ST. PAUL — When playing a team as talented as Denver University, a clean game is necessary to pull an upset when you’re No. 4 seed, which is just what Ferris State did for nearly 55 minutes. But two miscues deep in their own zone was the Bulldogs’ undoing on Sunday night.
Denver scored two goals in 25 seconds and added a third 1:40 later to break a 3-3 tie late in the third period to defeat Ferris State 6-3 to win the NCAA West Regional. The Pioneers will make their 14th trip to the Frozen Four, their first since winning the national title in 2005.
“Ferris is a tough team to play. They make it a frustrating game. They’re very committed to their team process and the way they play, and they did a good job of that today,” Denver captain Grant Arnold said. “At Denver and with Coach Montgomery we preach the process, and that’s all that matters to this team. It’s not about the scoreboard, it’s about our process. If we execute our process we’re going to come out victorious, and that’s what happened tonight.”
With the win, the Pioneers will play conference rival North Dakota in the National Semifinal on April 7 at the Amalie Arena in Tampa. It will be the sixth game of the season between the National Collegiate Hockey Conference foes.
“I think in the second half we’ve really preached just focusing on ourselves and not our opponent. I’m sure that’s what we’re going to do going into playing North Dakota,” Denver forward Quentin Shore said. “I think it showed today. As long as we stick to our process and stick together as a team, good things will happen.”
Blake Hillman scored the game-winning goal — his second goal this weekend — after a great sequence by the “Pacific Rim” Line. Dylan Gambrell stole the puck, fed it to linemate Danton Heinen who found Hillman moving in from the blue line. Hillman stayed patient and fired past Darren Smith to give Denver a 4-3 lead.
Defenseman Nolan Zajac gave Denver its first two-goal lead of the game 25 seconds later, as Shore set up the defenseman. The goal was similar to Hillman’s as Zajac was moving in from the blue line.
Each member of the “Pacific Rim” line had a goal Sunday. The trio of Heinen, Gambrell and Trevor Moore have combined for 48 goals and 91 assists on the season.
“It’s hard to contain three high-end thinkers with great skill,” Denver coach Jim Montgomery said. “They move off the puck so well and they’re always penetrating. It’s what good hockey players do.”
Heinen, the NCHC Forward of the Year got the Pioneers on the board first.
Hillman sprung Dylan Gambrell, who split the Bulldogs’ defense and his shot well saved by freshman goalie Smith, but Heinen picked up the rebound at the bottom of the left circle and fired home.
Denver had the first 10 shots on goal of the game at the midway point of the period, and with the shots at 13-1, Ferris State made Denver pay for their inability to score.
Kyle Schempp won the face off in his own zone and Tyler Donates sent a pass out of the zone for Gerald Mayhew. Denver defenseman Tariq Hammond lost his footing and fell to the ice, which gave Mayhew a breakaway in against Tanner Jaillet, which the junior finished to tie the game.
Denver kept the pressure up, and it was Gambrell’s turn to do the damage.
Heinen won a face-off cleanly to Gambrell, who rifled a wrist shot over Smith’s glove hand into the upper left corner of the Ferris State goal to give the Pioneers a 2-1 lead.
After a tripping call to Denver’s Matt Marcinew put Ferris State on the power play, the Bulldogs cashed it in. Corey Mackin circled behind Jailllet’s goal and fired a pass across the goal which deflected in off of Hammond. Despite a 15-3 shots on goal disadvantage, Ferris State went to intermission tied at 2.
“They outplayed us and they were stronger than us there in the first,” Schempp said. “But going into the second 2-2, we had the right mindset and hey, we got lucky in that period, we still had plenty of time to show who we are and keep working hard and we felt good about ourselves. I think that kind of showed throughout the second and into the third where we got the tying goal there in the third.”
Denver started the second period as they did the first, and it was instinctive passing from the back end that led to the tie-breaking goal.
At the 2 minute mark, an Evan Janssen stretch pass found Shore on a breakaway. The senior tried to beat the goalie to the glove side but Smith made the save.
Only 49 seconds later, another long pass out of the Denver zone put Ferris behind.
Matt VanVoorhis found Moore at the Ferris blue line and he walked in on Smith, this time beating the netminder high over the blocker for a 3-2 lead. Hillman
With 9:11 to go in the period, The Bulldogs bench thought it should have got a penalty shot when Gambrell appeared to have closed his hand on the puck in the crease as he tried to push it away from the goal line. After review, the officials determined the puck didn’t cross the line, but whether or not Gambrell did close his hand on the puck or not couldn’t be reviewed.
In the Third period, Hammond’s rough afternoon continued when he took a penalty for tripping Matt Robertson. Ferris State converted their second power play attempt of the day when Mackin circled Jaillet’s goal, and instead of shooting at the goal crease like he did in the first period, he Schempp all alone in the slot. The Bulldogs’ captain wristed the puck past the goalie to tie the game at 3-3.
Ferris State kept Denver in check for the next eight minutes, but the Pioneers’ offense would take charge when it mattered the most.
“You know I don’t think their game changed very much, they are obviously an extremely talented hockey team, and they deserved to win tonight,” senior defense Simon Denis said. “We didn’t do the things we needed to do in the third. After we got that tying goal I feel like we kind of let up a little bit, gave them chances in the offensive zone again. We kind of got caught running around. Once they got that fourth one, the next shift we just let off, and that was the issue we had. We had a couple chances to clear pucks, we didn’t get pucks out, and we made a bad habit of that, we take responsibility for that from the defensive end of the team. They just did what they needed to do to win.”
West Regional All-Tournament Team
Forward: Jared Vanwormer, Ferris State
Forward: Danton Heinen, Denver
Froward: Dylan Gambrell, Denver
Defense: Will Butcher, Denver
Defense: Blake Hillman, Denver
Goalie: Darren Smith, Ferris State
Most Outstanding Player: Hillman
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