If the #5 Denver Pioneers (22-8-3, 13-6-2 NCHC, 39 pts) continue making a habit of chasing the opposing goaltender as they did for the third straight weekend in tonight’s 6-2 victory over the #15 St. Cloud State Huskies (15-11-5, 11-6-4 NCHC, 40 pts), their prospects of making a run to the Frozen Four in St. Paul will increase dramatically. Two weeks ago, in game two against the UMD Bulldogs, the Pioneers scored three times in the opening seven minutes to chase Zach Stejskal. Last weekend, in game two against Miami, DU scored five times on Bruno Bruveris and chased him midway through the game. And then tonight, in the series opener with the Huskies, Denver scored three times in the opening 11 minutes which forced St. Cloud State head coach Brett Larson to pull Isak Posch. That’s three times in three weekends that the Pioneers have forced a goalie change – all without the services of Massimo Rizzo, no less.

St. Cloud State outshot the Pioneers 34-27 on the night. It wasn’t as though Denver completely skated the Huskies off of their own ice. The Pioneers were just more opportunistic and took better advantage of their grade-A chances, something they have been the victim of themselves plenty this season. Sam Harris bookended Denver’s first-period scoring with a power play goal to break the early 0-0 deadlock and then tallied an even-strength marker four minutes after Rieger Lorenz notched his 10th of the year off of a perfect pass from Miko Matikka.

The Huskies pulled Posch in favor of Dominic Basse after Harris’ second marker which had the desired effect for the hosts. St. Cloud got their act together and started to push back and it slowed down Denver’s quick-strike offense, if only temporarily. About 8 minutes into the 2nd frame, Matikka added a goal to his 1st-period assist to extend the Pioneers’ lead to 4-0 through 40 minutes of play.

Goaltender Matt Davis, who has taken the brunt of criticism from defensively frustrated DU fans, was stellar all game long and he was certainly tested by a stout Husky attack. With less than a second left in the first period, he came up huge with a sprawling save to maintain the 3-0 lead and ensure the Pioneers entered the second period with all of the momentum.

DU knew the Huskies would come out flying in the third period and boy, did they ever. Adam Ingram finally solved Davis three minutes into the period after the Pioneers had gone into their defensive shell. Fortunately, barely two minutes later, Sean Behrens found Jared Wright with a perfect pass down the right side and Wright beat Basse with a great wrister on the breakaway to restore the four-goal lead. Tyson Gross scored on the power play for the Huskies a few minutes later but the damage had been done. Not even pulling Basse with four-and-a-half minutes left was going to make a difference (though Kieran Cebrian scored his third of the year to seal the 6-2 final). The Pioneers had thoroughly beaten the Huskies and for once, Matt Davis dominated the goaltending matchup against a quality opponent.

Denver may be starting to find its rhythm at the right time of the year. They’re now on a five-game winning streak and have taken 13 of a possible 15 NCHC points in those games to move from 5th place to 3rd and within one point of 2nd place SCSU. The Penrose Cup is not mathematically out of reach, but North Dakota has a firm grasp on it, six points clear of the 2nd place Huskies.

But more than anything, after two straight weekends of beating the basement of the conference in UMD and Miami, it was an encouraging sign for the Pioneers to play the way they did tonight against a team above them in the standings. If this game is a sign of things to come, maybe Denver is ready to prove a full season’s worth of defensive doubts wrong and turn the tables on us. Time will only tell but another comfortable win over the Huskies at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center tomorrow night would go a long way to getting those frustrated fans back on the bandwagon.

Highlights