Denver Advances To Northeast Regional Final
Defenseman Matt Carle and the top-ranked Denver Pioneers play in the NCAA Northeast Regional final Sunday. |
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March 26, 2005
MADISON, Wisc. Right winger Kevin Ulanski scored a pair of goals including the winer at 3:26 of overtime and set up another to power No. 1-ranked University of Denver to a 4-3 victory over Bemidji State Saturday (March 26) afternoon in the opening game of the NCAA Northeast Regional at Mullins Center in Amherst, Mass.
The victory gives the Pioneers (29-9-2) a berth in Sunday afternoon¹s Northeast Regional championship game against either New Hampshire or Harvard, who play at 3:30 pm ET on Saturday. The four NCAA regional winners will advance to the NCAA Frozen Four.
Bemidji State had a pair of one-goal leads in the first period before 2004-05 WCHA co-regular season and Final Five playoff champion Denver came back to score three of the last four goals in the contest. Ulanski had a go-ahead goal at 1:02 of the second period that gave the Pioneers a 3-2 lead heading into the final 20 minutes.
But Beavers' left wing Brendan Cook evened the score at 3-3 with a power-play goal at 2:17 of the third to send the game into the extra session.
On the afternoon, Denver outshot Bemidji State by a 49-25 margin, but the Beavers rode the back of goaltender Matt Climie (45 saves) to stay close throughout.
Also for Denver, Glenn Fisher had 22 saves to notch the victory while center Gabe Gauthier contributed two assists.
The Pioneers, Colorado College, Minnesota and North Dakota were all still in contention for Frozen Four berths heading into Saturday's games. The Tigers (30-8-3) will play Michigan for the NCAA Midwest Regional championship today at 5:00 pm ET at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Mich., while North Dakota (23-14-5) skates against Boston College in the NCAA East Regional final Saturday night at 8:00 pm ET at DCU Center in Worcester, Mass. Minnesota (26-14-2), meanwhile, faces off against Maine in a NCAA West Regional semi-final Saturday afternoon at 1:30 pm CT at Mariucci Arena. The WCHA's fifth NCAA tournament qualifier Wisconsin (23-14-4) fell, 4-1, to Michigan on Friday night at the Midwest Regional.
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