Photo: Courtesy of Denver Pioneers
St Cloud took the Spencer Penrose Cup from Denver last night with a 4-2 win.
Denver, a team that seems to elevate their play against good teams and falter against weaker teams, could not turn it on last night against a physical St. Cloud State team that seemed to want it more than the defending champions. And, again, Denver struggled to create and deliver on the offensive end of the ice.
After the game, Jim Montgomery praised the effort of the Pioneers but thought “St Cloud deserved the Penrose Cup. We need more purpose and more determination. We need McLellan and Heikkinen back in the line-up because they are our two best centers. We gotta’ start start getting some wins – enough of these ties and losses.”
The game backbreaker was a Ryan Poehling breakaway at 12:25 of the third period to catapult the #1 Huskies to a 4-2 win over Denver. Poehling’s play during the series was outstanding – and maybe the biggest difference between the two teams during the weekend. St. Cloud State coach Bob Motzko had Poehling’s line matched up against the line of Henrik Borgstrom centering wings Jarid Lukosevicius and Troy Terry and Denver stalled on the offensive end. Even when Montgomery added Dylan Gambrell and replaced Lukosevicius on the number one line, the Pioneers could not find net.
In the first period, SDSU’s Robby Jackson stole a pass in the high slot of the SCSU zone from Troy Terry to start a 2-on-1. Jackson passed it to Peterson, who got a backhand shot on that Tanner Jaillet stopped which Jackson slid in the rebound for a 1-0 SCSU lead.
Shortly after SCSU killed a penalty, Denver had great puck movement and strung together several passes to get the goal. Gambrell was on the right side of the net and got it across the slot to Borgstrom at the other side of the net and he got it out front to Lukosevicius, who banged in a shot to tie the game at 1.
In the second period, Jimmy Schuldt got the puck to teammate Jacob Benson, who caught the pass near the boards and the top of the left wing faceoff circle in the SCSU zone. Benson raced up the side and cut to the middle and shot it past Jaillet from the faceoff dot to the right of him to give SCSU a 2-1 lead.
At 5:30 of the third period, DU’s Blake Hillman intercepted a clearing attempt by Jack Ahcan, skated in from the blue line and scored on a wrist shot from the slot that beat Hrenak on the glove side to tie the game at 2. As the teams traded punches for the next seven minutes, St. Cloud started to take control. At 12:25, Schuldt blocked a shot and got the puck down the middle of the ice to Poehling, who went in and scored on a breakaway to give the Huskies a 3-2 lead. At that point, DU was desperate to score but could not take advantage on the offensive end. At 2:55, Montgomery pulled Jaillet for and extra attacker but the Huskies Mikey Eyssimont was able to get the puck in the middle of the SCSU zone and he skated to near center ice and shot it into the empty net for a 4-2 lead.
The best team won the rugged NCHC regular season and defending champion Denver is left to wonder what happened to their goal scoring. DU created 25 shots on goal against David Hrenak but timely scoring is not coming easy for this season’s Pioneers – despite an abundance of firepower. Jaillet saved 29 shots on another solid game and gives the Pioneers a chance to win any game they play.
Sometimes I believe that DU is too much finesse and big, physical teams give them problems. Also, I can’t believe that they are having trouble scoring with the skill they have up front. Maybe Monte is right – they need McLellan and Heikkinen to center their offense. Hopefully, they get untracked against Miami next weekend. Also, Denver is not going to hit the 20 win regular season win total for the first time in a long time – bummer!
I am still scratching my head with this Pioneer team. They have all the talent – three NHL caliber forwards, a capable defense and one of the best goalies in the country. They have a top level coaching staff and they are experienced as defending champions, yet on the ice, the team is inconsistent, often maddening.
What seems to be missing? Last year, there was a deep senior class with role players willing to do anything to help the team win. This year, I am not sure that DU’s seniors are getting the job done as team leaders. This team should not be .500 against unranked teams, and this team should not be falling short of 20 regular season wins. This team’s work ethic has been sporadic, and puck management has been spotty.
It’s time the senior class stood up, held a closed door meeting and led this team…
The officials were awful last night
Stop looking for reasons and excuses. It’s pretty simple and has been since the beginning of the season….Be realistic, this group doesn’t have the talent or leadership of last year’s team. Jaillet is the reason they have done well against the ranked teams as that’s when he seems to be at his best. The good teams have figured out how to defend against Terry, Borgstrom, Gambrell, et al.
This doesn’t mean the Frozen Four isn’t possible. It is, but it’s going to be difficult this year and will require some good luck along the way.
That being said… Go Pioneers! Don’t ever give up!!!
Sometimes I believe that DU is too much finesse and big, physical teams give them problems. Also, I can’t believe that they are having trouble scoring with the skill they have up front. Maybe Monte is right – they need McLellan and Heikkinen to center their offense. Hopefully, they get untracked against Miami next weekend. Also, Denver is not going to hit the 20 win regular season win total for the first time in a long time – bummer!
I am still scratching my head with this Pioneer team. They have all the talent – three NHL caliber forwards, a capable defense and one of the best goalies in the country. They have a top level coaching staff and they are experienced as defending champions, yet on the ice, the team is inconsistent, often maddening.
What seems to be missing? Last year, there was a deep senior class with role players willing to do anything to help the team win. This year, I am not sure that DU’s seniors are getting the job done as team leaders. This team should not be .500 against unranked teams, and this team should not be falling short of 20 regular season wins. This team’s work ethic has been sporadic, and puck management has been spotty.
It’s time the senior class stood up, held a closed door meeting and led this team…
The officials were awful last night
Stop looking for reasons and excuses. It’s pretty simple and has been since the beginning of the season….Be realistic, this group doesn’t have the talent or leadership of last year’s team. Jaillet is the reason they have done well against the ranked teams as that’s when he seems to be at his best. The good teams have figured out how to defend against Terry, Borgstrom, Gambrell, et al.
This doesn’t mean the Frozen Four isn’t possible. It is, but it’s going to be difficult this year and will require some good luck along the way.
That being said… Go Pioneers! Don’t ever give up!!!