Pioneers in Midwest Regional title game; Falcons fall short of Frozen Four.
ALLENTOWN, PA.» It was enemy territory and a hostile environment. That was irrelevant.
Execution and skill, those onice tangibles made all the difference. Denver was superior in virtually every aspect Saturday night as the second-seeded Pioneers skated away with a 5-1 victory over No. 3 seed Penn State in an NCAA Midwest Regional semifinal at the PPL Center.
Jarid Lukosevicius scored two goals and Kohen Olischefski, Troy Terry and Henrik Borgstrom also scored for defending national champion DU (23-9-8), which defeated Penn State 6-3 in last year’s Midwest Regional championship game.
“We’re kind of used to (being the villain),” said Pioneers senior goalie Tanner Jaillet. “It’s fun to go into a rink filled with the other team’s fans and come out with a good performance and a win.”
The Pioneers advanced to play top-seeded Ohio State, the Big Ten runner-up, in Sunday’s regional final at the PPL Center. Puck drop is 4:30 p.m. Mountain time.
Ohio State stymied No. 4 Princeton 4-2 in Saturday’s first semifinal.
DU coach Jim Montgomery in his Friday news conference said Saturday’s contest would basically be a true road game for the Pioneers. He was correct, of course. As the regional host about 160 miles from its campus, Penn State drew support from thousands of fans dressed in blue and white — the Big Ten school’s colors.
The pro-psu crowd of 7,491 wasn’t loud for long, though.
Olischefski, a freshman, got the Pioneers going midway through the opening period when he redirected a rebound, off a strong shot by Liam Finley, into the wide-open net. Terry added to the advantage about four minutes later when he accepted a pinpoint pass from Dylan Gambrell and slammed his shot past Penn State goalie Peyton Jones.
“I thought our leadership got our team to play the right way tonight,” Montgomery said. “Penn State is an explosive of- fensive hockey team, and I thought in the first period we really neutralized their transition game with our commitment to playing on the right side of the puck.”
DU’S 2-0 lead seemed to sap the life out of the Nittany Lions (18-15-5).
The Pioneers maintained their pressure in the second period — and the mismatch continued. Borgstrom, a sophomore, turned a hit-ahead look from Terry into a third tally within the first five minutes. And with 2.2 seconds left in the period, Lukosevicius tipped a long-range shot by freshman Ian Mitchell past Jones’ glove.
That 4-0 advantage after two periods sent hundreds of Penn State fans to the exits.
Liam Folkes scored the Nittany Lions’ lone goal of the contest, an unassisted tally, with 12:21 remaining. Lukosevicius capped the scoring with 7:38 left.
“I thought the atmosphere was great,” Montgomery said. “This has got to be a regional that the NCAA continues to have. The crowd was great, the Penn State fans were awesome. I remember the one time the 50 or so fans from Denver started a ‘Let’s go, DU!’ chant. They drowned them out within 30 seconds.
“I hope all the Penn State fans want to come back tomorrow night and support us because we’re playing a Big Ten rival.”
Jaillet tied the school record with his 82nd career win for DU as the Pioneers limited PSU, the nation’s second-most prolific offense — 3.7 goals per game — to the one third-period goal.
“Obviously, it’s pretty cool and a huge honor,” Jaillet said. “I’ve got to give a lot of credit to my teammates for helping me to accomplish it. But at the end of the day, we’re playing for something a little bigger. That’s my focus and that’s our team’s focus.”
The Pioneers will be playing in their fourth consecutive regional title game and are aiming for a third straight trip to the Frozen Four, which is set for April 5 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn.