A depleted Denver lineup lives to see another day.

The Pioneers defeated Omaha, 5-4, on a goal from an unlikely source – sparsely used defenseman turned forward Bo Hanson – with 5:03 to play to capture an NCHC quarterfinal on Saturday at Grand Forks, N.D.

Hanson was one of just 16 skaters available to the Pioneers (10-12-1) due to a combination of positive Covid-19 tests, contact tracing and subsequent quarantining. DU, which was playing for its NCAA Tournament lives, had practiced just once in the 10 days leading up to Saturday’s matchup.

Hanson, a grad transfer from St. Lawrence, scored the first goal of his DU career in only his 11th game for the Pioneers on a rebound  of Connor Caponi‘s shot while stationed immediately to the left of Omaha goaltender Isaiah Saville (33 saves).

“The team had a lot of belief,” DU coach David Carle said. “We were the better team for a lot of the game. The amount of perseverance and resilience was impressive.”

Denver will play No. 2 North Dakota on Monday in a semifinal at 7 p.m. The Pioneers are 0-2 vs. the Huskies and 2-4 vs. the Fighting Hawks. That will be determined later Saturday based upon the outcome of the the Western Michigan-Minnesota Duluth semifinal.

Hanson, who had not played forward since his youth hockey days, stood out to Carle as a viable option to move up.

“We experimented with him at forward early in the year in practice,” the coach said, adding junior Kyle Mayhew, who played forward as a freshman at DU, also was considered. “We thought going with more experience on the back end was going to be a key.

“I’m really happy for (Hanson). It hasn’t been easy for him, he hasn’t been in the lineup a lot. He did a great job at the net front, screens the goalie and gets rewarded with one going off him.”

THIS GAME! 😱

Hanson's first of the season puts @DU_Hockey back in front#FrozenFaceoff x #PioneerTogether pic.twitter.com/4O48jRXI9d

— The NCHC (@TheNCHC) March 13, 2021

Down but not out

The matchup between the NCHC’s fourth and fifth seeds promised to be close. Denver had 13 of the 25 cumulative goals scored in the season series, which had stood at 2-2.

The template for Denver defeating Omaha (14-10-1) this season had been straightforward – hold the Mavericks to one goal, as they did in 4-1 and 3-1 victories on Jan. 23 and Feb. 5, respectively. When the games turned into fire wagon hockey, the Mavericks had a distinct advantage, taking 5-2 and 5-4 outcomes.

Hank Crone gave Denver a 1-0 lead 8:25 into the game on an off-wing snipe. But the DU win vs. Omaha template went out the window during a 58-second stretch later in the first period, when the Mavericks’ Jason Smallidge and Matt Miller scored. Omaha took a 3-1 lead with 5:13 to go in the second when Tyler Weiss finished a nice cross-slot saucer pass from Taylor Ward.

“Our guys were always confident that if they kept going and played the right way they’d get rewarded,” Carle said.

The Pioneers, who outshot the Mavericks 30-10 in the first two periods and 38-28 overall, gained life when Bobby Brink scored the first of their two power-play goals just 2:10 after Weiss’ strike. The goal was Brink’s second of the season; the first also came against Omaha.

That was a harbinger of things to come.

Crime doesn’t pay

Penalties, which included each team being an assessed a five-minute major and game misconduct for head contact infractions, played a big role going forward. The teams combined for 16 of them, nine by Omaha. A trio of those negated Mavericks power plays.

Denver continued its heater 42 seconds into the third period when freshman defenseman Mike Benning scored his second goal of the season on heads-up play. Cole Guttman‘s shot rebounded to left circle, and Benning alertly read the play and reached the puck in time to fire it past an out of position Saville.

Benning wasn’t done, however. With 8:08 to play he fired a snapshot from the high slot, also on the power play, through traffic. to give Denver a 4-3 lead.

“Mike told me yesterday he was saving a few for the playoffs,” Carle said. “He stood up to his word.”

The second DU lead was short lived, however. Nate Knoepke, who lifted the Mavericks to that 5-4 overtime win on Feb. 6, struck 1:18 after Benning’s second goal on a play that was reviewed. Former Pioneer Kevin Connelly crashed the net and was tangled up with Guttman and goaltender Magnus Chrona (24 saves). Still, Connelly was able to tip the puck to Knoepke in the left circle and he fired it past Chrona’s uncovered hand.

Finishing move

That set the stage for heroics by Hanson and Chrona.

The sophomore goaltender had allowed three goals on the first 10 shots on goal he faced, but he flipped the script in the third period, making stopping 17 shots, including an Omaha barrage in the last five minutes.

“It was a huge response from him,” DU captain Kohen Olischefski said. “He was outstanding, especially in the last couple minutes. He won the game for us in the last few minutes.”

But make no mistake about it, this was a total team effort, the captain added.

“Everyone was outstanding tonight,” Olischefski added. “You play with a short bench and you need everyone going, and we had that.

“It’s probably the best experience of my career so far. One of the biggest character wins. Nobody felt we were going to win this game tonight.”

Sitting out

Eight DU skaters were unable to travel with the team. The group included graduate transfer Steven Jandric, senior Jake Durflinger, sophomores Brett Edwards and Lane Krenzen and freshmen Carter King, Reid Irwin, McKade Webster and Jack Works. All are forwards except Krenzen and Irwin. The group has accounted for 29 points and 11 goals (18 percent of DU’s season totals). Carle said one of the eight might be available for Monday’s semifinal but did not specify whom. … In addition, junior center Brett Stapley had season-ending surgery last month. … Crone and Brink also added an assist, while Guttman had two helpers to join Benning with multi-point games.

©First Line Editorial 2021