Pioneers crush Sun Devils in Troy Terry's homecoming, 6-1

Unsurprisingly, Magness Arena was filled with Troy Terry fans tonight as Team USA’s 2017 World Junior Championship shootout specialist came home for his first game back after winning gold. The young forward received a hero’s welcome, complete with cheers, signs, and young fans staring in awe. But this is a team sport, and the Denver Pioneers got right to business as a team when the puck dropped against the Arizona State Sun Devils for Game Two of this weekend’s series. Last night saw a Pioneers’s blowout to the tune of 5-1 (with a staggering shot differential of 47 to 19 in favor of Denver).

Tonight, The Pioneers picked up right where they left off, putting their first shot on net just seven seconds into the game. DU followed that up with a few more shots over the subsequent minutes, leaving goaltender Evan Cowley cold and lonely at the other end of the ice. The constant work paid off with a Henrik Borgstrom goal at the 6:46 mark. Dylan Gambrell and Terry got the assists. The Pioneers continued to apply offensive pressure on the Sun Devils, drawing a couple of penalties and putting a total of 22 shots on net during the first period. However, ASU’s Ryland Pashovitz was stellar in net and kept the score 1-0 to close out the opening frame.

The second period barely had any legs under it before Terry gave the Pioneers a 2-0 lead with a nifty little shortside wrister. Helpers went to Emil Romig and Borgstrom. Not long after, Jarid Lukosevicius got in on the action with a power play goal—impressively scored from his knees—to extend the lead to three. It also extended Terry’s points on the night to three and Gambrell’s to two. With over 13 minutes still left in the second period, the Sun Devils seemed to be unraveling at the seams.

What looked to be a fourth goal was called back as the officials ruled that Kevin Conley had interfered with the goaltender, but Borgstrom got the goal right back while the Pioneers were on the power play not long after. The second ended with a four-nothing goal lead and a 38-10 shot lead for Denver.

The third period saw the ice tilted heavily in Arizona’s favor as Denver came out flat and the Sun Devils pushed the play. However, it was the Pioneers that hit the back of the net as Conley made good on his no-goal earlier in the night to stretch the lead to five. Matt Marcinew and Lukosevicius notched the helpers on the goal. Terry then got his second goal of the night after speeding up the sideboards and ripping one past Joey Daccord, who had replaced Pashovitz in the second period, glove side. With six-and-a-half minutes to go in the game, the Pioneers lead the Sun Devils 6-0.

ASU finally got on the board with just over two minutes left in the game. Brett Gruber picked up a wild rebound at the top of the circle and sniped one past DU’s Cowley. Assists went to Joey Raats and Jakob Stridsberg. The clocked ticked away, and Denver completed the sweep with a 6-1 victory over the Sun Devils.

Three Stars

1. Troy Terry (2 goals, 3 assists)

2. Henrik Borgstrom (2 goals, 1 assist)

3. Dylan Gambrell (3 assists)