Hockey, Men's Sports

Pioneers Inch Closer to Home Ice With 3-1 Win over St. Cloud State

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You can probably count on only one hand the number of games since the end of October when the #6 Denver Pioneers (24-8-1, 13-7-1 NCHC) have looked like bona fide national contenders. But you can count tonight’s 3-1 victory at Magness Arena against an upset-seeking St. Cloud State Huskies (12-18-1, 5-15-1 NCHC) team among them. Denver outshot St. Cloud 3-1 and spent what felt like at least 75% of the game in the offensive zone. If not for a strong performance from Huskies goalie Isak Posch behind a well-structured defense, the Pioneers likely would have turned this one into a rout.

Denver’s game came together tonight in all phases in a way that DU fans haven’t seen much in NCHC play this season. Not only were the shots on goal metrics lopsided in the hosts’ favor at 41-21, but the power play went 1-6, the penalty kill went 2-2, they won 40 of 66 faceoffs, and Matt Davis made 20 saves. Yes, St. Cloud is in 8th place in the NCHC, only one spot ahead of last-place Miami, but this isn’t your run-of-the-mill 8th-place team. The Huskies have had some hard injury luck, especially with Posch, which has played a major role in their poor record and disappointing season. In other words, beating St. Cloud isn’t exactly on the same level as beating Miami.

The Pioneers opened the scoring with a power-play goal less than five minutes into the game. Carter King batted the puck into the net out of mid-air and, after a lengthy review as a result of a St. Cloud challenge, the goal stood. SCSU responded about five minutes later when Nick Portz beat DU goalie Matt Davis with a laser of a wrist shot off the rush.

The second period, traditionally, has been the Pioneers’ bread and butter and tonight, they played to their identity, scoring twice at even-strength. Both goals, from King and Jack Devine, were tip-ins off of Boston Buckberger shots from the point to cap extended offensive zone shifts. Denver could have added a few more in the frame, but Posch continued his strong play since returning from a reportedly gruesome injury and kept the score 3-1, which is how it would end.

It’s no secret that the Pioneers need some help elsewhere in the conference and country to accomplish their remaining attainable regular-season goals. Tonight, thanks to Western Michigan’s Penrose Cup-clinching victory over North Dakota and Arizona State’s victory over Omaha, they got at least some of the help they were looking for. With the win, Denver moves up two places in the NCHC standings, one point ahead of 4th place Omaha and two ahead of 5th place North Dakota. Nationally, Denver got no help, and they remain at #9 in the Pairwise and will continue to scoreboard-watch the rest of the way.

In many ways, tonight’s game was very reminiscent of game one against North Dakota in Denver two weeks ago. In that game, Denver shut out the Fighting Hawks 4-0 and, in many ways, looked the part of the national contender DU claims to be. Then, just a night later, the visitors flipped the script and punched the Pioneers in the mouth, literally and figuratively, to the tune of a 3-1 victory. Tomorrow night, in game two against the Huskies, we’re going to find out whether Denver learned the proper lessons from two weeks ago. Can DU put together a full weekend of strong hockey against a team not named Miami or will their inconsistency demons return and allow the Huskies to earn a huge upset victory?

Highlights

Top photo courtesy Tyler McFarland/Clarkson Creative Photography via Denver Athletics

5 thoughts on “Pioneers Inch Closer to Home Ice With 3-1 Win over St. Cloud State”

  1. A win is a win. But tonight’s game sure was frustrating.
    1 for 6 on the power play is pathetic. Too much individual play. Too many passes instead of shots. Too many chances left on the ice. Champions are rarely made of this.

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  4. 3 more wins in regulation WILL secure home ice in the playoffs. It’s called being in control of your own destiny….a rare feeling for both the Pio team and fans this season.

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  5. Dominating win last night in a 3-1 game that could easily have been 6-1. Credit the Huskies–those guys managed to hang around and keep the score close despite being outplayed for the majority of the game. They are having a down year obviously, but they play hard and compete hard.

    Pios played on their toes for most of the game and had a good forecheck that gave SCSU problems and kept the pressure on and forced the Huskies into taking some penalties. Solid effort. I don’t want to nitpick, but the only thing I wish the Pios had done better is get the puck to the net on the PP, especially on that 5×3. Too much dancing and playing around with the puck. I think Zeev gets caught up doing this on occasion. As good as he is and as adept as he is at handling the puck, sometimes the best play is to just get the puck to the net.

    Another very important game tonight. Pios need to continue doing what they did last night.

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