For most of regulation, special teams were the story of Thursday’s Denver-Massachusetts Frozen Four semifinal at Buffalo.

The Pioneers flipped that script with hard-charging third period, but the Minutemen wrote an unhappy ending for DU and its fans with 4:42 to go in overtime when Marc Del Gaizo wired a slap shot over Filip Larsson‘s glove hand to send UMass to its first ever NCAA championship game.

Denver (24-12-5) rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the latter half of the third period thanks to two goals from freshman Cole Guttman and carried plenty of momentum into overtime, but Del Gaizo ended the game after taking a low-to-high pass from Oliver Chau.

The strike ended a compelling season for the Pioneers, who entered the season with a new coach (David Carle) after Jim Montgomery was hired by the NHL’s Dallas Stars and a vastly different cast of characters after the early departures of five players to pro hockey and the graduation of four more stalwarts.

“I loved the resiliency, to stick with it,” Carle said. “I think we could have got down on ourselves. We didn’t. We stuck with our game plan in the second and third. I’m really proud of our effort to be able to fight back, get it to overtime.

“I’m really proud of our team for everything they’ve done all year long. The adversity we faced, we faced it head on, got through it together.”

UMass (31-9), meanwhile, keeps its own storybook season alive with a date against defending national champ Minnesota-Duluth, which defeated Providence, 4-1, earlier Thursday.

Passing a real Gutt check

The Pioneers came back in a game that featured a bizarre first period, which included two of the contest’s three five-minute majors and accompanying game misconducts and a total of four power-play goals – three by UMass, and two of those on 5-on-3s.

The third major and gamer was handed out to UMass wing Mitchell Chaffee, who’d earlier scored the second Minuteman goal, late in the second period. Even though Denver didn’t score on that or either of UMass’ ensuing minor penalties in the third, it built sufficient momentum to set the stage for Guttman’s onslaught.

His first goal – and the first even-strength one of the game – came with 9:28 to play in regulation. During a sustained DU attack, fellow freshman Tyler Ward retrieved the puck and worked it up the left wall and dropped a pass to Guttman, who then walked around the left circle and snapped a shot short side over Filip Lindberg’s blocker. Lindberg (37 saves) appeared to be partially screened by Jake Durflinger.

Denver built a 15-4 shots on goal edge in the third period, part of a 40-28 advantage in the game, and Guttman struck again with 3:46 to.

Defenseman Les Lancaster pinched on the right boards and got the puck to Tyson McLellan below the goal line. The forward, who replaced Emilio Petterson (wrist injury) on the top line with Guttman and Jarid Lukosevicius, feed Guttman in the slot.

That set the stage for a back-and-forth overtime in which the teams traded chances before Del Gaizo ended it.

“I don’t think anyone doubted that we weren’t going to win the game,” Carle said. “I loved how we pushed in the third. It was an incredible effort by everybody that was going. Thought we had ’em.”

Crazy start

The first period was memorable for many of the wrong reasons.

The bizarre sequence began when Minutemen captain Niko Hildenbrand hit McLellan with a shoulder to the head near the benches just 6:24 into the game. After a lengthy officials review, the penalty was ruled to be a 5-minute major and Hildenbrand was given a game misconduct.

That handed Denver some much-needed momentum after UMass had come out ablaze. DU spent more than a minute in the Minutemen’s zone and cashed in when Colin Staub banged in a rebound at 8:29 after a wild scramble in front of Lindberg.

After that, the Pioneers had to kill off three consecutive penalties – starting with  Lukosevicius’ with 9:13 to play in the period. McLellan took another mind just 29 seconds later. The Minutemen wasted little time scoring on the first of two 5-on-3 power plays.

Bobby Trivigno tipped in Jacob Pritchard’s shot from the right circle with 8:19 left to tie it. Ryan Barrow then drew a 5-minute major and the gate for contact to the head only 41 seconds later, and UMass took control of the game in short order.

Barrow’s penalty created the second UMass 5-on-3, and 39 seconds into it Chaffee snapped a shot past Larsson (24 saves) with 6:56 left. Eighteen seconds after that, John Leonard scored to make it 3-1.

“They scored three power-play goals, two of them were beautiful,” Carle said. “They made real nice plays. I didn’t think Filip had much of a chance on them.

“I thought he settled into the game (after that). Part of our message between the first and the second was that we knew Filip was going to shut the door, keep them at three. We needed to do our job and get it tied back up. We did that, gave ourselves a chance. I really like how he responded after giving up those three goals.”

After allowing three goals on seven shots, Larsson then stopped the Minutemen’s next 20 shots.

Denver’s three stars

1. Cole Guttman. His two third-period goals sent the game to overtime. He also assisted on Colin Staub’s goal.
2. Colin Staub and Jarid Lukosevicius. The seniors did what they did all season – led by example. Staub scored the first goal and Luko created numerous scoring chances, more as the game went along.
3. Tyson McLellan. The junior was around the puck all night and made a crucial play on the tying goal.

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