Former Vernon Vipers forward Liam Finlay was named to the NCAA regional all-tournament team.
Finlay & the Pioneers advanced to their *17th Frozen Four in program history and third Frozen Four in the last four seasons.
Finlay is in his third season with the University of Denver, played parts of two years in Vernon (2014-2016) after coming over in a trade with the Penticton Vees. In 96 games with the Vipers Finlay collected (39-goals-69-assists-109-points).
Liam Finlay's Player Profile:
This was posted on the Pioneers website:
Denver Wins 3-0, Advances to Frozen Four
Men's Ice Hockey 3/30/2019
Box Score Fargo, N.D. – Filip Larsson made 26 saves in his second straight shutout and Colin Staub scored the game-winning goal at 15:45 of the second period as the Denver Pioneers defeated American International College 3-0 to advance to their *17th Frozen Four in program history and third Frozen Four in the last four seasons. The Pioneers will match up against UMass Amherst in the semifinal round on April 11 at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, N.Y. on April 11-13.
Larsson's shutout made him the fifth goalie to record back-to-back shutouts in the NCAA regional tournament since the current format was instituted in 2003. Larsson, Staub, Liam Finlay and Les Lancaster were named to the all-tournament team and Larsson was selected MVP.
"We beat a really good hockey team tonight," Richard and Kitzia Goodman Head Coach David Carle said. "I'm really proud of our players and how they've come together this year. The things we've been through from the start of the year, and everything that was said about us, to get to this point has been a lot of growth and has been them in the room believing in one another to push each other to get better every day and every week. I'm very proud of our group, and I'm excited for our program to be heading back to the Frozen Four again."
Scoring chances were scarce before the halfway point of the game when the Pioneers generated back-to-back opportunities in the Yellow Jackets' zone. Tyson McLellan first found Brett Stapley off the rush for a redirect high of the goal with 9:39 remaining in the period, then, skating at four-on-four, Stapley returned the favor for Michael Davies who was stoned at the netfront. American International responded with a breakaway moments after Davies' chance, but Larsson denied Kyle Stephan.
At 15:45 of the second period, from the bottom of the right circle, Staub one-timed Ryan Barrow's pass from below the goal line and put the shot past the blocker of Zackarias Skog. The goal marked Staub's second of the tournament. Liam Finlay added an insurance goal at 16:30 of the third period, intercepting a pass and wiring a shot past Skog to make it 2-0. Jarid Lukosevicius scored on the empty net with 1:23 remaining in regulation.
Denver went 0/3 on the power play and 5/5 on the penalty kill.
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