The No. 12 Denver Pioneers split the weekend series with the No. 8 North Dakota Fighting Sioux behind Sam Brittain’s first career shutout on Saturday night, but today, the Pioneers are thinking about Senior Jesse Martin, who suffered a season-ending injury to his neck. Jesse is currently in stable condition. "Our thoughts and prayers are with Jesse and the entire Martin family during this most-difficult time," DU head coach George Gwozdecky said. "Jesse is one of our team leaders and most-respected players in the locker room. Our players are determined to rally around him and assist in any way possible during the healing process."
Continuing updates on Jesse Martin can be found at the Denver Post and the University of Denver's website.
Back on the ice the Pioneers continued to be paced by Jason Zucker, Drew Shore, Kyle Ostrow, Anthony Maiani, and Sam Brittain. In Friday’s 4-3 loss, Jason Zucker scored a pair of goals to lead the Pioneers scoring, but it was the Pioneers inability to hold on to one goal leads that led to the loss.
Saturday night, the Pioneers showed that they can play with the elite teams in the country. Paced by goals from Shore, Zucker, Ostrow, and the above mentioned first career shutout by Sam Brittain, the Pioneers defeated the Sioux. One negative continues to be the Pioneers power play. They were 0-4 over the weekend and are now just 2-35 (5.7%) on the season – ranking at the bottom nationally. Fortunately the Pioneers are killing penalties at an 89.2% (33-37) clip and have scored two short-handed goals on the season.
Next weekend brings a home and home series with Colorado College Tigers and the Gold Pan will again be up for grabs. DU currently holds the Gold Pan trophy based on their 2-1-1 record versus the Tigers in 2009-10.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to Jesse, his family and the Pioneers.
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