Blake Biondi's team leading 17th goal of the season pushed the No. 8 Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs to a 2-0 win over the No. 3 Denver Pioneers on Friday evening in St. Paul, Minn. The win advances the Bulldogs to Saturday evening's NCHC championship game. UMD will face the winner of North Dakota or Western Michigan.
Biondi's goal came off a beautiful two-on-one setup from
Jesse Jacques. The assist for Jacques gives him points in three straight games going back to game one of the NCHC Quarterfinals.
Kobe Roth burried an empty netter in the final minute to secure the win. The goal for Roth is his 14th of the year.
Ryan Fanti made his eighth straight start on Friday evening and turned away 30 Denver shots for his fifth shutout of the season.
UMD got the first big chance of the night. A beautiful pass in the neutral zone from
Tanner Laderoute sprung
Kobe Roth for a breakaway. Roth protected the puck from a DU defender and ripped a shot high and wide. A few moments later, an interference penalty to
Wyatt Kaiser would give Denver the first power-play opportunity of the night. With the man-advantage, Mike Benning stepped into a shot from UMD's left faceoff circle. A big blocker save from Fanti would deny the chance. A few seconds later,
Matt Anderson would lay out and block a high-quality shot from the NCHC Player of the Year, Bobby Brink. Minnesota Duluth was able to kill the rest of the DU power-play and went on the attack.
With just under five minutes remaining in the first frame, a two-on-one opened up for Jacques and Biondi. Coming in on his off-hand, Jacques sauced a beautiful pass to Biondi on the back door.With his forehand, Biondi deflected the puck up and over the glove of Magnus Chrona to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead. The goal for Biondi was his team-leading 17th of the season and gave UMD a 1-0 lead. Additionally, the assist extends Jacques's point-streak to three games. The goal gave UMD a 1-0 advantage heading to the first intermission.
Neither side would find the back of the net in the second. A few minutes into the period,
Wyatt Kaiser used a massive block in the UMD slot to deny Cameron Wright of a quality scoring chance. The Pioneers kept up the pressure and drew a tripping penalty to
Luke Mylymok halfway through the period. However, an elbowing penalty to Carter Mazur just 35 seconds into the power-play would make it 4-on-4 and eliminate the Denver chance. Late in the second period, the Bulldogs would get numerous scoring chances. With 4:40 remaining,
Quinn Olson made a quick pass out of the Corner to
Dominic James who found some space in the DU slot. James snapped a shot that missed high and wide of Chrona. With just over two minutes left in the second,
Koby Bender appeared to put UMD ahead 2-0. However, following a video review, the goal was called off for a hand pass. The Bulldogs would still take a 1-0 lead to the second intermission.
Both teams would trade shot and zone time through the third, with DU outshooting the Bulldogs 12-10 in the final frame. Instead of clinging to their one goal lead, the Bulldogs kept up the pressure late in the third. With 5:57 left to play, Cates broke through the Pioneers defense on a two-on-one with Jacques. Cates used Jacques as a decoy and walked straight to the net, eventually putting a back hand off the crossbar behind Chrona. Roth would bank a shot into an empty net with 20 seconds remaining to secure the 2-0 win for the Bulldogs.
Up Next
UMD will play the winner of Denver and Western Michigan on Saturday night in St. Paul. Puck drop is set for 7:38 PM.
