No. 3 University of Denver hockey traveled to St. Cloud, Minn. this past weekend to play the dominant NCHC rival and evenly-matched No. 4 St. Cloud State University. DU approached the game with a record of 56-50-6 against St. Cloud, a historically tough opponent for the Crimson and Gold.

This weekend marks DU’s first road contests since mid-December and the final two games of the four-game season series between them and Huskies. Coming off three consecutive seven-goal games and a six-game win streak on the road, Denver wanted to keep the momentum going but were stopped in their tracks by the well-prepared Huskies. 

Friday night’s game started off back-and-forth, but it wasn’t until the first power play of the night that St. Cloud grabbed an opportunity to score, created by senior defenseman Justin Lee’s (Waskada, Manitoba) hooking call. Zach Okabe capitalized off of the 5-on-4 opportunity to put the Huskies up 1-0, midway through the sixth minute. 

Josh Luedtke was called for kneeing, which gave DU a power play halfway through the first period. Sophomore forward Carter King (Calgary, Alberta) scored off of the power play with help from senior forward Casey Dornbach (Edina, Minn.) to tie the first period up at one.

DU got their first lead of the game early into the second period with a goal by sophomore forward Jack Devine (Glencoe, Illi.). 

St. Cloud fought back with two goals unanswered by Jami Krannila and Jack Rodgers, respectively. 

DU came up short on a 5-on-3 opportunity for almost two full minutes halfway through the second period, but SCSU killed it off. Krannila happily punished the offensive lag, scoring again soon after the end of the powerplay. 

Senior forward Brett Edwards (Grande Prairie, Alberta) returned the favor not even a minute later for his first goal of the season to bring the score to 3-4 in favor of SCSU. Junior defensemen Mike Benning (St. Albert, Alberta) was called for hooking and sent St. Cloud on a power play, off of which St. Cloud’s Veeti Miettinen found the net to end the period 5-3. 

SCSU went on the power play halfway through the third period, and Brendan Bushy capitalized to deepen their lead. Sophomore goalkeeper Matt Davis (Calgary, Alberta) subbed in right after the goal, emphasizing DU’s plight of a widening gap and dwindling time.

SCSU went on the power play with around four minutes left, but DU killed it off and then got a slashing penalty soon after. To end the game, Mason Salquist scored on an empty net with less than a minute left to finalize the score at 7-3. 

DU finished Friday night with 31 shots on goal and 12 minutes in the box; SCSU had 33 shots on goal and spent eight minutes in the box.

Saturday night’s game slowed down from the night before, and the main action from the first period were two penalties on St. Cloud and one on DU. 

St. Cloud’s Rodgers struck first eight minutes into the second period. Soon after, sophomore forward Carter Mazur (Jackson, Mich.) went to the box for hooking, sending SCSU on a power play. The extra man allowed Okabe to find the back of the net, bringing the Huskies up by two. 

Dornbach made it past the goalie in the second period, but, due to a mistaken whistle, the goal was retracted, leaving DU scoreless.

The third period’s only action was a Huskies power play, which DU killed to end the night in a 2-0 shutout loss. DU ended the night with 19 shots on goal while SCSU had 23. DU was in the box for half the time of the night before with nothing to show but three penalties for six minutes in the box while SCSU had two penalties for four minutes inside.

DU takes on another NCHC rival, Colorado College, in Ball Arena on Friday night for a chance of redemption. The team then travels to Colorado Springs the following weekend for an away game at Ed Robson Arena.