The Denver Pioneers are in a do-or-die situation following Friday's 1-0 loss to the Wisconsin Badgers in the opening round of the 2012 WCHA Playoffs. The Pioneers need a win on Saturday evening to force a decisive Game 3 in the best-of-three series; if not, the NCAA Hockey Tournament will be a tough place to land a spot in.
The first 54:09 of the game saw no scoring at all, but that's when Wisconsin's Sean Little scored what was the only goal of the game, the only puck Juho Olkinuora allowed in 30 shots. The third period was the only one that saw the shot totals reversed for the two teams. Wisconsin put 15 on net then while Denver just five. In the other two periods, Colorado reached double digits each time while Wisconsin topped out with nine in the first.
Wisconsin's Joel Rumpel picked up the shutout after making 28 saves.
The two teams drop the puck on Saturday at 7:07 p.m. MT.
Head over to Western College Hockey Blog for more WCHA news and notes.