Saturday, December 30, 2006
UMASS LOWELL EDGED BY DENVER, 2-1
Box Score

DENVER, CO (Dec. 30, 2006) – Frank Stegnar (Toronto, ONT) scored for the River Hawks, but the University of Denver earned a 2-1 victory over UMass Lowell Saturday night in college hockey action at Magness Arena to claim the 2006 Wells Fargo Denver Cup.

With the win, Denver improves to 14-6-2, while UML falls to 3-11-5 with the loss.

Tom May and Geoff Paukovich scored for the Pioneers. Stegnar scored the only goal for the River Hawks.

May opened the scoring at 6:18 of the first period when his shot from the top of the face-off circles beat UML goaltender Carter Hutton (Thunder Bay, ONT). Tyler Ruegsegger earned the assist on the tally.

Paukovich scored Denver’s second goal when he redirected a Rhett Rakhshani shot at 12:43 of the third after UML turned the puck over on a clearing attempt.

Stegnar scored his second goal of the season for UML at 19:55 of the third when he tipped a shot from Jeremy Dehner. Cleve Kinley picked up the secondary assist on the goal as the River Hawks avoided the shutout. Dehner notched an assist in both games and was named to the all-tournament team.

Glenn Fisher had 36 saves to earn the win for Denver. Hutton stopped 21 shots in the loss.

The River Hawks out-shot the Pioneers 37-23, including 29-18 in the final two periods. In the two games in Denver, Lowell totaled 85 shots on goal against Brown and the Pioneers.

Neither team scored on the power play as UML was 0-for-4 and Denver went 0-for-2.

“It was kind of like Groundhog Day for us,” said UML head coach Blaise MacDonald. “We played great. We played unbelievable and had tremendous opportunities to score four, five or six goals. Our guys couldn’t battle any harder. It’s a very good Denver team. In my opinion we out-played them in every area and I’m very proud of our team.”

The River Hawks return to the ice January 5 and 6 when they host the University of Maine at the Chelmsford Forum as part of “Back to the Forum” weekend. Tickets for the Chelmsford Forum games can be purchased by calling (978) 934-4988 or by visiting www.GoRiverHawks.com.