Quick blog, by the way, as it's been a long day and the late start messed with me.
Scott Sandelin has been harping on his team's starts to games.
Well, going shotless for the first four-plus minutes and giving up the first goal when a defenseman got beat to a harmless dump-in isn't going to make him happy about a start.
Denver did just that on Friday, leading 1-0 not three minutes into the game when Jaako Heikkinen got to a dumped puck first and fed Les Lancaster — the hockey player, not the former Cub — for an impressive slapshot to Denver the earlier lead.
But Justin Richards and Parker Mackay would have nothing of this show start thing. 70 seconds after the Pioneers took the lead, Mackay drove the offensive zone for UMD's first shot of the game. Denver goalie Filip Larsson made the save but left a rebound for Richards, who put it home to tie the game.
UMD would slowly take control, clamping down on the Pioneers in the last 40 minutes of an impressive 5-2 win Friday night.
The Bulldogs held a very good Denver team to 12 shots in the last two periods, and they took the lead for good after Noah Cates found a Nick Swaney rebound and feed it back for Swaney's 12th goal of the campaign. Hunter Shepard made the lead stand up with a great save late in second on a Denver power play chance. Then UMD put the game away in the third.
Cole Koepke sprung Richards for a breakaway with a beautiful area pass, and Richards used a slick backhand move to beat Larsson for a 3-1 lead. Then it was Tanner Laderoute redirecting a Jackson Cates rebound by Larsson 66 seconds later. Koepke iced the win with empty net goal and UMD improved to 18-7-2.
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Really impressive response to the early goal, and it seemed UMD was able to wear down DU to an extent. The Pioneers struggled generate a consistent attack, which I'm confident David Carle will work on with his guys during the day Saturday. Reality is you can't beat UMD when you don't establish a forecheck and make it hard for the Bulldogs to generate clean zone exits.
UMD was clean out of its zone quite a bit Friday. Scott Perunovich left onrushing forwards in his dust multiple times. Dylan Samberg and Louie Roehl had good nights, too.
The Peter Krieger love was good again. Reuniting Koepke with Richards and Mackay came at the perfect time. They were great, and they made Denver's top guys play defense a lot. Loved that.
All in all, it was a win where tons of guys contributed and those are the best for UMD.
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In the only other NCHC game, North Dakota crossed past Western Michigan 5-1 in Kalamazoo. The win pulls UND within a point of Denver for the last home ice spot.
6:30 pregame on KDAL Saturday. Talk then!
