The Pioneer hockey team began Western Collegiate Hockey Association play last weekend by splitting a two-game series with the No. 16 St. Cloud State University Huskies in St. Cloud, Minn.
After starting off the weekend with a thrilling 4-3 overtime victory on Friday, the Pioneers gave up three, second-period goals in a decisive 5-2 loss Saturday.
The Pioneers, ranked No.11 nationally, were outplayed for the majority of Friday’s game, but exceptional play by senior goaltender Glenn Fisher kept the Pioneers in the lead until the third period.
Redshirt freshman Brock Trotter got the Pioneers on the board early as he buried his first goal of the season midway through the first period.
Then, minutes later, freshman forward Tyler Ruegsegger made it 2-0 when he scored his first ever goal in a DU uniform.
Then DU stretched their lead to 3-0, when junior defensemen Andrew Thomas ricocheted a shot off SCSU goalie Bobby Goepfert early in the second period.
The Huskies then roared back, peppering Fisher with shots and scoring the games next three goals, the last coming at 12:17 of the third period from Justin Fletcher on a power-play resulting from Ruegsegger receiving a game misconduct for checking from behind.
The third period ended in a 3-3 tie, despite the Pioneers being outshot 50-23 for the game.
The Pioneers took advantage of the overtime opportunity as sophomore forward Patrick Mullen scored his second consecutive game-winning goal after one-timing a pass from senior defenseman J.D. Corbin.
The goal was Mullen’s third of the year, and gave DU the 4-3 victory.
Fisher made a career-high 47 saves in the winning effort for the Pioneers.
The Pioneers kept their momentum into the beginning of Saturday night’s game, as they outshot SCSU 10-4 in the first period, while taking a 2-1 lead from goals by Ruegsegger and junior forward Ryan Dingle.
But, the tide quickly turned for the Pioneers.
The Huskies scored three second -period goals, the third of which ended Fisher’s night as he was replaced by junior Peter Mannino in goal.
The Pioneers were not able to mount any sort of come back and ended up losing the game 5-2. Fisher, who made two starts in the same series for the first time in his career, was credited with the loss.
With the loss, the Pioneers are 1-1 in WCHA play and 2-2 overall.
The Pioneers will look to improve on their record when they play in their home- opener against the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). The two-game nonconference series will be part of DU’s Homecoming and Hall of Fame Weekend.
The puck will drop at 7:37 p.m. MT at Magness Arena Friday.
