In its quest to become the first team to win two NCHC Frozen Face-off titles Denver turned to … its freshmen.

First-year players scored the Pioneers’ first three goals en route to a 4-1 victory over St. Cloud State at St. Paul, Minn. on Saturday night.

Kohen Olischefski and Ryan Barrow each had a goal and an assist, Jake Durflinger had a huge goal in the closing seconds of the first period, and Ian Mitchell added an assist for Denver (22-9-8), which might have played its way into a top seed in one of the NCAA Tournament’s four regionals and will be no worse than the fifth overall seed of the 16 teams.

The Pioneers also won the inaugural Frozen Face-off in 2014, playing their way into the NCAA Tournament that year. There were no such worries this time around for DU, which has been ranked in the top five all season and has won four NCHC playoff games in a row after a 1-0 loss to Colorado College in Game 1 of the teams’ quarterfinal series last Friday.

“Really proud of our group,” Denver coach Jim Montgomery said. “I thought we were relentless. The first 5-10 minutes St. Cloud came at us. The tournament MVP (Tanner Jaillet) stood tall. After that we were very persistent.”

Jaillet kept the Huskies (25-8-6) off the scoreboard until Ryan Poehling scored with 4:16 left and allowed just two goals on 54 shots on goal over the weekend.

That cut the lead to 3-1, but assistant captain Dylan Gambrell quickly restored a three-goal margin on a blast from the slot with 2:54 to play.

Olischefski got things started for DU when he generated not one but two chances on Huskies goalie David Hrenak early in the first period. The freshman center snapped a shot from the left dot then followed the rebound to the front of the net, where he got his stick on it and slid it under Hrenak’s pads at 4:24.

Durflinger jumped off the bench on a line change and found a nearly wide-open net after Logan O’Connor made a superlative play to initiate the chance. O’Connor gained contol of the puck in the DU zone and raced down the left wing with it, firing a shot from the top of the left circle that Hrenak fended off to his left … and right to Durflinger, but buried it with 5 seconds to go in the first.

“That was huge,” Jaillet said. “Personally you don’t want to get scored on in the last two minutes of the period. From there we just kept on rolling.”

Barrow made it 3-0 only 2:06 into the second period after another nice play by Olischefski, who worked the puck free near the DU line and up to Barrow, who was off to the races.

Barrow flew down the left wing and shot across Hrenak, lifting a backhand over the goalie’s glove hand and finishing his fellow freshman’s night in the process. Hrenak, so good in a series vs. the Pioneers three weeks ago at St. Cloud, left after making 10 saves on 13 shots. Backup Jeff Smith made 13 saves on 14 shots.

The recent emergence of Olischefski (six goals) and Barrow (four) – who frequently play with senior Rudy Junda but saw time with sophomore Liam Finlay on Saturday –  has added an extra dimension to the Pioneers’ attack.

“I think it’s big anytime you get contributions from our third and fourth lines,” Gambrell said. Our fourth line had a great weekend and gave us a lot of momentum. When they’re laying the body, putting pucks in the net it gives us a boost.”

On a night when most of the Pioneers’ more heralded scorers were held off the scoresheet, the play of the rest of DU’s lineup gave future NCAA opponents something else to worry about.

Defense doesn’t rest

Two-one-one-one. That’s how many goals DU has allowed in each game in its four-game playoff win streak. Yes, Jaillet gets a lot of credit for that, but the goaltender, and his coach were quick to credit the group in front of the reigning Mike Richter Award winner.

“I can’t give our guys enough credit,” Jaillet said. “There is no way I get any of these accolades without the guys in front of me. They blocked out, they took away passing lanes.”

Montgomery lauded the play of the entire group, but singled out seniors Adam Plant and Tariq Hammond for their steadiness and leadership.

All-tournament team

To the surprise of no one, Jaillet was selected the tournament MVP, and he had plenty of company from teammates on the all-tournament team.

O’Connor and Henrik Borgström were two of the three forwards, joining St. Cloud’s Ryan Poehling, while Mitchell and St. Cloud’s Jack Ahcan were the defensemen.

O’Connor had two assists Friday and another Saturday, Borgström had a goal Friday and Mitchell picked up an assist each night.

Denver’s three stars

1. Kohen Olischefski. Great efforts led to his goal and springing Ryan Barrow for his. He also won half of his six face-offs.
2. Ryan Barrow. He generated four shots, blocked a shot and had the primary assist on Olischefski’s goal.
3. Tanner Jaillet. Any time you hold a team like St. Cloud to one goal, you’re doing a lot right.

Up next

Denver will play in the NCAA Tournament, perhaps as a top seed. Tournament pairings will be revealed Sunday morning at 10 a.m. MT on ESPNU.

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