Eventually.

The Grand Canyon University D1 Men's Hockey team weathered through nearly 120 full minutes of weekend action waiting for the combination of non-stop offensive aggression and physical defense to turn the tables in its favor against the University of Colorado. That favor finally came with two GCU goals over the final eight minutes of play Sunday afternoon at AZ Ice Peoria to defeat CU, 3-1. The win earned a split of the two-game series with the Buffaloes, who withstood a 51-shot night by the Lopes Saturday to down GCU, 4-2. The Sunday win also snapped a three-game losing skid for the 10^th-ranked Lopes (6-3 overall, 5-3 WCHL).

Saturday: Colorado 4, GCU 2

A whole lot of volume. Not a lot of success. The Lopes were the team throwing proverbial haymakers at the Buffs' defense throughout the night, but GCU's frustration grew as the game wore on, since they never led, and penalties had much to do with it. The Lopes had fired nine shots at Buffs' goalie Matthew Server already when a GCU slashing penalty five minutes in gave CU a man advantage, and it took all of 30 seconds to them to cash in the power play for a 1-0 Buffaloes' lead. The Lopes finished the first two periods with 34 shots on goal, but continued to trail on the scoreboard until freshman Micahlind Pelletier evened things up midway through the 2^nd. The 1-1 tie remained until the game got extra physical midway through the 3^rd, and two GCU infractions within nine seconds of each other allowed the Buffs' Cameron Piggott to give CU the lead back on a 5-on-3 score. The final penalty of the game was telling as a tripping penalty again gave Colorado a man advantage, but GCU defender Spencer Lund didn't let that deter him as he found daylight, raced down the ice, and flipped the puck past Server for a tying shorthanded goal with 7:51 left. Unfortunately, the CU power play remained on the clock, and the Buffs finally cashed in with just 11 seconds left in the man advantage to score what proved to be the gamewinning goal with 6:17 left in the game. The Lopes gambled late, pulling goalie Hunter Hein with 2:40 left for an extra forward, but got burned when CU's Jake Carnie flipped the puck from the opposing blue line and found the empty net to put the game out of reach.

Sunday: GCU 3, Colorado 1

The offensive philosophy didn't change for the Lopes 13 hours later in the late-morning Sunday puck drop, but the defensive intensity did. It took a period to implement, though, since Colorado managed nine shots on Lopes' goalie Jacob DeMoranville in the first 20 minutes, including a shorthanded goal six minutes into the game to tie the game at 1-1. That seems to sound the alarm for GCU, who stayed physical but controlled in limiting the Buffs to just seven shots the rest of the day. It was still 1-1 midway through the final period, though, when another 5-on-3 – this time in the Lopes' favor after penalties were called on a pair of CU defenders simultaneously – turned the game. Lopes' freshman forward Evan Leden – whose first goal had gotten the Lopes on the board three minutes into the contest – used Gavin Uckele's assist pass to cash in a power-play goal with 8:06 left. That let the air out of the Buffs' sails as GCU controlled the puck the remainder of the game, and Caden Surchik's insurance goal ensured the weekend split with six minutes left.

DeMoranville was nearly flawless in earning his second win of the season in goal, stopping 15 of 16 shots, and benefited from the fact that the Lopes' offense kept the puck at the other end most of the way with 41 shots of their own.
The Lopes finally get to renew their crosstown rivalry with Arizona State University a month later than expected (their first game in late September was postponed until January) in high-profile fashion. The Lopes and Sun Devils will begin a home-and-home series in Tempe this Thursday, October 30 before taking a day off, then heading north to Findlay Toyota Center (3201 North Main Street (at the corner of Main Street and Florentine Road) in Prescott Valley for the 2^nd Annual Grand Canyon College Hockey Classic Saturday night, November 1. Game tickets are available for Saturday on the GCU Club Sports website.