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DENVER — In a back-and-forth game that featured two contrasting styles of play, the No. 14 Denver Pioneers edged the Western Michigan Broncos, 4-3, behind two goals from Quentin Shore and 30 saves from goaltender Tanner Jaillet. It was Denver’s third win a row, and in combination with Minnesota-Duluth’s loss to St. Cloud moved the Pioneers into third place in the NCHC.
“Yeah, I think the break was good for us, both mentally and physically,” said Shore. “We came back and we were refreshed and we got back to playing Denver hockey, and that’s what’s important and that’s what’s getting us the wins.”
Denver came out flying and put a lot of pressure on the Broncos off the opening faceoff, capitalizing first at 2:00 of the period when Colin Staub carried the puck down low along the right-side boards and tried to slide a pass to Emil Romig in the slot. Broncos goaltender Lukas Hafner blocked the initial pass, but the puck went back to Staub as he was circling behind the net, and he flipped it out front to Romig, who tapped it into the open net.
“Obviously the first five minutes they were definitely the better team,” said Broncos coach Andy Murray. “We expected it; we’d traveled and they were fired up, so they were the better team in the first five minutes. Take that out and it was a 50-50 game.”
The Pioneers had several sustained offensive rushes after that, but couldn’t score. Just after the midway point of the period, after Denver had kept it in the Broncos zone and got several shots off, a turnover at the right faceoff circle led to Colt Conrad rushing back up ice on a two-on-one. Conrad got off a shot from the left faceoff circle that Jaillet stopped. However, the rebound stayed in the slot, and as he was falling to the ice, Griffen Molino batted it past Jaillet at 11:31.
“I thought it was a really good college hockey game,” said Denver coach Jim Montgomery. “Two contrasting styles. We tried to play fast, and they tried to play big and heavy, and there were a lot of momentum swings. We probably dictated the speed of the game in the first 10 minutes, and then they started to wear on us in the last 10, and in the third period, it was back and forth depending on the shift.”
A late penalty proved costly to the Broncos. On a power play, the Pioneers worked the puck around, and Nolan Zajac got it in the right faceoff circle and sent a cross-ice pass to Troy Terry in the left faceoff circle. Terry immediately roofed a perfectly placed shot top corner stick side at 18:48.
Denver carried the momentum into the second, and a defensive breakdown led to Denver’s third goal. Matt VanVoorhis had the puck in deep in the Broncos zone in the left corner. He spun back toward the blue line and got a pass off to Shore in the slot, who was all alone with time. Shore roofed a quick snap shot past Hafner at 4:11.
“It was a great play by Matt VanVoorhis,” said Shore. “He was working down low; you don’t see that too often since he’s a defenseman. He had a couple of great cutbacks, and then I was just screaming and he found me in the slot, and I think there was a pretty good screen in front too.”
Just as Denver had used a power play to take a lead, Western Michigan used its first power play to climb back into the game. Sheldon Dries got the puck at the top of the right faceoff circle, took a step toward the middle and rifled a beautiful snap shot past Jaillet top corner stick side at 6:48.
However, continuing to pick Hafner high, Shore scored his second of the night late in the period to restore the two-goal lead. Shore carried the puck in along the right-side boards and worked a give-and-go with Terry, passing it to Terry in the middle of the zone then getting the puck back on a pass and driving the net and picking top corner glove side with a quick wrist shot from the bottom of the right circle at 13:09.
“He was just open; he was the F3 coming in,” said Shore. “I gave him the puck and he did a great job drawing the shot on the goalie and the goalie split out. He gave it back to me and the goalie wasn’t ready for it, so I just got it on net and it went in.”
Western Michigan got another late power-play opportunity, but was unable to convert. The Broncos almost had a two-on-none off a turnover, but were whistled offside, though it looked like a bad call by the referee.
The third period featured a lot of chances for both teams, including Terry hitting a crossbar. With just under three minutes left and a faceoff in the Denver zone after a penalty call on Denver, Murray called timeout and pulled Hafner. The ploy worked, as after sustained pressure, Dries got off a one-timer from low in the left faceoff dot that beat Jaillet at 18:11.
“We’re down two goals; we have to score,” said Murray. “My job is to keep coaching and the players’ job is to keep playing. We can pull our goalie in the last minute and a half, but are you going to get two goals? Probably not. We had to do something there, we needed a bit of a spark, and fortunately for us, it worked out. I’ll do that again whenever we go on a power play. They should never be able to get to a loose puck. We have extra guys, they have assignments, they know what they’re supposed to do on those faceoffs, we’ve talked to them about it, and they have to execute.”
Western Michigan won the ensuring center ice faceoff and again pulled Hafner, generating sustained pressure. With just under a minute left after a Denver icing, Montgomery called timeout. Denver won the ensuing faceoff and got a clear, and then later off a turnover in the neutral zone, Moore got off a pass to Matt Marcinew streaking through the neutral zone, who skated to the blue line and scored into the empty net to seal the win.
“I thought that our players were really good at sticking to the game plan and never getting too high or too low during the game, especially too low, because when a team keeps coming back at you like that, you can get nervous when you have a two-goal lead and all of a sudden it’s back to one a couple of times,” said Montgomery. “With the pulled goalie, we executed really well off that faceoff.”
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