Denver Tops Sioux on Maiani's Late Goal to Gain Final Five final
Denver's Peter Mannino makes a spectacular save. |
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March 21, 2008
By John Gilbert
ST. PAUL, MN. --- North Dakota and Denver were hurtling along toward an anticipated overtime in a 1-1 goaltending duel in Friday afternoon's first WCHA semifinal, but Anthony Maiani took matters into his own hands and scored with 1:20 remaining to lift Denver into Saturday's Final Five championship game.
Coupled with Matt Glasser's empty-net goal with six seconds left, Denver (25-13-1) won by a final 3-1 count, to send North Dakota (15-10-4) into the 2 p.m. third-place game.
"North Dakota had one of the most amazing runs in the second half of the season," said Denver coach George Gwozdecky. "They had an absolutely tremendous run from January on, while our second half was bumpy. It's a real honor to compete with them, and come out with a win. I really like the way we're playing."
For Maiani, a freshman who had only scored six goals for the season, it was his second straight game-winning goal. He scored the lone goal of last Saturday's 1-0 playoff clincher against Minnesota-Duluth to bring the Pioneers to the Final Five for the first time in three years.
The play started out with a North Dakota attack, but when the Sioux tried to move the puck out to the point, Maiani anticipated perfectly, darting out to intercept, which gave him all the momentum against retreating defensemen Joe Finley and Chay Genoway. Maiani kept accelerating, cutting right in an attempt to get around the 6-foot-7 Finley. He didn't quite make it, but when he got to the right circle, Maini fired a hard backhander with deadly accuracy, beating Lamoureux and finding the upper left corner - the far side.
North Dakota coach Dave Hakstol said, "The game was pretty typical of a Final Five game. They all seem to come down to the wire, and this one came down to a great play at th eend by one of Denver's players. He had an awful lot of speed, and Joe drove him out wide, but he shot a perfect backhander, far side, top corner."
Maiani deserved full credit, but he was too honest to claim it all. "I took it wide to go deep, just to get a change," Maiani said. "I just wanted to get it on net, but it came off my stick pretty good."
Someone asked, "You mean you didn't pick the top corner?"
Maiani chuckled. "Yeah, I did," he said, sarcastically.
Rhett Rakhshani converted Patrick Mullen's slick pass for a power-play goal at 5:58 of the second period to give Denver a 1-0 lead. Mullen was at center point, and faked a slap shot before zipping a hard pass to the left circle to Rakhshani, who put his 14^th goal behind goaltender Jean-Philippe Lamoureux.
North Dakota didn't get the equalizer until defenseman Taylor Chorney jumped up to finish an attack and score with his second try at backhanding a rebound past Peter Mannino at 6:16. Jake Marto fired the first shot, and Darcy Zajac had first try with the rebound.
"I was just trying to keep the play alive," said Chorney. "I heard Brad Malone yell 'I got you, Chorns,' so I knew he would cover for me, and I went to the net."
The Sioux outshot Denver 33-30, and the two coaches anticipated the strong pace and the tense finish. The teams had sort of exchanged fortunes during the season, with Denver staying with league champ Colorado College through the first half of the season, and North Dakota struggling, splitting its first seven WCHA series. Then North Dakota took off on an 18-game unbeaten streak, and Denver struggled through the second half, after star scorer Brock Trotter ran into a school disciplinary action and then signed a pro contract, and Tyler Ruegsegger getting injured.
The Pioneers chances went south when North Dakota swept them, and eventually displaced them as league runner-up. Friday's seminal, however, indicates that Denver is back in focus, and the slap may be what North Dakota needed to lift its game.
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