LetsGoDU: Second Period Pioneers Strike Again As Denver Earns 6-2 Road Sweep at Omaha

The #5 Denver Pioneers (17-5-2, 8-3-1 NCHC, 23 pts) have outscored St. Cloud State and Omaha a combined 16-4 over the past two weekends. Last weekend, on Friday night, the Pioneers outscored the Huskies 5-0 en route to a 5-1 victory. Then, this weekend, in both games against #19 Omaha (11-9-2, 4-7-1 NCHC, 11 pts) the Pioneers outscored the Mavericks 4-1 in the middle frame en route to 6-3 and 6-2 victories. In game one, it was a final five-minute barrage to blow the game open but tonight, in game two, it was a well-balanced four-goal blitz from the moment the puck dropped on the period and Omaha simply could not keep up. In game two, though, the Pios kept the Mavs off the scoresheet in the third to clinch the 6-2 victory.

The Mavericks were never going to go away quietly, especially on home ice, even when the Pioneers opened the game by peppering goaltender Simon Latkoczy with shots. Despite the lopsided start in favor of the visitors, Omaha struck first on their first power play of the game as Tanner Ludtke sniped one past DU goaltender Matt Davis. But the Pioneers were undeterred and in the final minute of the opening period, Jack Devine scored his third goal of the weekend (6th point) on Denver’s own power play to enter the break tied at 1.

The Pioneers kept the pressure on to start the second period but Sam Harris finally broke the Latkoczy Dam with a snipe on a two-on-one rush to open the second-period floodgates. Shai Buium knocked the UNO goalie’s water bottle off the net with a one-timer from his younger brother on a power play barely two minutes later before Connor Caponi scored his third goal of the season with a trademark dirty, gritty play. Zeev Buium finished off the blitz with a snipe of his own from the low left circle. 5-1 Pioneers. Omaha’s Jack Randl got one back for the Mavericks with under two minutes left but the damage was done. Denver knew they were leaving Nebraska with a huge six points to pull within three points of first place in the NCHC.

Carter King added his 14th goal of the season in the third period for good measure and to pad the Pioneers’ already gaudy offensive stats. It’s now the ninth time this season they scored at least six goals in a game and the 17th time they scored at least five. It was another night, too, where the Denver defense came up big, holding Omaha to just 19 shots on goal (they held the hosts to just 22 in game one).

From Omaha’s perspective, the officiating got in their way all weekend but from Denver’s, they were able to rise above the refs’ noise, keep their feet moving, and pepper Omaha’s net with rubber. Bad officiating weekends happen. Hell, they happen a lot in this conference, much to fans’ chagrin. Often, it’s the team that can handle the ups and downs and prevent the whims of the zebras from affecting their rhythm that has the most success. It’s no secret that Denver has seen similar officiating performances get in the Pioneers’ heads and derail a weekend plenty of times before.

Omaha will point to the power play disparity – 8-4 in favor of Denver on Friday and then 7-3 tonight – to illustrate their point. But the bottom line is this – Omaha did themselves no favors throughout the weekend, committing legitimate penalty after legitimate penalty (while getting away with others) while Denver kept their feet moving in both games and, in a lot of ways earned many of the calls (Omaha fans who are hate-reading this recap will go blind with rage reading this but it’s true).

After the final buzzer, Omaha instigated a brawl with all 10 skaters on the ice that led to 45 penalty minutes between the two teams:

Whether there will be any supplemental discipline handed out to either team remains to be seen. But for Denver, there is no time to lick their literal wounds from the fight as they travel to Grand Forks next weekend to take on North Dakota, who is tied with St. Cloud State for first place in the NCHC. The Pioneers will be looking to avenge their poor defensive performance against the Fighting Hawks at Magness Arena last month in which the visitors erased a 4-1 Denver lead for a 7-5 victory before Denver won game two in overtime. Late January series don’t get any bigger than this one and it will be can’t-miss hockey at The Ralph.

Highlights