On the heels of last weekend’s 0-2 last-place showing as host of the Ice Breaker Tournament, the Denver Pioneers fell from No. 3 to No. 10 in the national rankings. But what the rankings don’t take into account is that DU, per NCAA rules, only had three full practices before facing Ohio State and Boston College last weekend at Magness Arena. Slow starts by great teams aren’t uncommon.
Friday night at the same arena, Denver built two three-goal leads and defeated No. 2 Boston University — perhaps the country’s most talented team — 4-3 without injured sophomore forward Dylan Gambrell, who had surgery Friday and will miss four to six weeks. So much for offensive panic for the Pioneers, who only mustered three combined goals against OSU and BC. They were at times brilliant offensively against the Terriers, taking a 3-0 lead early in the second period and a 4-1 lead going into the third.
“It reminded me of last year,” DU senior wing Evan Janssen (two goals) said of the Pioneers’ play in the first two periods. “Everyone was playing our system, getting pucks deep, bodying and reloading — which is what we’re all about here at Denver.”
Denver could have had a four-goal lead to begin the third period but couldn’t convert. “Towards the end of the second they were gassed,” Janssen said. “When you have a team down like you have to put them away. Unfortunately we didn’t take advantage.”
Boston made it interesting with two third-period goals, including a short-handed breakaway by freshman Clayton Keller, who went to Arizona with the No. 7 NHL draft pick in June. But the Pioneers held on to win the opener of the two-game nonconference series.
BU has 11 NHL draft picks — including four first-rounders from the 2016 draft — but was playing its first road game. The Terriers are the second-youngest team in the country and going with freshman goalie Jake Oettinger, who is 17, and that probably factored into Denver’s dominance. BU committed seven penalties in the first two periods and Denver took advantage, although it produced just one power-play goal. The Pioneers took a 24-14 shots advantage into the third.
Both of Janssen’s goals put DU up by three. His second one came about eight minutes after the first, and shortly after BU got on the board with a power-play goal from defenseman Brandon Hickey. Boston coach David Quinn called his timeout after Janssen’s first goal and the Terriers gained momentum with Hickey’s goal. But Janssen took a slide pass from center Tyson McLellan and wristed the puck past Oettinger to put Denver back up by three goals.
Matt Marcinew and Troy Terry had DU’s first two goals. On the power play, Marcinew redirected Will Butcher’s shot from the point at 17:55 of the first period. Terry’s wrist shot through traffic made it 2-0 at 4:04 of the second period and Janssen struck 42 seconds later, jumping on a Logan O’Connor rebound in the slot.
“I liked our team togetherness, how hard we were to play against,” DU coach Jim Montgomery said. “If we can continue to evolve and play that way we’re going to be a really good hockey team.
