For the second weekend in a row Denver offered a glimpse of its potential in this truncated NCAA hockey season.

The Pioneers played about as well of a road game as they could in dispatching No. 11 Omaha, 4-1, at Baxter Arena, the site of the NCHC’s pod last month.

A week ago, DU (6-8-1) knocked off No. 2 North Dakota by the same score. The next night the Fighting Hawks came out breathing fire and returned the favor. So a key for the Pioneers would be sustaining this effort another night. If they’re successful, they will find themselves having won four of five games and back in the top half of the league’s standings.

Denver got goals from four different players, and two of them – Fins Antti Tuomisto and Jaakko Heikkinen – each contributed two points.

“I thought defensively we were pretty good,” DU coach David Carle said. “Offensively, we got better as the game went on at possessing pucks and extending plays.”

Grad transfer Corbin Kaczperski made 23 saves and won for the third time in four starts. Starter Magnus Chrona was unavailable.

“I thought Kacz was really good, he stood tall, he smothered pucks,” Carle added. “I liked his game. His battle level was really good.”

Even it up

All four DU goals – Tuomisto’s in the first, ones by Hank Crone and Carter Savoie in the second, and Heikkinen’s in the third – came at even strength. Big deal, right?

It is for Denver, which had just 25 even-strength tallies (compared to 12 power-play strikes) in its first 14 games. This might be the most notable stat in DU’s needs improvement category, and if the Pioneers address this they’re going to take great strides.

Tuomisto’s goal was his first at DU, while Crone’s came in his first game action since Dec. 20. The redshirt junior was playing in only his sixth game of the season, and he is among those the Pioneers would love to see heat up. Savoie’s goal was only his fourth at even strength but his team-best ninth overall. And Heikkinen’s also was his first of the season.

The Tuomisto and Heikkinen goals came after Ryan Barrow and Steven Jandric, respectively, made aggressive plays on the forecheck and got the puck to the goal scorers.

“We were able to create some turnovers and we were opportunistic on both of those goals,” Carle said. “When our puck pressure is good, it doesn’t matter who we’re playing, it really feeds into our game.”

The Omaha solution

If the Pioneers are in the dumps, seeing the Mavericks (8-4-1) on the schedule probably adds some bounce to their collective step.

DU is on a 19-game unbeaten heater against Omaha, but the teams had tied in the past three meetings. They would have met in the first round of last season’s NCHC quarterfinals had the plug not been pulled in the season.

The way things are shaping up with nine games remaining (including three more against each other), they could well meet in the postseason this year.

Caution

Not even taking four penalties in the third period, including Connor Caponi‘s five-minute major with 4:56 to go, could derail the Pioneers. They were fortunate Omaha couldn’t cash in.

Of course the Mavericks were their own worst enemies at times, taking five of their seven penalties after DU took the lead for good on Crone’s goal just 1:03 into the second.

The penultimate of those came just 24 seconds into Omaha’s game-ending power play and effectively eliminated any chance of the hosts coming back.

This was a night when the puck found Denver (code for a team playing smart and aggressively) repeatedly. If the Pioneers can keep this up …

Next: Game 2 of the series at Omaha is Sunday at 5:07 p.m.

©First Line Editorial 2021