It was a battle of the heavyweights this weekend in Magness Arena where the no. 2 University of Denver men’s hockey team took on the no. 4 St. Cloud State Huskies. DU has been the frontrunner to win the NCHC conference title this season and this series was the first big conference test for the Crimson and Gold. The two teams split the series as the Huskies won 4-3 in overtime Friday night, and Denver won 3-2 on Saturday.
It was an even match from the start in the first game of the weekend series. Both teams pushed to gain momentum over each other throughout the game but neither team dominated the play. It was St. Cloud State who got the early advantage in momentum in the first period. Just four minutes into the first period, Jami Krannila cleaned up a rebound that slipped from the grasp of senior goaltender Magnus Chrona (Stockholm, Sweden).
It was an early boost for the Huskies but Denver pushed back into the game fourteen minutes later. Denver responded with their own offense and was tallying more shots than the Huskies. It was junior defenseman Mike Benning (St. Albert, Alberta) who tied up the game for DU with a highlight reel goal. Sophomore forward Carter Mazur (Jackson, Mich.) exchanged the puck with Benning at the top of the faceoff circle which led to Benning to toe drag around a Husky defenseman and fire a bullet toward the top of the goal and into the back of the net.
Senior captain and defenseman Justin Lee (Waskada, Manitoba) added another goal for Denver seven minutes into the second period to give the Crimson and Gold the lead. Lee took a backward pass from sophomore forward Massimo Rizzo (Burnaby, B.C) and fire a wrist shot that just trickled through the St. Cloud State goalie’s five-hole.
Special teams were not a factor at all in Friday’s game. St. Cloud State went on a power play early in the second period off a too-many-men power play from Denver. The Huskies were not able to get a shot on goal on the power play and neither team was able to capitalize on their man-up advantages. Both teams finished 0-2 on the power play.
The back-and-forth action continued in the third period and St. Cloud State tied the game about halfway through the period. Grant Cruikshank fired a bar-down shot that silenced the DU home crowd. DU did not let up though and late into the third period Rizzo gave the Crimson and Gold the lead. Sophomore defenseman Sean Behrens (Barrington, Ill.) walked inside the zone and found enough space to feed a slick pass to Rizzo, who redirected a beautiful tip into the top corner of the goal.
St. Cloud State pulled their goalie in order to push the offense even more late in the period and was successful in that regard. After Lee blocked a shot and fell down on the ice, Zach Okabe picked up the loose puck and fired it into the net with a minute and 17 seconds to go in regulation. Another period was needed to decide who came out with an extra point in the standings.
DU started the overtime period on the power play but was unable to capitalize. After the power play was over, Crukishank dropped a pass to Veeti Miettinen who fired away the game-winning goal for the Huskies.
The main difference between the games on Friday and Saturday was the way DU started the game. Denver came out flying in the first three minutes of the Saturday game and senior forward Casey Dornbach (Edina, Minn.) was able to score on the second shot of the period. Rizzo fired a shot that was dribbled right into the stick of Dornbach, who then tucked the puck into the net while having his back face towards the goal.
A little more than a minute later, DU increased the lead via redirection from sophomore forward Jack Devine (Glencoe, Ill.). Lee fired a shot into traffic and Devine barely got a stick on it and redirected it past the Husky goalie. St. Cloud State called a timeout after the goal to reconvene and try to stop the early momentum of Denver.
The next goal didn’t come until midway through the second period and it came from the visiting Huskies. St. Cloud went on the power play eight minutes into the period and Krannila was able to capitalize off of a one-timer.
A little more than five minutes later, Krannila was involved in a hit that lead to him being ejected from the game. Krannila was tracking Behrens in the DU defensive zone and hit Behrens from behind in a dirty fashion. Behrens was slow to get up and was not able to return to the game. Krannila was given a five-minute game misconduct for hitting from behind and was ejected from the game.
The loss of Behrens was huge for DU but the back end, especially senior defenseman Kyle Mayhew (Anaheim Hills, Calif.) was able to step up. Mayhew talked about how the defensive core was able to step up in the absence of one of their key players. “I think we really bared down. It’s hard to go with five with a game that fast, that hard and that heavy,” he said. “I loved our accountability on the back end and that’s what it’s going to have to take to win big games.”
Mayhew filled Behrens’ spot on the second power-play unit early in the second period and was the one to get the eventual game-winning goal for DU. The second unit created mayhem in front of the St. Cloud goaltender and the puck eventually made its way to the stick of Mayhew who then finished in the top of the goal for his first goal of the season.
St. Cloud State pushed back with a goal of their own, eight minutes later from Cruikshank, but the Huskies were unable to get another goal, largely thanks to the efforts of Chrona. Chrona had his best period of the weekend in the third period and was called upon to make huge stops that kept the Huskies from tying the game. Chrona finished with 28 saves on the night and 15 of those came in the third period. DU won the game 3-2 and improve to 7-3-0 on the season.
DU looks to continue their success in conference play with another tough opponent next weekend as they will hit the road toward North Dakota to take on the Fighting Hawks. They will return home to Magness Arena the day after Thanksgiving to take on another NCHC opponent, the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
