Photo courtesy of MinnesotaHockeyMag.com
The Denver Pioneers and St. Cloud State Huskies battle this weekend for early NCHC supremacy
It was all positive vibes last weekend when the Pioneers swept the Western Michigan Broncos. Jarid Lukosevicious put on a show with five goals which earned him the NCAA’s first star of the week and the NCHC’s offensive player on the week. Defenseman Ian Mitchell also won NCHC honors as the defenseman of the week.
Mondays are for Player(s) of the Week https://t.co/7Fz51l2qq6 | #PioneerTogether pic.twitter.com/ZBUcEhHwjd
— Denver Hockey (@DU_Hockey) November 5, 2018
But that was last weekend.
One of the things Denver needed to do to start this season is gain as much confidence before they start getting tested by other contenders. And now that DU remains the only unbeaten team in Men’s Division I college hockey, they are coming into this series with St. Cloud with a running start. But they’re still far from perfect.
Against the Broncos, we started to notice the holes in sophomore goaltender Devin Cooley’s game. Western Michigan gained momentum with a couple soft goals in the third period and he also continues to have some difficulty playing the puck behind the net. Cooley has done a tremendous job this season, but he and the Pioneers will need to tighten up and eliminate mental mistakes as the team gets into the heart of their schedule.
St. Cloud State Huskies
The Pioneers are running into a red-hot St. Cloud team that is 7-1 and have only played two home games. They are coming off a sweep of a good Colorado College team in Colorado Springs and have also beaten a bad Boston College Eagles team. Although Bob Motzko isn’t behind the St. Cloud bench for the first time since 2005, the Huskies still have an identity of being a hard team to play against with a ton of skill, especially in the offensive zone.
The Pioneers are also running into a scorching-hot goaltender in David Hrenak. At a perfect 5-0, the LA Kings prospect isn’t letting a whole lot in this season and don’t expect that trend to stop at home. And with a solid defensive core in front of him led by senior Jimmy Schuldt, not a lot of shots are getting to the net. In fact, the Huskies are limiting opponents to just 22 shots per game.
The Huskies’ special teams numbers are quite impressive this season too. Their powerplay is almost 28% and their penalty kill is at 92%. Denver has struggled early in the season with penalties which will make this a huge challenge for them. There are a lot of young guys who got their first taste of NCHC hockey last weekend but against a struggling Western Michigan team. St. Cloud right now is the cream of the crop so David Carle will hopefully come into St. Cloud with a game plan to keep the Pioneers competitive.
Who to watch
#11 – Forward – Ryan Poehling – 8GP, 3G, 5A (2017 1st – MTL)
#14 – Forward – Patrick Newell – 8GP, 6G, 5A
#22 – Defenseman – Jimmy Schuldt – 8GP, 1G, 6A
At 4:40 of the 2nd, @SCSUHUSKIES_MH take a 3-0 lead with goal by Jimmy Schuldt. Credit the help to Ryan Poehling and Easton Brodzinksi vs. Mount Royal on Oct. 7.#unleashSCSU @TheNCHC #StCloudState #StCloudMN pic.twitter.com/X950IsRVfZ
— St. Cloud State Men's Hockey (@SCSUHuskies_MH) October 7, 2018
#12 – Defenseman – Jack Ahcan – 8GP, 1G, 10A
#1 – Goaltender – David Hrenak – 5-0, 1.40GAA, .940 SV%
Prediction – Pioneers drop both games to St. Cloud
The Pioneers have had a strong start and this is not an indictment of who the Pioneers are at this point in the season. Some deficiencies have yet to be exposed and this is the Pios’ first true road trip of the season. The cards are stacked steeply against them. Denver is still a team that lost a ton of top talent playing under a rookie head coach with a backup goaltender. Teams of years past have been able to win games on the road in this division because of elite talent. But Henrik Borgström isn’t walking out of that locker room this time. If the Pioneers find a way to win a game, it’s going to be because of veteran leaders like Colin Staub, Jarid Lukosevicius, and Michael Davies.
Twitter Follow – @SCSUHUSKIES_MH
Where to Watch/Listen
Friday – 6:07pm MT, NCHC.tv, ESPN DENVER 1600
Saturday – 5:07pm MT, NCHC.tv, ESPN DENVER 1600
DC previews the gauntlet ahead 🎥 #PioneerTogether pic.twitter.com/8hUJ9RC5Tc
— Denver Hockey (@DU_Hockey) November 8, 2018
Good preview, Aaron. The Pios have beaten a bunch of average-to-below-average teams to date, so DU’s flaws have been largely hidden. Cooley is the key to keeping DU competitive this weekend. He’s a walk-on goalie who has played well enough to date, but against good offensive teams with sharpshooters like SCSU has, his exposure risk is far higher, especially if DU continues to take penalties. DU must stay out of the box and the defense must keep SCSU’s high scoring forwards to the outside on the big ice to have a shot at winning a game this weekend.
This weekend should reveal exactly where DU is as a team. Getting swept is my expectation, a split would be fantastic, and anything more would be amazing.
Goldy, good analysis and very fair. No predictions from you? We could be #1 in the nation and still get swept at St. Cloud. I think we’re better then people thought, but we will take our lumps. If we look competitive and lose by 4-2 like scores, my world will not shatter. We do look good enough to win some games against this year’s projected elite teams and we should look better in Feb-March than we do now. Hope we grub out a point or two this weekend. No matter what happens, our pairwise should not get squashed much if we don’t win many games in the next 3 weeks.