The Denver Pioneers (17-7-4, 8-6-4) completed a series sweep of the Wisconsin Badgers (8-17-3, 2-13-3 WCHA) Saturday night, winning 7-1 at Magness Arena. The victory also gave DU a season sweep of the cardinal and white, winning all four contests this season. Saturday night was the fifth-straight loss for UW.
The Badgers fell behind early when 51 seconds into the game Greg Barber’s slap shot from the right point, the first Pioneer shot on goal, beat UW netminder Scott Kabotoff.
Following the Badgers’ unsuccessful power-play attempt, Denver increased its lead to two goals at 9:06 when Madison-native Kevin Ulanski tallied on its power play, his 14th of the year. Redshirt freshman John Funk gave the Badgers some momentum heading into the second period when he scored his fourth goal of year at 18:37, pulling UW to within a goal at 2-1. Ryan MacMurchy passed the puck to Funk from behind the net. Funk’s shot from the right of Pioneer goaltender Dubielewicz slid in underneath him.
It didn’t take the Pioneers long to take back their two-goal lead in the second period. Jeff Drummond converted his eighth goal of the year at 2:28. That score was followed by DU’s second man-advantage goal of the night midway through the period giving the home team a 4-1 lead at the end of two periods.
Denver dominated the third period, as the Pioneers added their fourth goal within the first two minutes of the period. DU scored twice more before the end of the game — a short-handed tally and its third power-play goal of the game.
DU was 3-5 on the power play, while the Badgers went 0-7.
The Badgers out-shot the Pioneers 28-22, including a 24-14 advantage in the last two periods.
Wisconsin returns home to host Alaska Anchorage next weekend in a two-game series at the Kohl Center.
?compiled from staff reports
