DU completes the sweep with a Saturday night 3-1 win over Boston U

Unlike Friday night which consisted of high-flying offense, Saturday’s contest between Denver Pioneers and Boston University Terriers was a low-scoring defensive battle that lacked the energy and pace of the first game. BU continued its penalty woes just 37 seconds into the game as Chad Krys sat two minutes for tripping, but despite some solid looks, the Pioneers could not convert.

Just as the Terriers returned to full strength, it was DU’s turn to kill a penalty with Adam Plant being called for tripping. Like Friday night, a set of aggressive penalty kill units kept BU off the board. Unlike Friday, DU’s shot generation was quite anemic, not putting one net for over six minutes into the game. The two teams traded two more sets of penalties in the period, but goals still eluded them. By the close of the first period, the score was still zero while BU lead the Pioneers in shots at 7-3.

BU started the second period on the power play with 56 remaining from Jarid Lukosevicius’s hooking penalty, but once again, the team did not find the back of the net. Taking the momentum of the kill with them, the Pioneers put on some sustained pressure and finally got on the board with a slick goal from Fin Henrik Borgström, the first of his NCAA career. He found the tiniest bit of real estate top shelf as he slid a pass from Lukosevicius just past goaltender Jake Oettinger’s head.

“This was a great weekend for us and a big step forward for our team. Our puck support and our compete level were very strong both nights which is exactly what we needed in order to beat a talented team like the Terriers and what we need to have consistently in order to be successful moving forward. We won a lot of one-on-one battles this weekend and a lot of different guys stepped up with big time efforts for us.” – Jim Montgomery

DU pushed the Terriers hard at that point, continuing to dominate play and tilt the ice in their favor. The onslaught seemed to frustrate BU’s Brandon Hickey, taking an unnecessary tripping penalty at the 9:09 mark, but his teammates deftly handled the kill. The parade of penalties continued as  DU’s Tariq Hammond was called for holding just four minutes later, Hickey returned for interference, and Denver’s Liam Finlay got two for hooking. High-end goaltending from Oettinger and Pioneer Tanner Jaillet kept the score at 1-0 Denver to close the period out.

Boston started the third on the power play again, this time making good on the man advantage. Kieffer Bellows slipped one behind Jaillet from the far side, tying the game at one just 43 seconds into the final period. BU continued the offensive presence, drawing an uncharacteristic slashing penalty from DU captain Will Butcher. The Pioneers penalty killing was up to the challenge, however, and kept the Terriers from taking the lead.

Somerby took his second penalty of the night (boarding), and the Pioneers did not let the opportunity pass them by. Just short of the penalty was expiring, Borgström hit the back of the net again to give the Pioneers a 2-1 lead. With a sweet cross-crease pass from Troy Terry, Borgström slipped past some defenders, got Oettinger to bite, and tapped the puck in to a roaring home crowd.

BU would get the final penalty of the night, but it was the Pioneers that would get the next goal, an empty-netter by Tyson McLellan to seal the deal and the two-game sweep with a final score of 3-1.

Three stars:
1. Henrik Borgstrom (DU, 2 goals)
2. Tanner Jaillet (DU, 24 saves)
3. Kieffer Bellows (DU, 1 goal)

The boys head out to Michigan next to take on the Spartans. Puck drop on Friday is at 5:00 pm MT and on Saturday is at 3:00 pm MT. The next home games are on Oct. 28 and 29 against Western Michigan.