Mile High Sports

Pioneers dominate Tigers, 6-1, to punch ticket to the NCHC ‘Frozen Faceoff’

MHS Staff

After coming up with a 3-2 victory over the Colorado College Tigers on Saturday night, the Pioneers dominated the Tigers 6-1 to punch their ticket to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff in St Paul, Minnesota.

The Pioneers would not wait long to get things rolling, as they would pour on plenty of shots onto Tigers goalie Alex Leclerc in the early minutes from the opening faceoff.

With plenty of time in the Tigers zone’, it would be at the 5:11 mark of the first period where Pioneers forward Logan O’Connor would snap a shot past Leclerc to give the Pioneers the early 1-0 lead.

Late in the first period, the Pioneers captain Tariq Hammond would notch his first goal of the season, going right to the front of the net and sneaking it past Leclerc to extend the Pioneers lead.

The Pioneers would dominate the majority of the first period, taking advantage of the Tigers playing only five defensemen due to a couple of them missing the game due to injury.

Following a strong first period, the Pioneers would start things where they left off — dominating time of possession, and scoring goals in bunches.

Jarid Lukosevicius would get the second period party started when he received a pass from Troy Terry in the slot, and would fire a shot past Leclerc to extend the Pioneers lead to 3-0 over the Tigers at the 6:33 mark.

With the big line hot, it was only a matter of time for Henrik Borgstrom to get a goal of his own — and it would be an interesting one at that. Coming in on the net, Borgstrom would deflect the puck toward Leclerc, where the puck would vault over the goalie, and land into the back of the net.

In only a matter of a few seconds later, the Pioneers would extend their lead to 5-0 over the Tigers with Liam Finlay converting on a loose puck in front of the Tigers goal, sneaking it past Leclerc.

The Tigers would ruin the Pioneers’ shutout bid, however, as Tigers captain Mason Bergh would one-time a shot past Pioneers goalie Devin Cooley to put his team on the board.

The top line of the Pioneers would come back down the ice shortly after, as Lukosevicius connected with his own one-timer to find the back of the net to extend the Pioneers lead to 6-1 over the Tigers.

The overwhelming domination of the Pioneers’ top line was the big story, as Lukosevicius finished the game with three points (two goals, one assist), Borgstrom with three points (one goal, two assists), and Terry with four assists.

With the victory, the Pioneers advance to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff that will happen next weekend — the program’s fifth straight appearance into the tournament.

“It speaks volumes of consistency of being good at the end of the year against a tough conference,” coach Jim Montgomery said.

The NCHC Frozen Faceoff will take place next weekend in St. Paul, Minn., and the Pioneers will take on the defending NCHC champions, the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs.

 

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