Playoff hockey is a different animal. Real estate is tougher to come by, goaltending is stronger, and it’s imperative to cash in on your chances.

No. 8 Minnesota Duluth took advantage of its, while No. 3 Denver could not solve goaltender Ryan Fanti, and the result was a 2-0 Bulldogs win in the first NCHC semifinal on Friday at St. Paul, Minn.

Fanti stopped all 30 Denver shots on goal, stoning Division I hockey’s highest-scoring team. Pioneers counterpart Magnus Chrona stopped 29 of 30 shots when he was in goal.

“The goaltenders were the two best players on the ice tonight,” DU coach David Carle said. “Give them credit, they did a great job. I didn’t think we played our best game.”

Duluth’s Blake Biondi finished a cross-slot pass from Jesse Jacques with 5:13 to go in the first period, and that held up until Kobe Roth‘s empty-net goal with 20 seconds left in the game.

Jacques skated off down the left wing after DU (27-9-1) turned the puck over in the offensive zone. His area pass found Biondi who speed down the right wing to Chrona’s back door. The Pioneers netminder never had a chance.

The Bulldogs, who will play the winner of the North Dakota-Western Michigan matchup later Friday for the NCHC playoff title, nearly took a 2-0 lead late in the second period. An apparent Kobe Bender goal was disallowed after an officials’ review. Duluth’s Noah Cates was ruled to have pushed the puck under Chrona and into the net.

UMD (20-15-4) clearly intended to take away as much of the middle of the ice as it could, as well as limit Denver’s opportunities to get its lethal offense in gear.

“They were clogging up the neutral zone,” DU assistant captain Ryan Barrow said. “I didn’t think we played our best game.”

Added Carle, “They were excellent with their puck pressure, taking away time and space.”

A spectacular game by Chrona went for naught. Still, the junior’s play has to be taken as a positive.

“He was unbelievable,” Barrow said. “He gave us a chance. That’s all you can hope for.”

So the Pioneers return to Colorado with a handful of teaching points in advance of next week’s NCAA Regional, which they will host at Loveland.

“We had two penalties that took us off power plays, an average start,” Carle said. “The lesson is you need everybody. We’ve got to take that into next (week).”

Captain Cole Guttman said the Pioneers will need to bring their urgency on the bus to Loveland.

“It’s another wakeup call for us,” the senior said. “We are needing to be harder at the net front.

“We have to play a full 60. You have to do that to beat a really good team like this.”

©First Line Editorial 2022