After Friday’s 3-1 loss, Denver coach Jim Montgomery said Trevor Moore — not to mention the rest of the usual suspects from the upper class — needed to be better.
“I challenged the team and I really challenged our upperclassmen forwards to lead us the right way tonight,” Montgomery explained. “I think that’s the best game I’ve seen Quentin Shore play in college hockey, and Trevor Moore was tenacious on pucks. It was the best complete team effort we’ve had, with purpose, this year.”
Moore and company did indeed respond in force Saturday evening, as every tally was recorded by a junior or senior. When the final whistle blew, the No. 13 Pioneers had bested the RedHawks, 5-3, and skated to a series split on the weekend, while Moore’s three-point effort landed him in the Denver century club for scoring 100 career points.
Despite holding an overwhelming, 31-9 lead in shot attempts after the first frame, the Pioneers were actually on the losing side on the scoreboard. Miami’s Jack Roslovic was the beneficiary of a Denver giveaway in the neutral zone with two minutes left to play in the period and after a faked shot, he slid the puck to a wide-open Kiefer Sherwood for a one-timer goal.
However, the Pioneers scored the next three to lead off the second period, as Moore, Matt Marcinew, and Shore each netted one.
“They did a really good job clearing the net mouth last night and that’s something we focused on today,” Shore said. “We just tried to put everything on net and crash. Luckily, a lot of rebounds came to us and we were able to bury them.”
Miami’s Alex Gacek cut the lead to one in the closing moments of the second segment, and captain Sean Kuraly converted an odd-man rush for his fourth goal of the year to tie it up in the opening 90 seconds of the third period.
Once more, however, Denver fought back — this time in definitive fashion. Seniors Quentin Shore and Nolan Zajac each buried their respective chances on broken Miami plays to put the game away, 5-3.
“We were the better team tonight, from the first minute to the 60th, in my opinion,” Montgomery said. “It’s 3-3, and the shot attempts are 60 to 22, and I just tell the guys to keep going. And Quentin Shore had a huge goal there. We were just relentless; I don’t know if they had more than two scoring chances after that.”
After entering the evening with a .947 save percentage over his last seven appearances, RedHawk netminder Jay Williams surrendered five goals on 31 shots Saturday. Tanner Jaillet wasn’t invincible, either, but his 19 saves were enough to backstop the Pioneers to a sixth win in their previous eight contests, bringing their record to 13-8-5 with a conference record of 9-5-2-0. The loss drops the RedHawks to 10-12-3 overall, with a 5-9-2-2 line in National Collegiate Hockey Conference play.
“I don’t think we had the energy we had [Friday],” Miami coach Enrico Blasi said. “I thought Denver pretty much outplayed us from the beginning of the game. They were the better team in all aspects of the game tonight. … We just didn’t have that jump.”
Moore and Shore finished the contest with three points apiece as the leading scorers for the Pioneers, while Kuraly’s goal and assist made him the leading point-getter for the home squad.
Denver returns to action at home on Feb. 12, while Miami hosts No. 3 St. Cloud State next Friday, Feb. 8.
