Last Friday night in our semi-final game at the NCAA Northeast Regional in Manchester, NH we started strong and held a 2-1 lead after the first period of play but No. 2 seed University of New Hampshire responded with four unanswered goals to beat us 5-2.
We took a 1-0 lead just 2:24 into the action when sophomore Larkin Jacobson drove to the net but had the puck deflected away by the UNH goalie and right onto the stick of sophomore Daniel Doremus who put it away for his 12th tally of the season and second in the last two games. New Hampshire tied the score at 1-1 at 14:21 by scoring on a rebound from just in front of the crease. Freshman Quentin Shore gave us a 2-1 lead when he put away a rebound following a slap shot from teammate Nick Shore following a turnover by New Hampshire deep in its zone with just 2:39 left in the period.
With 5:26 remaining in the second period, UNH tied the game at 2-2 on the power play. Then with just 22 seconds remaining in the period, New Hampshire took its first lead of the game at 3-2 in the virtually the same fashion on the power play.
Early in the third period junior Nick Shore, our leading scorer, was given a five minute major penalty and game misconduct for contact to the head. We successfully killed the penalty off but the Wildcats upped the margin to 4-2 with 11:11 left in regulation. New Hampshire added an empty net goal with 2:20 in regulation to account for the final 5-2 margin.
The game marked our sixth consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament. Our 2013 senior class became the second consecutive and only the third in program history to advance to qualify for four consecutive NCAA berths.
Unfortunately the UNH loss continued a string of disappointing outcomes for us in recent NCAA tournament appearances. As a result the University has decided to make a leadership change within our men’s hockey program.
It has been an honor and a privilege to be the varsity hockey coach at the University of Denver for the past 19 years. I’m extremely proud of the work that we have done to continue to build on the great Pioneer hockey tradition. Our consistency of success on the ice and in the classroom over the years has been a focal point of our work and I am very proud of what we have achieved. I will forever cherish the relationships that we have built in the Denver community with our fans, our staff and most importantly our former and current players. I want to wish you all the best.
Go Pioneers!