After not playing Friday night’s game due to weather conditions that prevented the Denver team bus from getting to Colorado Springs, the No. 3 Pioneers and Colorado College played a contest Saturday at Magness Arena with enough excitement for two games.

No. 3 Denver picked up the extra NCHC point in a 5-4 win on Brett Stapley‘s shootout goal after two five-minute overtimes decided nothing in a game with more plot twists than a mystery novel. The game will go in the NCAA books as a 4-4 tie and add yet another memorable chapter in the Gold Pan.

Stapley played a big role in a regulation rally by the Pioneers, scoring the tying goal with 6:39 left in the third period, poking a Kohen Olischefski shot that went under CC goalie Alex Leclerc into the net.

“As the game went on I thought we did a better job getting to the net, creating some greasy goals,” DU coach David Carle said. “The face-off goal Stapley scored comes to mind. That was a point of emphasis in between periods.

“Give our guys credit, we continued to work as we have all year long as we were behind, and we got rewarded with the tie and the win in the shootout.”

Stapley’s tying goal was the freshman’s second goal of the night and his line’s third. I helped DU remain unbeaten in its past eight games (7-0-1). Stapley also scored 5:48 into the game, and Tyler Ward tied it at 2 only 33 seconds into the second period. Liam Finlay had three assists in the trio’s eight-point effort.

“Tonight we were finding each other,” Stapley said. “I think we were communicating more where each other were on the ice. It’s a lot easier to play that way.”

Jarid Lukosevicius redirected Emilio Pettersen‘s shot from between the circle to cut the Pioneers’ deficit to 4-3 with 10:50 to play in regulation before Stapley struck 4:11 later.

After the Pioneers came back from a 4-2 deficit after two periods, freshman goalie Filip Larsson took things from there, making 13 saves of his 24 saves in the third period and overtime – seven in the first extra session alone to improve his record to 6-0-2.

“I thought Filip got better as the game went on,” Carle said. “The power-play goals, a few of them were tough, I’m sure he’d want the wraparound back, but he got better as the game went on. It says a lot about his mental fortitude.

“We started to run out of gas a little bit and they got better once the game was tied and obviously in the overtime Filip was great.”

Excavation project

The Pioneers (14-4-3, 6-4-1-1 NCHC) dug themselves a big hole with penalties in the first two periods, and the Tigers (8-12-3, 2-7-2-0 NCHC) made them pay, scoring on three of four chances.

Defenseman Ian Mitchell, who along with Michael Davies played just about every other shift after Les Lancaster was assessed a game misconduct for a hit to the head just 9:25 into the game, said CC provided plenty of teachable moments going forward.

“Their puck movement was good,” the sophomore said. “They were flying around the zone creating 2 on 1s on our penalty kill. It was hard for us to stay with them.

“Next time we play them we’ll have to change something up. … They were clicking tonight.”

Whether it was the raw emotion of the rivalry, the super-charged atmosphere or some combination of both, the penalties nearly put the Pioneers in an abyss they couldn’t escape.

Once the Pioneers drew even, fatigue seemed to set in, particularly for the remaining five defensemen. But they passed the gut check, Carle said.

“A huge credit to our D men. Going to five D men taxes you,” the coach said. “It’s fortunate we only had one game this weekend. It would have been a little bit harder had we played on the big ice last night. … We did a real nice job not letting them get behind us.”

Mitchell said the group’s approach was simple.

“I think you get into a rhythm,” he said. “Every guy likes to be out there a lot in big moments, so I was trying to relish it every time I stepped on the ice.”

Opening act

Denver came out like a house afire, playing to an amped up crowd and racking up the first 10 shots of the game and taking a 1-0 lead on a beautiful tic-tac-toe play from Finlay to Ward to Stapley 5:48 in. The game then turned on a pair of Pioneers penalties.

Finlay’s holding penalty resulted in Trey Bradley‘s tally 56 seconds later. Grant Cruikshank‘s shot from the right circle hit Davies’ shin guards and careened to Bradley between the circles and he beat Larsson upstairs for the first of his two goals.

Just 42 seconds later, Lancaster drilled Westin Michaud near the boards opposite the benches and was given a five-minute major and a game misconduct.

The Tigers generated five shots on goal and Michaud fed Trevor Gooch between the circles 1:31 later and the senior beat Larsson on another bang-bang play to make it 2-1.

“They put pucks on the net, they put you on your heels,” Carle said. “I felt their power play put us on our heels, forcing us to turn and softened our pressure.”

Instant replay

Denver retook some momentum right away in the second period. Just 33 seconds in, Ward scored from the slot off a below-goal line pass from Finlay to tie it at 2. It was the Pioneers’ first shot of the period, and they fired seven more before the Tigers got one.

CC’s first shot of the period also went in the net – more than 14 minutes later. Bradley restored the Tigers’ lead when he skated around the Pioneers’ zone twice and scored on a wraparound that hit Larsson’s left skate with 6:19 left.

Ten seconds later, Davies took a holding penalty, and the Tigers buried their third power-play goal. Chris Wilkie‘s blast from the left dot was deflected by an unscathed Christiano Versich in Larsson’s kitchen to make it 4-2 only 43 seconds later.

Bring on the noise

The packed house left an indelible impression on the Pioneers.

“That was the best atmosphere I’ve played in at Magness Arena,” Mitchell said. “The fans were awesome.”

Added Stapley, “We had a great crowd, a great atmosphere.”

Notes

It was just the sixth time in 21 games that Denver has allowed four or more goals, but its record is 0-4-2 in those contests. It also was the 18th time in 21 games the Pioneers have scored three or more. … Lancaster was playing in his first game since Jan. 5 at Wisconsin after sustaining an upper body injury. … Sophomore goaltender Devin Cooley dressed after missing the past three games and half of a fourth after getting stung by a shot during the 6-3 win at Wisconsin on Jan. 4. Cooley returned to practice this week after sitting out last week.

Denver’s three stars

1. Brett Stapley. The freshman scored the first and tying goals and added a shootout beauty for the extra NCHC point.
2. Liam Finlay. Stapley’s right wing had three assists and was around the puck a good amount of the game.
3. Filip Larsson. After giving up four goals on 15 shots, he was money in the third period and overtime, stopping all 13 shots at him.

Up next

The Pioneers travel to No. 10 Western Michigan on Friday and Saturday for a pair of NCHC games. DU swept the Broncos earlier this season, but Western went on to win 10 of its next 11 games before getting swept at St. Cloud State this weekend.

©First Line Editorial 2017-19