Hockey, Men's Sports

Pioneers Blitz Huskies Again to Take Possession of 2nd Place

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The #5 Denver Pioneers (23-8-2, 14-6-2 NCHC, 42 pts) might just be rounding into form at the perfect time. Over the past three weeks, the Pios rose from 5th place in the NCHC, potentially looking at having to play the conference tournament quarterfinals on the road, to 2nd place with three consecutive sweeps of Minnesota Duluth, Miami (OH), and St. Cloud State. The most impressive of the bunch, however, was the latest this weekend when they obliterated the #15 St. Cloud State Huskies (15-12-5, 11-7-4 NCHC, 40 pts) twice, 6-2 & 7-2 on the road at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center.

Saturday night wasn’t exactly a carbon copy of Friday night’s game – Denver most certainly didn’t get off to a fast start – but the result was the same: the Pioneers routed the Huskies while getting decidedly outshot, 38-23 to be exact. Where Denver excelled, for the second straight night, was taking advantage of their grade-A opportunities and the Huskies gave up plenty, perhaps highlighted best by Alex Weiermaier’s third-period goal when he skated through three Husky defenders before wiring a wrister past a helpless Isak Posch to extend the already gaudy DU lead to 6-0.

The game turned, though, late in the first period. St. Cloud State was controlled play from the jump and, at one point, was outshooting Denver 7-1. With 1:08 remaining in the opening period, though, Jack Rogers high-sticked McKade Webster and Webster went flailing to the ice. The officials correctly sent them both to their respective penalty boxes and two minutes of four-on-four hockey, something Denver excels at, ensued. With 20 seconds left, Aidan Thompson forced a turnover and raced down the ice on a two-on-one with teammate Sam Harris. Instead of passing, he fired a wrister glove side that beat Posch cleanly to open the scoring. Thompson’s goal flipped the game, clearly dominated by the Huskies to that point, on its head.

From there, Denver continued doing what it did best all weekend. They cycled the puck in the offensive zone when they were able to, they kept their defensive structure, and they relied on Matt Davis to bail them out with some highlight-reel saves in the rare situations it was needed. And then, when the Huskies gave them an inch, they took a mile. Tristan Lemyre and Sean Behrens each added a goal in the second period before Jack Devine, McKade Webster, and Weiermaier blew the game wide open in the first 13 minutes of the third. 6-0 was, obviously, out of reach and despite allowing the Huskies to score twice on a couple of fluky goals, they coasted to the 7-2 victory.

It’s not a stretch to say that the Pioneers’ collective 13-4 sweep of the Huskies was their most impressive and complete performance of the season. Matt Davis was excellent, stopping 68 of the Huskies’ 72 shots on goal, the Pioneers’ defense was sound, and the nation’s best offense – without Massimo Rizzo and Carter King – couldn’t be contained by a Huskies defense that looked wholly unprepared for the Pioneers’ weapons.

The most encouraging thing for the Pios this weekend, though, beyond Matt Davis’ reemergence as a great goaltender, was their continued scoring depth. 10 different Pioneers recorded at least one point in both games and Denver’s 13 goals were scored by 11 different players. Only Sam Harris (Friday) and Jack Devine (Saturday) scored twice. When you have that kind of scoring distribution, you don’t need guys like Massimo Rizzo and Carter King in your lineup – but enjoy thinking about how much more lethal the Pioneers will be when they return from their injuries.

The job is most certainly not finished, though. Really, it’s just starting. Denver has two games remaining against a recently red-hot #11 Colorado College team hellbent on revenge next weekend before the part of the season that matters most begins. But mark these words – if this weekend’s defense and goaltending is what the Pioneers are going to put on display from here on out, there is not a team in the country that can beat DU.

Highlights

14 thoughts on “Pioneers Blitz Huskies Again to Take Possession of 2nd Place”

  1. Looks like Davis is finding his game and Denver got scoring up and down the lineup all weekend.

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  2. What a great weekend for DU Hockey! Offense, defense, and most importantly, goaltending, were outstanding. Keep up the good work and everyone else will be afraid…very afraid of this team.

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  3. Great effort by the Pioneers tonight; nice to see them put together a string of three great games. Hoping they will continue their hard play next Friday against C.C. at the tiny Dollhouse (AKA Ed Robson Arena).

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  4. A great weekend of efficient road hockey and good goaltending. Without Rizzo and King, DU had the excuses ready, but everyone stepped up. Great job, Pios!

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  5. In tournament play it will come down to Davis playing his A Game. If yes, we can go far, even all the way. If soft goal Davis shows up it will end quickly. tournament hockey goes to the team with the hot goalie.
    In Boston Davie won it for us by great goal tending in the first period against Minn. Mankato. They dominated but he held the fort. it could have been 2 or 3 goals in the first 15 minutes instead of the zero that he put up.

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  9. Let’s not get confused sports fans…
    In the 2022 NCAA Championship game in Boston that DU won 5-1, Chrona was in goal.
    In the regular season game against BC earlier this season that DU won, Davis was in goal.

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  11. Magnus Corona was in the net for the 2022 NCAA title – he’s currently tending goal in the NHL with San Jose.

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  12. Great weekend, great result obviously. Really happy to see DU get the sweep over a quality SCSU team.

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  13. I’m talking about the Boston NCAA championship game against Minnesota Mankota. in Boston that we won.

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