No. 7 Denver avoids sweep over No. 5 Minnesota Duluth with 1-0 shutout
Parker Mackay (39) controls the puck behind Denver’s net Saturday night. Photo by Drew Smith
The first period in both games on the weekend were quite similar. There was some sloppy offensive play, no one was able to generate any clean looks.
The exception is that on Friday night, the Bulldogs were able to equalize Denver with a goal not two minutes later.
“There were some plays being made, but not enough” head coach Scott Sandelin said of Saturday night’s loss. “We got to finish, I thought we passed up some shot opportunities, we didn’t execute some plays. We had some one-timers that were missed, those are things we got to connect on.”
UMD found themselves down early after Denver freshman defenseman Slava Demin put a wrist shot right under Bulldog goalie Hunter Shepard’s left leg from just below the blue line.
The Bulldogs miscues would continue for the rest of the period, but were able to generate some good looks late in the period.
The Bulldogs continued their domination of the second period Friday night, but was quite the opposite for them Saturday.
Defense was of plenty in the period, with both teams combining for just nine shots-on-goal in the period (UMD with four, Denver with five). Both teams were not giving one another an inch, attacking whoever had the puck and making sure that there were no clean looks.
UMD had two chances in the period with two Denver penalties, one for elbowing and one for holding.
Their best chance came with just over five minutes left in the period and freshman Noah Cates had an open look off of a rebound, but could not get it past Denver goalie Devin Cooley. Other than that, no clean shot opportunities.
It was more of the same in the third period, just could not capitalize against Denver.
“We got to bring a whole 60 minute effort,” senior Peter Krieger said. “We started off strong, then we had a lull, those lulls has been the story for us all year so far.”
Bulldogs had an opportunity early in the period when Noah Cates stole a pass at the blue line in Denver’s zone. UMD had a 2-on-1 break and Cates took the shot only to have it hit Cooler dead center in the chest.
“We got to bring a whole 60 minute effort,” senior Peter Krieger said. “We started off strong, then we had a lull, those lulls has been the story for us all year so far.”
“I think we evaluate ourselves pretty good,” captain Parker Mackay said. “We’ll be looking to have a good week of practice here and change things up for next week.”
Head coach Scott Sandelin was honored after the game for becoming the winningest hockey coach in program history. There was a small video tribute that included former assistants congratulating Sandelin on his accomplishment.
The Bulldogs next head to Grand Forks to take on the North Dakota Fighting Hawks. The game will be nationally televised on CBS Sports Network, with a 7:37 puck drop.