ORONO, Maine — Sophomore defenseman Cale Ashcroft’s goal with just 20 seconds remaining gave the defending national champion Denver Pioneers a 2-1 victory over the University of Maine at a soldout Alfond Arena on Friday night.
The Pioneers won a faceoff in the UMaine zone and a Pioneer shot was blocked and came back to Ashcroft at the point.
Ashcroft wristed the puck toward the net and it deflected in off a UMaine shinguard.
It was Ashcroft’s third goal of the season.
Senior center Carter King’s power play goal in the second period staked Denver to a 1-0 lead but UMaine sophomore defenseman Frank Djurasevic’s power play goal tied it late in the middle period.
Sixth-ranked Denver improved to 15-4 while seventh-ranked UMaine fell to 12-4-2.
The teams will play again Saturday at 6:30 p.m.
Denver goalie Matt Davis finished with 29 saves while UMaine’s Albin Boija made 22 stops.
King gave the Pioneers a 1-0 lead on a five-on-three power play at the 2:53 mark of the second period.
Eric Pohlkamp slid the puck to Aidan Thompson whose one-timer from the right circle missed the short side.
But the puck ricocheted off the boards behind the net and came out the other side, where King snapped it into the short side corner for his 12th goal of the season.
Djurasevic scored his fifth goal of the season by firing home a Nolan Renwick from the left faceoff circle with 1:23 left in the period.
Both goalies were sharp in the first period and the primary reason it was scoreless.
UMaine had a 10-8 edge in shots on goal but the Pioneers had the better chances.
Davis made a good short side stop on a Ross Mitton one-timer from the left circle that was set up by a Harrison Scott pass from behind the net.
Denver’s Rieger Lorenz had a Grade-A opportunity when he intercepted an errant pass by UMaine’s Luke Antonacci but Boija gloved his quick wrist shot from the right circle.
Later in the period, Boija held the short side to stop a Kieran Cebrian backhander from the bottom of the right circle and stopped a breakaway by Thompson late in the period.
Correction: A previous version of this story stated that Rieger Lorenz scored Denver’s game-winning goal. Credit for the goal was changed to Cale Ashcroft after further review.
