Pioneers slip past Miami (Ohio)

Berkhoel stopped 21 shots, some in spectacular fashion, and the University of Denver defeated Miami (Ohio) 3-2 in the West Regional NCAA tournament on Friday night.Berkhoel robbed Miami's Marty Guerin on a breakaway with 3:55 in the first and then stopped Matt Christie's followup on the rebound.In the final minute of the period, he made a sweeping leg save to stop another RedHawks scoring chance.Berkhoel found a way to foil Miami even when he lost his stick. He stonewalled a Redhawks power play in the final minute of the second, culminating with a glove save at the buzzer."Some of the saves Adam made tonight, some people might say they're unbelievable," said DU coach George Gwozdecky."I would just say, that's Adam Berkhoel."Brett Skinner scored the decisive goal for Denver on a 5-on-3 power play at 6:35 in the third, with Denver leading 2-1.Miami's Brian Sipotz had been given a 5-minute major misconduct penalty and ejected for checking Jon Foster hard from behind, and Greg Hogeboom had been called for slashing.Denver also got goals from Ryan Caldwell and Matt Laatach. The Pioneers were short-handed at 7:01 in the first when Caldwell scored on a breakaway, giving Denver a 1-0 lead.Laatsch made it 2-0 at 2:25 in the second when Adrian Veideman won a face-off in the Miami end and passed to Ted O'Leary, who passed back to Laatsch.Laatsch's bullet from the left boards went by perfectly screened Miami goalie Brandon Crawford-West. Crawford-West had 30 saves.Miami (23-13-4) made it 2-1 at 7:04 of the second when Sipotz found Andy Nelson at center ice, and Nelson hit Marty Guerin for the breakaway. Gueren scored on a slapshot.It was Berkhoel's only lapse. Miami got its second score when Laatsch tried to clear the puck after Berkhoel had blocked Matt Davis' shot, but it bounced off Lucas Dora and into the net. Davis got credit for the goal.Denver (24-12-5) will play North Dakota in the West Regional championship Saturday night. The Fighting Sioux beat Holy Cross 3-0 in the early game Friday.