Photo Credit: Michigan Tech

DENVER - Sophomore Marc Cheverie made 31 saves on 32 shots to lift No. 5 Denver to a 3-1 victory over Michigan Tech in a WCHA match-up in front of a crowd of 6,030 at Magness Arena Saturday night (Jan. 10). Senior Rob Nolan made 35 saves on 37 shots for the Huskies.

“I thought we played a solid 60 minutes tonight,” said head coach Jamie Russell. “We did a good job on special teams keeping them off the scoreboard and scoring a power play goal of our own.”

The Pioneers struck first with an even strength goal at 10:00 of the first period. Senior defenseman Patrick Mullen created a turnover behind the Tech net and then sent a pass out front to sophomore forward Jesse Martin for the goal. Freshman defenseman Patrick Wiercioch also assisted on the goal.

The Huskies were able to tie the game at 1-1 with less than one minute remaining in the first period thanks to a rare four-on-three opportunity. Senior Geoff Kinrade sent a low shot from the point that was deflected by a Denver player out front. The goal was his seventh point against DU in 12 career games. Freshman forward Brett Olson and junior defenseman Drew Dobson assisted on the goal. Dobson leads the team with 11 assists.

DU took the lead once again at 16:01 of the second period on a goal by sophomore winger Kyle Ostrow. Tech senior goalie Rob Nolan made the initial save on a shot by Mullen but the rebound bounced up into the air and was swatted in by sophomore winger Kyle Ostrow for his seventh goal of the year.

The Huskies pulled Nolan for the extra attacker with 1:23 remaining in the game. DU added an empty net goal by junior Rhett Rakhshani with four seconds remaining in the game.

Tech (5-17-2, 1-13-2) finished 1-4 on the power play while Denver (15-6-2, 11-4-1) was 0-4.

Tech will host North Dakota Jan. 16-17 in a pair of WCHA games. Game time is set for 7:07 p.m.