Hockey, Men's Sports

Pohlkamp Breaks NCHC Record as Pioneers Rebound from Friday Night Collapse with Huskies Shutout

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The #9 Denver Pioneers (14-11-2, 10-6-0 NCHC) were in real danger of being swept at Magness Arena for the second-straight time after last night’s collapse. Instead, they weathered a slow, sloggy start and an injury to their starting goalie before potting two goals at the end of the opening period and cruised to a 6-0 shutout victory over the St. Cloud State Huskies (13-13-0, 6-10-0 NCHC). Every game and win from here on out is incredibly important for a team fighting for its NCAA Tournament life.

The Pioneers had their work cut out for them almost from the get-go, as starting goalie Quentin Miller lost his balance returning to his crease and appeared to injure his left leg fewer than five minutes into the game. Backup Johnny Hicks, who had played just 51:34 in parts of four games this season, had to enter the game, and he was flawless, stopping all 22 shots he faced.

While the Hicks’ calming presence solved the Huskies’ in the crease, it was the strong play in all three zones by DU’s 19 skaters, in stark contrast to their performance from just a night ago, that surprised even the most optimistic DU fans. Not only did the Pioneers outshoot the Huskies 28-23, but they dominated all phases of the game, and even *gasp* scored a power-play goal (Eric Pohlkamp on a one-timer from Clarke Caswell to make it 3-0 early in the second period).

Pohlkamp broke the NCHC single-season goal-scoring record by a defenseman with his 15th and 16th goals of the season. He now leads all defensemen in the country in goals by a five-goal margin.

Boston Buckberger, Rieger Lorenz, Kyle Chyzowski, and Payton Nelson (first collegiate goal) rounded out the Pios’ six-goal onslaught against SCSU’s backup goalie Patriks Berzins. Huskies starter Yan Shostak was injured in last night’s game and was unable to play. As a result, the visitors flew in their third-stringer, James Gray, earlier in the day, and thrust him into action after Lorenz scored to make it 4-0 on Berzins.

This was an important victory, not just because it stopped the bleeding for a team that had won just once since December 12, but also because of the way they responded to a fourth-straight disappointing Friday night performance. Last Saturday, they responded to the 5-0 drubbing at North Dakota with a 3-2 nailbiter of a victory, but this time around, after surrendering four-straight goals in last night’s 4-2 loss, the Pioneers flipped the script and finally played like the juggernaut DU fans expected to see four months ago.

Now, with just four series remaining this season (vs. UMD, vs./at CC, at Omaha, vs. ASU), the stretch run of the season has arrived, and the Pioneers have no more room for error. But if the Pioneers can find a way to bottle up tonight’s performance and replicate it over the next few months, this 6-0 victory over St. Cloud State may very well be the game we look back on and realize the Pioneers finally righted the ship after floating adrift for a month and a half.

Highlights

Top photo of Eric Pohlkamp courtesy of DU Athletics

4 thoughts on “Pohlkamp Breaks NCHC Record as Pioneers Rebound from Friday Night Collapse with Huskies Shutout”

  2. What a turn around tonight!
    Was this the same team that looked so disjointed and folded Friday night?
    Congratulations to Johnny Hicks on a superior performance for his 1st win and shutout at DU.
    Now looking forward to more of the same next weekend versus a very tough Duluth team.

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  3. What a difference a day makes. Friday night the Pios were losing most of the puck battles, Saturday they were winning almost all of them. Outlet passes on Saturday were sharp, a huge improvement. Though the Huskies are a strong defensive team, the Pios were breaking through and finding their shots. This bodes well for the rest of the season. My take is that we’ve got a lot of bad bounces this season. We’ve also seen every visiting teams best effort at Magness. The target on DU’s back doesn’t allow a team with ten freshmen much time to develop. Still, if the Pios play as well the rest of the way as they did last night, we might be watching playoff games at Magness after all.

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  4. Obviously a huge bounce back from Friday’s disappointment. Lots of guys got on the scoresheet, the effort was there, the PP came through, DU cleaned up things defensively, and it was great to see Hicks come in and pitch a shutout. There was definitely a collective groan when Miller exited the game, but kudos to Hicks. He was sharp the whole game.

    A tough and talented UMD team is here next weekend. The Bulldogs are #6 in the NPI. Which DU team shows up?? That’s the burning question. Pios remain at #13 in the NPI. No room for error at this point. There needs to be a sense of urgency and desperation from here on out.

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