Since the Miami hockey series in early January, DU (24-9-1, 13-8-1) has been unable to put together a clean two-game regulation series sweep at home. The Pioneers defeated the St. Cloud State University Huskies Friday night and had a chance to snap that trend Saturday night. Unfortunately, Denver played the role of Sybil yet again and fell to the Huskies, 2-1.

In the first period, DU outshot the visitors (SOG) 10-4, but went to the penalty box twice, lost the faceoff battle and looked out of sorts – again. St. Cloud got on the board in the first period when forward Daimon Gardner (8:03) sent a seeing-eye snipe from the near corner past DU goaltender Matt Davis.

Denver started the second period slowly as the Huskies owned possession and pace. Denver collected their third and fourth penalties of the game. It looked like a matter of time until the Huskies could take advantage of the shorthanded side but DU held up. DU was awarded two powerplays in the period. On the second man-up, Jack Devine blistered a shot from the point as James Reeder blocked goaltender Isak Posh vision, 1-1. A minute later, the Huskies counter-attacked and Verner Mietenen cleaned up a loose puck to the right of Matt Davis, 2-1.

Denver opened the third period with the man advantage on a period-ending hooking call on SCSU but could not score. The Pioneers continued to generate scoring chances but could not generate a timely goal – a problem that has plagued Denver all season. With under ten minutes remaining, Denver’s desperation grew as they whiffed at numerous scoring chances and showed obvious frustration. An untimely Jack Devine interference call left Denver a man short with 7:15 remaining in the game. The referees whistled a makeup call thirty seconds later on St. Cloud with 5:45 remaining but Denver could never finish with the man-advantage. Denver pulled Matt Davis in the final minutes with no luck. Final score 2-1.

Denver outshot SDSU 39-25 but Isak Posh stood tall. Despite having gaudy scorers, Denver could not finish their quality chances around the cage. DU’s vaunted powerplay only lit the lamp one time in four chances. The Huskies were 0-5 with the man advantage but were able to let their two-goal effort stand up. The loss slipped Denver into 10th in the power rankings (rather generous). The loss knotted Denver in a tie for fourth in the NCHC standings with North Dakota. Two conference games remain with Colorado College, home-and-home next weekend.