The anticipated Denver-Boston College matchup will take place after all on Saturday. Unfortunately for the two top-five-ranked teams, it will be in the consolation game of the Ice Breaker Tournament at Magness Arena.

Ohio State rode a dominant second period to a 3-2 victory over the No. 3 Pioneers, while Air Force scored twice in the third period to edge the No. 5 Eagles, 2-1, in Friday’s opening game.

“For the second period, and really the next 30 minutes they looked far superior,” DU coach Jim Montgomery said. “They looked like they trained in Denver at high altitude not us.”

Freshman Tyson McLellan scored his first collegiate goal and sophomore Jarid Lukosevicius pulled DU within a goal 3:32 into the third period after carrying the puck through the neutral zone into the slot. Tanner Jaillet made 30 saves for the Pioneers, who lost a home opener for the first time in Montgomery’s four seasons as coach. Christian Frey stopped 33 shots for the Buckeyes.

Matthew Weis staked Ohio State to a 1-o lead just 29 seconds into the first period, and DU was chasing for much of the rest of the game. McLellan evened things with a nice snap shot to the short side.

The Buckeyes had the first eight shots of the second period and retook the lead for good on defenseman Matt Joyaux‘s slap shot past Jaillet 7:26 in. John Wiitala collected a loose puck in front of Jaillet and made it 3-1 a short time later in a period in which OSU outshot DU, 15-6.

What did we learn?

1. The Pioneers were uneven defensively, and it cost them. There were long stretches in which the Buckeyes outshot DU, including 8-0 at the start of the second period. OSU’s first goal came on a 2-on-1 and the third came after DU couldn’t clear a puck from the crease. “I thought (the defense was) good, I didn’t think they were great. They didn’t break up enough plays,” Montgomery said. “The first 10 minutes (Ohio State’s) stretch plays caught them by surprise.”
2. Taking a pass. At times the Pioneers passed up shots in order to make a pretty play; the strategy backfired more often than not. “We deferred too much,” Montgomery said. “We didn’t have enough drive to the net. … We had a couple of plays we should have buried.”
3. It’s never a good idea to chase the game. And that was exactly what DU did for most of this one. It will take time for their offense to round into form, particularly since it’s going to be so reliant on underclassmen. Falling behind 29 seconds in didn’t help, but overcoming the second period was too tall a task.
4. Overall, there’s much room to improve. And the Pioneers will. Still, it wasn’t a pretty picture. “They  out-competed us, they won more one-on-one battles,” Montgomery said. “The emotion and energy wasn’t there. No one was making plays. … We need to break the puck out better, we need to forecheck better.” … You can add improving the circle, too. Face-offs, which were such a strength of the Pioneers last season, were a massive problem Friday. DU won just 27 of 66 draws (40 percent).

Newcomers

The Pioneers dressed four freshmen in their regular-season opener.

Michael Davies was paired with senior Will Butcher on defense. Henrik Borgstrom centered sophomores Dylan Gambrell and Colin Staub. Liam Finlay was paired with sophomores Troy Terry and Lukosevicius. And McLellan centered senior Evan Janssen and sophomore Logan O’Connor.

Line change

In an effort to spark the offense, DU moved Gambrell to Terry’s line and Finlay to Borgstrom’s. It eventually paid dividends, with Lukosevicius scoring, and he and Terry and Gambrell controlling play in the offensive zone nearly every shirt they skated in the final 10 minutes.

“The second period was so bad we had to change things up,” Montgomery said.

Ice Breaker opener

Air Force rallied for two third-period goals, the second a 5-on-3 tally by Ben Kucera with 8:22 to play to edge No. 5 Boston College, 2-1. Matt Serratore had tied the score at 1 at 6:17 of the third. Goalie Shane Starrett made 37 saves for the Falcons.

Austin Cangelosi scored on a penalty shot for Boston College in the second period.

Saturday’s schedule

DU and BC will play in the 7 p.m. nightcap, while Air Force and Ohio State battle at 4 p.m. for the Ice Breaker championship. Altitude Sports will broadcast the DU-BC game.