This one hurt.
On paper, the game looked like a mismatch.
The unranked Lindenwood Lions are a fourth-year Division I independent hockey program with zero NHL draft picks and just 1,800 fans in the house, playing in an off-campus community ice arena in the suburbs of St. Louis.
The #5th ranked Denver Pioneers (1-1-1) roster 14 NHL draft picks this season and are the most successful program in America, with 10 NCAA titles, most recently in 2024. The Pioneers were 4-0-0 all-time against Lindenwood, but this would be the first time DU would travel to face the Lions in St. Louis suburbs.
But as we know, hockey can be a slippery game, played on ice. Despite all of DU’s advantages in skill and pedigree, it was still an early-season road game as DU integrates 10 freshmen players. But the Lions were unafraid from the drop of the puck, using excellent team speed and early face-off dominance to become the opportunistic hunter this night. Lindenwood sent a strong message — outworking the slow-starting Pioneers for serious chunks of this game, en route to a 4-3 upset win – probably the biggest win in the history of the Lindenwood program.
Lindenwood (3-2) took the victory by breaking open a close 2-2 game with a snazzy individual effort goal by Jacob Fletcher to stickhandle around DU’s Sam Harris and then beat Pioneer net-minder Paxton Geisel to the strong side from 15 feet out with just 2:37 remaining in the game for the go-ahead 3-2 LU lead. The Pioneers then pulled Geisel for the extra skater, and Lindenwood’s Adam Raesler made DU pay by scoring an empty-net insurance fourth goal just over a minute later that ended up being the game winner, as the Pioneers were able to cut the lead to 4-3 with 53 seconds left in a furious last minute rally goal by Hagen Burrows, but the game would end with Lindenwood on top.
After a scoreless and tentative first period, the second period went a bit crazy with four goals scored, as the Lions jumped out to a 1-0 lead when Olivier Houde, a freshman with CHL experience, got credit for a bounce goal off a DU skate at 4:47 to shock the Pioneers, sending Lindenwood ahead at 1-0.
Denver was able to regroup soon after, tying the game at 1-1 on their only power play of the night at 11:03, as Sam Harris found the twine behind former Minnesota-Duluth reserve transfer goalie, Klayton Knapp. The Pioneers then surged ahead 2-1 just 44 seconds later when DU’s Hagen Burrows converted a 3-on-1 odd-man rush feed from senior Samu Salminen, and the Pioneers had seemed to take control of the game.
However the control was soon lost just over a minute later, when DU was unable to hold the lead, as Lindenwood tied the game up again, 2-2 , as Lions’ Ty Hipkin got past Eric Pohlkamp on a one-on-one rush and roofed a pretty goal up high over the shoulder of Geisel at 13;03, and the Lions would never trail again, setting the stage for the Lions’ third-period heroics.
Shots in the game were even at 33 each. The Pioneers’ biggest positive were the two goals scored by the sophomore Hagen Burrows in one night, as he only scored one goal in his entire freshman season of 39 games last year.
The two teams face off again on Saturday night, Oct. 18.
Photo: University of Denver
