DENVER — If Denver coach Jim Montgomery wanted his team to get off to a fast start against a traditional rival that has struggled early in the year in the NCHC, then two goals in the first two minutes of the game were just what the Pioneers needed to do to assert themselves in the contest against long-time rival Colorado College.
The line of Daniel Doremus, Trevor Moore and Danton Heinen accounted for four goals and five assists in pacing the Pioneers to a big 8-1 win.
“We certainly did not get the kind of starts we wanted last weekend against Western Michigan, so it was really important tonight against a big rival that hasn’t won in six games to jump out early and we did that tonight,” Montgomery said. “You have two special offensive talents in Moore and Heinen and Doremus is a talented player, too, who is willing to do a lot of the dirty work to make things happen. That line is playing very well and we obviously would like to see that continue.”
At 1:23 of the first period, Heinen cruised down the right wing on a three-on-two and chipped a deflected pass from Moore over the glove of Colorado College goaltender Tyler Marble for a quick 1-0 Denver lead. Doremus also picked up an assist on the goal.
Just 23 seconds later, the Pioneers made it 2-0 on a goal from Nolan Zajac, who blasted the puck into the open net from the high slot off a great pass from captain Grant Arnold. Joey LaLeggia also picked up an assist on the goal that prompted an immediate timeout from the Tigers’ bench.
A penalty to Hunter Fejes gave Denver a power play at the 6:33 mark of the period. Crisp passing by Zajac and LaLeggia led to a feed to Doremus on the goal line, and he banked a shot between Marble’s pads for a power-play goal and a 3-0 Denver lead at 7:23 of the period.
That was the end of night for Marble, who was replaced by freshman Chase Perry.
Just over a minute later, a careless turnover in the Denver defensive zone was turned into a quick unassisted goal by the Tigers’ Scott Wamsganz, who stole the breakout pass and beat Evan Cowley to the stick side, cutting the Pioneers lead to 3-1.
And if that wasn’t enough action, the pace picked up with both teams generating quality scoring chances. They were unable to cash in due to some strong goaltending from Perry and Cowley.
At 14:35, Cowley made two brilliant saves on a partial breakaway by Luc Gerdes and follow-up by Matt Hansen at the near post, preserving the two-goal lead.
Another Pioneers power play saw one chance ring off the near post on a shot from the circle by Zac Larraza. But with just 36 seconds remaining in the period, Heinen scored his second of the game off a beautiful feed from Moore from behind the goal. The shot from the slot beat Perry to his left and gave the Pioneers their three-goal margin back at 4-1. Doremus picked up his second assist of the night on the second power-play goal for Denver in the period.
The second period started out physical and Denver’s Josiah Didier was dispatched to the penalty box just 16 seconds into the period, creating a Tigers power play. Cowley was called on to make a couple of saves during the penalty kill, but the Tigers could not sustain good offensive-zone time due to good work by the DU penalty kill group.
At 5:57, Denver’s Matt Marcinew took advantage of a loose puck in the slot and fired a wrist shot past Perry low to the glove side for a 5-1 Denver lead.
Denver continued the pressure on the Colorado College goal when Heinen found a trailing LaLeggia cruising the slot for an uncontested shot at Perry, who made a solid blocker save and held on to the puck to halt the attack.
Denver seized momentum again midway through the period and at 11:59, Gabe Levin took a feed in the low slot from Marcinew and beat Perry high to the glove side for a 6-1 lead.
Just over a minute later, LaLeggia took a feed down the left wing from Quentin Shore and has shot from the goal line deflected off a Tigers defender past Perry for a 7-1 lead. The goal was LaLeggia’s 100th point with the Pioneers, making him the eighth defenseman to achieve that mark at the school.
“It is a big deal to reach the 100-point mark,” LaLeggia said. “I couldn’t have done it without great teammates and the freedom Coach Montgomery gives me and Nolan Zajac to be aggressive offensively and take chances jumping into the play. It’s a nice milestone and better to get against a rival like Colorado College.”
“It’s impressive in this era of college hockey for a defenseman to be able to hit the century mark in points,” Montgomery said. “Matt Carle did it here last in his three years, but that goes back 10 years and goal-scoring is certainly down in recent years, which makes the accomplishment a special thing for Joey.”
At 13:14 of the period, the game got a little edgy with Didier and CC’s Ian Young setting off a scrum along the boards that earned both minor penalties for roughing. In the course of the pushing and shoving after the whistle, Wamsganz received a major penalty for charging and a game misconduct, giving the Pioneers a five-minute power play.
A short-handed breakaway bid by Cody Bradley hit the post for the Tigers and shortly thereafter, a goal by Marcinew for Denver was waved off as coming after the whistle.
The Tigers killed off the major penalty, but the game was being dominated by Denver, which outshot CC in the period by a 15-5 margin for the period and 27-14 through two periods of play.
The chippy play continued in the third period with a lot of incidental contact after the whistle and some loose play by both teams leading to a number of early icing calls. At 5:14, Didier again found himself the center of the Tigers’ ire when he took down Matt Hansen at center ice. Didier drew a major penalty and game misconduct for elbowing and Colorado College went on an extended power play.
Bradley appeared to score for the Tigers when he gloved a puck out of the air above the goal and batted it in with his stick in the crease, but the goal was immediately waved off by the referee positioned behind the goal and confirmed by the NCHC replay officials. That was as close as CC came to scoring on the power play as Cowley made three nice saves on bids by Fejes and Jaccob Slavin twice on shots from the point.
More after-the-whistle activities started a parade of players to the penalty box at the 13-minute mark of the period when CC’s Peter Maric took umbrage with what appeared to be a shot on goal after the whistle by DU’s Emil Romig. Four misconduct penalties canceled each other out, but the Tigers went on their fourth power play of the night for Ty Loney’s roughing call. Denver successfully killed the man advantage for CC without surrendering a shot on goal.
At 16:04, Moore capped off his three-point night with a goal on a breakaway where he scored on his own rebound following the initial stick save by Perry. Doremus picked up his third assist of the night.
“It’s really a lot of fun playing with those two guys,” Doremus said. “I just try and get the puck to them and find the open stick because there is a lot of skill in Trevor and Danton that you saw tonight. It was a good night for our line and a big night for the team, especially against a rival like Colorado College.”
