Pioneers rally to tie Lake Superior State
DU outshoots Lakers 66-17 in home opener
The assumption was understandable. The top-ranked and socalled seemingly unbeatable Denver Pioneers would unveil their 2017 NCAA championship banner before Friday’s home opener and then proceed to pound Lake Superior State at Magness Arena.
Based on time of possession and shots on goal, DU did just that. The Pioneers outshot the Lakers 66-17.
Reality was, however, DU had to work extremely hard to rally from a two-goal deficit and settle for a 3-3 overtime tie. Lake Superior State junior goalie Nick Kossoff made 63 saves in regulation and overtime, plus three more in the 3on-3 exhibition OT in which junior forward Jarid Lukosevicius unofficially won it for DU by scoring with 1:18 remaining in the just-for-fun, five-minute extra frame.
“We’re not handling pucks cleanly. We’re not moving pucks quickly enough,” DU coach Jim Montgomery said. “Two guys move the puck quickly, next guy way over-handles it and (the Lakers) get sticks and bodies in shot lanes, depending on the play. We’re just not crisp. That’s really upon our top players, because they always get the first opportunity.”
Sophomore superstar Henrik Borgstrom scored DU’s first goal and made a spectacular three-line pass to set up Dylan Gambrell’s game-tying breakaway goal that made it 2-2 with eight minutes remaining in regulation. But then Jacob Hand scored with 5:34 left to regain Lake Superior State’s one-goal lead and again shock the sellout crowd.
With 3:34 remaining, DU sophomore Liam Finlay punched in a
centering pass from Lukosevicius and it again was all tied up heading into overtime.
Denver, which had four shots carom off Kossoff’s pipes, outshot Lake Superior State 28-4 in the third period.
The Pioneers are loaded with experienced top-end talent — but there are four freshmen on the third and fourth lines and senior defenseman and team captain Tariq Hammond remains out while recovering from a second ankle surgery.
DU went 0-of-4 on the power play, the latter coming with 56 seconds remaining in the first OT.
“It’s a good lesson for us to learn,” Montgomery said. “I liked the way we responded. We kept coming back at them. A lot of teams would have hung their head after we tie it up 2-2, and they go ahead 3-2. We just kept coming back at them. I thought we were going to win in overtime. Obviously, the biggest disappointment isn’t the lack of scoring — it’s the special teams. It’s the third game in a row we get outplayed on special teams.”
DU’s eighth national championship banner balanced out two rows of staggered banners in the north rafters of the arena. The newest one was lowered halfway to the ice after the current players were introduced while standing on the goal line.
A video from the April 8, 3-2 national championship-game victory over Minnesota Duluth was shown on the big screen before Lake Superior State took to the ice.
Denver played hard from the first puck drop, but the Pioneers couldn’t get anything behind Kossoff. The Lakers, despite getting heavily outshot in the first period, killed off two penalties and went ahead 1-0 on Braydon Gelsinger’s power-play goal at 18:18 of the period.
They doubled their lead 2:27 into the second period before Borgstrom’s team-high third goal of the season came at 10:46.
The two-game nonconference series continues at 7 p.m. Saturday at Magness Arena.