Denver, CO
Bulldogs can't dig out of early hole in loss to Denver
DULUTH — Fifth-ranked Denver scored three goals on its first five shots en route to a 5-2 victory over Minnesota Duluth on Saturday at Amsoil Arena, chasing Bulldogs
senior goaltender Zach Stejskal
from the home net after just 6 minutes and 39 seconds.
Fifth-year
senior goaltender Matthew Thiessen
made 28 saves on 30 shots in relief of the Cohasset native. It was a solid effort by Thiessen — who has been backing up Stejskal since his last start on Feb. 3 — but not enough to prevent the Bulldogs from losing a fourth-straight game.
Freshman defenseman Zeev Buium — a potential first-round pick in the upcoming 2024 NHL Draft — gave Denver a 1-0 lead after a mere 31 seconds had ticked off the Amsoil Arena game clocks Saturday while Pioneers senior wing Connor Caponi and sophomore wing Jared Wright scored within 74 seconds of each other to force UMD to make an early goaltender change.
Buium finished with a goal and two assists Saturday, helping set up Pioneers freshman wing Sam Harris for goals in the second and third periods.
The Bulldogs
trailed 2-0 and 4-2 on Friday against Denver
and fought back both times to tie the game before losing in 3-on-3 overtime.
Sophomore wing Ben Steeves and freshman center Matthew Perkins scored for the Bulldogs in the second period to cut Denver’s lead to a goal, though the Pioneers got a goal from Harris on the power play late in the period for a 4-2 advantage heading to the third period.
Steeves’ power-play goal 33 seconds into the second period was his first goal since Jan. 27, ending a three-game drought for the NCHC’s leading goal scorer. He now has 22 on the season — putting him third in the NCAA — with 12 coming via power plays.
Steeves finished Saturday’s game from the penalty box as he and freshman wing Anthony Menghini received 10-minute misconducts in the final 10 minutes of the game with UMD down by three.
UMD has six games remaining in the regular season and is on the road the next two weekends at league-leading North Dakota, and Colorado College.
The seventh-place Bulldogs, who are now 10 points back of fourth-place Denver, host second-place St. Cloud State the final weekend of the regular season on March 9-10, and if the season ended today, would travel to St. Cloud the following weekend to face the Huskies in the NCHC quarterfinals for the third consecutive season.
Clint Austin/Duluth Media Group

Clint Austin/Duluth Media Group

Clint Austin/Duluth Media Group

Clint Austin/Duluth Media Group

Clint Austin/Duluth Media Group

Clint Austin/Duluth Media Group

Clint Austin/Duluth Media Group

Clint Austin/Duluth Media Group

Clint Austin/Duluth Media Group

Clint Austin/Duluth Media Group

Clint Austin/Duluth Media Group

Clint Austin/Duluth Media Group

Clint Austin/Duluth Media Group

Clint Austin/Duluth Media Group

Clint Austin/Duluth Media Group
Denver, CO
Denver hockey’s Johnny Hicks wins DU Pioneers’ Male Athlete of the Year
Denver, CO
Rockies’ Ryan Feltner pitches a gem, Jake McCarthy shines in 8-3 win over Giants
The Rockies threw a boffo welcome-back for Ryan Feltner on Saturday night, and the right-hander was the biggest party animal of all.
Coming back from an elbow injury and making his first big-league start since April 23, the right-hander celebrated by pitching six crisp, efficient innings in Colorado’s 8-3 win over the Giants at Coors Field. Feltner allowed no runs, just four hits, struck out two, and walked none. He needed just 63 pitches, throwing 41 for strikes.
“I felt great and felt like all of my pitches were working,” said Feltner, who became the first Rockies starter to pitch six scoreless innings with no walks since lefty Kyle Freeland on Sept. 5 of last season vs. San Diego.
“I was really happy about the efficiency part of the game,” Feltner added. “It’s always important to go deep into a game here (at Coors).”
Manager Warren Schaeffer said there was never any thought about pushing Feltner past six innings after Feltner made just two minor league rehab starts.
“There was no reason to push him into the seventh; he did his job,” Schaeffer said. “His fastball command was exceptional, his slider was good and he got double-play balls early when he needed to. I just thought he controlled his game very well.
“He controlled his emotions, he was in attack mode, and like we talked about before the game, when he does that, he’s pretty dang good.”
The Rockies, who beat San Francisco 8-6 on Friday night on a walk-off homer by Ezequiel Tovar, clinched their first series win since sweeping the Mets from April 24-29 in New York.
Feltner got plenty of support.
The Rockies have had a nasty habit this season of scoring early only to see the offense go into hibernation. That wasn’t the case on Saturday. The Rockies kept piling on and taking away any chance for late-game drama in LoDo.
“When a guy goes out there and grinds away, like Feltner did, you want to reward them with run,” said center fielder Jake McCarthy, who had a big night from the leadoff spot, going 3 for 4 with a walk and driving in four runs.
McCarthy’s 427-foot two-run homer in the fourth off Giants right-hander Adrian Houser gave Colorado a 4-0 lead. McCarthy added an RBI single in the fifth and another in Colorado’s three-run seventh. He also recorded his club-leading 10th stolen base and reached base four times for the eighth time in his career.
“I haven’t been patient the last week, I had a lot of pretty bad at-bats” he said. “But I think it’s just about getting good pitches to hit. … Getting into good counts, seeing pitches and taking pitcher’s pitches you can make it easier on yourself. I think I did a good job of that tonight.”
Also in the seventh, Kyle Karros came off the bench to whistle a leadoff homer to right off Ryan Borucki. It was Karros’ third homer of the season, fourth of his young career, and the first pinch-hit home run of his career. It was also his first home run against a team other than the Dodgers — his father, Eric’s, former team.
“That was becoming a thing, so it’s nice to put that narrative to rest,” Karros joked. “I think I saw somewhere where it said, ‘Are the Dodgers just feeling Karros meatballs?’ That’s certainly not the case.”
The Rockies provided an early comfort zone for Feltner by scoring two runs in the first inning. McCarthy and Hunter Goodman drew walks off Houser, Willi Castro delivered an RBI single, and Sterling Thompson took one for the team, getting plunked by Houser with the bases loaded.
Castro hit 2 for 5, recording a multi-hit game for the fifth time in his last six starts.
San Francisco spoiled a rare Rockies shutout with a two-run homer in the eighth by Drew Gilbert off reliever Blas Castano.
The Rockies (22-37) will play for their third series sweep of the season on Sunday afternoon at Coors. Should the Rockies win, they will move out of the National League West cellar and the Giants (22-36) would fall into last place.
Pitching probables
Sunday: Giants LHP Robbie Ray (3-6, 4.60 ERA) at Rockies RHP Tanner Gordon (0-0, 5.85), 1:10 p.m.
Monday: Rockies LHP Kyle Freeland (1-6, 8.08) at Angels RHP Jose Soriano (6-4, 2.65), 7:38 p.m.
Tuesday: Rockies RHP Tomoyuki Sugano (4-4, 4.01) at Angels RHP Grayson Rodriguez (2-1, 7.53), 7:38 p.m.
Wednesday: Rockies RHP Michael Lorenzen (2-7, 7.22) at Angels RHP Walbert Urena (2-4, 2.44), 7:38 p.m.
TV: Rockies.TV
Radio: KOA 850 AM/94.1 FM
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