogs were able to tie it back up 71 seconds later with the first of four straight goals.
Despite three power plays - two for UMD, one for Denver - the Bulldogs and Pioneers combined for just nine shots in the second period. They had 19 during the first period, which was a solid 20 minutes of 5-on-5.
The Bulldogs made a strong push in the third period to tie the game, but unlike the charge UMD put forth on Friday when it netted a trio of goals in the third, they couldn’t beat Cooley.
Senior center Peter Krieger said the Bulldogs let Cooley see the puck too much, they didn’t change the angles of shots or get second and third opportunities. That comes from not consistently getting to the front of the net, he said.
“We made it easy for him most of the night. We didn’t really get many second or third opportunities,” Krieger said. “We’d get one or two, but we didn’t really have guys hanging around the net making it tough for him.”
With the result, the Bulldogs enter the final three weeks of the regular season in second in the NCHC. They are 10 points back of league-leading St. Cloud State with six games to play and two up on third-place Western Michigan.
Denver was able to break free of a tie for fourth with North Dakota on Saturday with the win and Fighting Hawks loss in Kalamazoo, Mich.
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“We got to find ways to get pucks and bodies to the net,” UMD senior wing Parker Mackay said. “We need to do a better job there. Credit to them. They locked it down pretty well. We got to find ways here late in the season.
“We had an opportunity to close out, maybe get a sweep here and weren’t able to get it done.”
- UMD coach Scott Sandelin was honored after Saturday’s game as the men’s hockey program’s all-time leader in wins (357). He surpassed Mike Sertich (350) in December during the Desert Hockey Classic in Arizona while serving as an assistant coach on the U.S. Junior National Team at the World Junior Championship in British Columbia.
- The Bulldogs wore throwback jerseys and white helmets Saturday, similar to what was worn by the team on the road in the 1980s and first half of the 1990s.
- Linesman Jeff Schultz suffered a possible hamstring injury during the first period. The second and third periods were played with two referees and one linesman.
- Freshman forward Jesse Jacques replaced sophomore forward Koby Bender as the 19th skater in the lineup Saturday. Bender suffered an injury in Friday’s win, but was able to finish the game. Sandelin said afterward Bender was OK.
Denver
1-0-0-1
Minn. Duluth
0-0-0-0
First period - 1. DU, Slava Demin 4 (Emilio Pettersen, Liam Finlay), 8:04. Penalties - None.
Second period - No scoring. Penalties - Jake Durflinger, DU (elbowing), 1:37; Louie Roehl, UMD (interference), 10:00; Michael Davies, DU (holding), 13:56.
Third period - No scoring. Penalties - No penalties.
Shots on goal - DU 9-5-2-16; UMD 10-4-13-27. Goalies - Devin Cooley, DU (27 shots-27 saves); Hunter Shepard, UMD (16-15). Power plays - DU 0-of-1; UMD 0-of-2. Referees - Scott Bokal, Nick Krebsbach. Linesmen - Dana Penkivech, Jeff Schultz. Att. - 6,462.
