DENVER — In a game that featured many twists and turns, and didn’t have any impact on the playoff matchups for the NCHC, the No. 5 Denver Pioneers and Miami RedHawks played to a 3-3 tie.
“I think this group’s been resilient all year,” said RedHawks coach Enrico Blasi. “There’s been a couple weekends where things haven’t gone our way, but we’re a team with a lot of care in the locker room, a team that battles all the time, works hard. There was plenty of game tonight, and the guys did a good job of chipping away.”
It didn’t take long for Denver to take the lead, just 1:13 into the game. With Denver on a power play, Dylan Gambrell got the puck behind the net and threw it out front, where it came to Jarid Lukosevicius cutting through the slot. Lukosevicius lifted a perfect backhand top corner glove side.
The announcement of the goal was still coming over the PA when Denver made it 2-0, as Ryan Barrow broke in on a partial breakaway, racing up the left side of the slot. Barrow cut hard to his right in front of the crease and quickly slid a snap shot to the stick side corner low for an unassisted goal at 1:31.
One of the Denver’s seniors, Adam Plant, celebrated senior night in style by making it 3-0 Denver at just 4:19 of the first, getting the puck at the left point and cutting down the boards, then firing a snap shot five-hole past Ryan Larkin.
Miami got one back late on a play that probably had fans of the Pioneers very nervous; it also changed the complexion of the game. Kiefer Sherwood and Gordie Green broke in on a two-on-one, and Sherwood slid the puck to Green past a diving Michael Davies. Green got a shot on net that Tanner Jaillet stopped, but Davies’ momentum carried him into Jaillet, and their heads collided, with Jaillet’s helmet knocked off. It was ruled that Davies pushed the puck in the net. Both Davies and Jaillet lay on the ice. Davies recovered first and got up, but Jaillet stayed down for a while, going through what looked like concussion testing before deciding to play on.
Shortly after the goal, Denver sniper Henrik Borgström had a golden chance with a partial breakaway, but Larkin made a big save to keep the momentum going for the RedHawks.
“I think if Borgström scores there, I think the air comes out of the balloon,” said Denver coach Jim Montgomery. “Give Miami credit, they never stopped fighting, they came back, and they deserved probably better than a tie tonight, to be honest.”
However, at the start of the second period, Jaillet stayed in the locker room and was replaced in net by freshman Dayton Rasmussen, who last played on Nov, 3, 2017, against Western Michigan. Miami quickly capitalized, with Karch Bachman beating Rasmussen five-hole with a shot from the bottom of the right circle at 2:47 to make it 3-2.
“It was precautionary,” said Jim Montgomery of pulling Jaillet. “He wasn’t feeling 100 percent; he was a little bit dizzy. He wasn’t diagnosed with any serious ailment, but we weren’t taking a chance with him with knowing that the playoffs start next weekend.”
“We noticed it; that’s something that’s obviously noticeable,” said Blasi. “We just tried to keep playing our game. Getting pucks to the net and bodies to the net is a priority for us on any goaltender. I thought that our guys responded well in the second period and just kept playing hockey.”
Miami tied it at 11:37 when Louie Belpedio made a move to elude a Denver player and took a stride in from the right point, firing a snap shot that Bachman deflected down and in past Rasmussen.
“I thought that goal, that power play that we had, the guys were moving it around real well, and they were getting to loose pucks, retrievals were real good, our intensity was good,” said Blasi. “Louie made a nice play on the blue line, we had traffic in front, so a lot of good things we did tonight for 50 minutes, and maybe a little bit more; I thought we were pretty good in overtime.”
Later in the period, with Denver about to go on a power play and looking to build momentum, the refs made a strange call to put the teams at four-on-four, as first they tossed Dylan Gambrell out for a faceoff violation, then called Lukosevicius for another, triggering an automatic penalty to negate the power play.
Denver had appeared to retake the lead at 17:22, but the goal was waived when it was determined that Tariq Hammond had kicked it in. Miami then got a late power-play opportunity, but Rasmussen made a couple of big stops and kept the game tied.
The third period and first OT featured a lot of back-and-forth action. Denver had a power play late in the third, but couldn’t convert. Phil Knies scored at 1:46 of the three-on-three OT, roofing a shot top corner stick side off a terrible defensive zone turnover by Denver, to get Miami an extra point in the conference standings. The RedHawks will face St. Cloud State in the first round of the NCHC playoffs.
