In a tightly played contest before a raucous homecoming crowd, the No. 5 Denver Pioneers edged the Michigan State Spartans, 4-2. Goaltender Evan Cowley made 25 saves, including helping to kill a nearly two-minute five-on-three Michigan State power play.
“I loved the adversity we faced and how well we handled it,” said Denver coach Jim Montgomery. “The bench was very positive, and I just loved how relentless we were. I started seeing the makings of a team that could become a very good hockey team, and a team that could play Denver hockey the right way.”
Michigan State struck first, just 1:33 into the game. JT Stenglein raced in down the right side around Denver defenseman Blake Hillman and cut hard to the slot, getting off a shot in the process. Evan Cowley made the save, but as Hillman was skating behind the net, he knocked the puck out of the air and into his own net.
“I thought our guys competed hard tonight,” said Spartans coach Tom Anastos. “That’s a real good team. We’re missing a few guys from our lineup, but every single guy competed real hard, and we gave ourselves a chance to win. They took advantage of a couple of mistakes we made at the end of the game.”
After a lot of fast up and down play, Denver tied it at the midway point of the period when freshman Dylan Gambrell made a good play to get the puck deep in the Michigan State zone. He got a shot on goaltender Jake Hildebrand, and Emil Romig picked up the rebound on the left side of the crease and poked it home at 10:25.
In the second period, Denver dominated much of the middle of the frame, getting several good chances. Gabe Levin was all alone in front of the net with the puck off a turnover but missed the net wide, and Will Butcher got the puck in the slot moving forward, but his shot got deflected.
Michigan State then had a golden chance late in the frame, getting a five-on-three power play for almost two minutes, but Denver did a good job keeping the Spartans to the outside, and Cowley made the few saves he had to when challenged.
“That was a huge team effort by all the guys that were out there, and we stress playing our position, being in their shot lanes, making sure we clear bodies out of the front of the net, and we were lucky to get some bounces and to get some good saves from Cowley as well,” said Levin.
“Those are critical situations that you have to come through,” said Anastos. “Otherwise, they come up and bite you. That did for us, not able to score there.”
Michigan State came out flying in the third period, and capitalized early on a pretty play. Mason Appleton carried the puck deep along the right side boards and dove to make a pass across the crease to Matt DeBlouw. The puck hit DeBlouw’s skate, and he deflected it to his stick and then past Cowley at 3:14.
Once again, Denver rallied near the midway point. Logan O’Connor got the puck behind the goal line and sent a pass out to Matt VanVoorhis at the top of the left circle, and VanVoorhis beat Hildebrand top corner glove side with a quick wrist shot at 8:42.
“It’s just part of our team culture here is to be relentless, and stick to our process no matter what kind of game,” said Levin. “Whether we are down one or up goals, it doesn’t matter, and I’m proud of the way we competed tonight. We stayed relentless and kept coming back, no matter what they put us through.”
“I thought on the first one, we got drawn down low and out of position and they took advantage,” said Anastos of Denver’s third period goal.
Denver finally took its first lead of the game at 12:01 when Nolan Zajac got the puck behind the goal line to Hildebrand’s left and sent a pass out to Levin in the top of the slot. Levin beat Hildebrand with a quick wrist shot placed perfectly top shelf stick side.
“I was bummed out about missing that one by five feet, so I definitely wanted to put this one at least on net and it went in,” laughed Levin, recalling his second period miss. “It was a great pass. He has great vision, and I was lucky to be on the receiving end of it.”
A relentless Denver forecheck kept Michigan State from gaining control and pulling Hildebrand for an extra skater in the last minute until an ill-timed icing from Denver gave Michigan State a faceoff in the Denver zone with 10.9 seconds to play. Anastos called timeout to set up a play, but Denver won the draw and cleared the zone, and O’Connor raced up the right side and sent the puck into the empty net with 3.6 seconds left to play, scoring his first collegiate goal.
“I thought our team played unselfish in the sense that our changes were very unselfish; guys were changing in the offensive zone,” said Montgomery. “I think that created fresh bodies and we smothered them. When we are playing well, it’s hard for teams to gain the red line on us, and tonight that was the case for Michigan State after the first six or seven minutes.”
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