Coming off of two thrilling victories against the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, the Pioneers headed into last weekend’s series against St. Cloud State as the no. 5 team in the nation with four consecutive wins. The Huskies were looking to bounce back following a 4-1 loss to Minnesota. Denver swept the series and now sits at 15-4-3 overall and 5-3-2 in the NCHC, remaining in third place in the conference. The Pioneers also moved up one spot in the NCAA Division I polls.
Sophomore forward Hank Crone (Dallas, Texas) scored his third goal of the season at the halfway point of the first period, assisted by freshman forward Brett Edwards (Grande Prairie, Alberta) and junior defenseman Ian Mitchell (Calahoo, Alberta) to make it 1-0 Denver. With just a minute remaining in the period, junior forward Kohen Olischefski (Abbotsford, B.C.) bounced the puck off sophomore defenseman Slava Demin’s (Cypress, Calif.) pass past Husky goaltender David Hrenak to add to Denver’s lead. Freshman goaltender Magnus Chrona (Stockholm, Sweden) gathered six saves in the period to Hrenak’s 10.
In the second period, SCSU forward Jack Poehling scored two-and-a-half minutes into the period on a power play to reduce Denver’s lead to one. The Pioneers were able to respond on a power play of their own with a goal from junior forward Ryan Barrow (Banff, Alberta). The Huskies scored at 14:26 on yet another power play to make it 3-2 Pioneers. Denver applied heavy pressure to the Husky defense in the final minutes of the period, with the puck staying in SCSU territory virtually the entire last few minutes of the period, but were unable to add to the scoreboard to close it out.
At 12:44 of the third period, despite being down a player after a holding call on sophomore forward Emilio Pettersen (Manglerud, Norway), Mitchell added to Denver’s lead, followed by a goal from Crone on a three-on-five power play at 13:55 and an empty netter from sophomore forward Brett Stapley (Campbell River, B.C.). SCSU’s Chase Brand scored an inconsequential goal with three seconds remaining in the game to give the Pioneers a 6-3 victory.
On Saturday, the first period went by without a score from either team, but the Pioneers exhibited their offensive dominance in the second period scoring four goals. First was Edwards, scoring with a snap shot from the high slot off Crone’s pass at 4:57. Next came sophomore forward Tyler Ward (Kamloops, B.C.), who scored two goals in a time span of just one minute and 43 seconds to make it 3-0. Pettersen then capitalized on a power play with a shot from the right circle to add to Denver’s lead yet again. The Huskies were finally able to exhibit some offensive aggression of their own in the final minutes of the second period, chipping away at Chrona and eventually scoring two goals to make it 4-2 going into the final period.
SCSU’s momentum halted after a goal from Nick Perbix, when Pettersen scored an empty-netter to ice the game and give the Pioneers a 5-3 victory.
Next, the Pioneers will travel to Omaha, Neb. to play the University of Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks on Jan. 18 and 19. UNO currently sits in second-to-last in the NCHC standings.
