GREEN BAY, Wis. -- The Western Michigan Bronco hockey team fell in a double-overtime thriller to Denver, 3-2, in the NCAA Tournament Midwest Regional Semifinal on Saturday night at the Resch Center.
WCHA Freshman of the Year Jason Zucker banged in his own rebound to advance the Pioneers to the regional finals against North Dakota on Saturday evening. WMU had a 2-0 lead on goals by Derek Roehl and Trevor Elias with five minutes left to play in the third period before Denver stormed back.
Jerry Kuhn made 35 saves in his final collegiate game, while his counterpart Sam Brittain made 30 in the win.
A busted play led to WMU (19-13-10) drawing first blood at 13:17 in the second period. The puck was chipped down into the Denver zone and Kyle O'Kane poked the puck near the Denver net. A miscommunication between DU's goalie and a defenseman led to Ben Warda getting a shot on goal and Roehl punching in the rebound for his fourth of the season. Warda tallied his fourth assist of the season and O'Kane notched his 10th.
The Broncos also had two shots hit the pipes in the second period. O'Kane had a chance early in the period go off the cross-bar and Dennis Brown later had a chance hit the left post on the power play.
WMU took a 2-0 lead just 3:32 into the third period as Elias knocked in his own rebound to tally his sixth of the season. The play was created by Greg Squires intercepting a pass and finding Elias in the left circle. Elias' first shot went high and was saved by Denver's Sam Brittain but he couldn't control the rebound. Elias got around his defender and punched it in. The assist was 20th of the season for Squires.
Denver cut the lead to one with 4:29 remaining in the third period on a power play goal by Kyle Ostrow. Jason Zucker fired a shot from the right circle and Ostrow deflected it between Kuhn's legs.
The game-tying goal for Denver came with 2:36 left in the period after Matt Donovan blasted one past Kuhn's shoulder. Drew Shore won the draw over to Zucker, who passed it back for Donovan to unleash. Denver nearly won the game as time expired in the third period as a puck trickled just wide of the net after getting past Kuhn.
