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Saturday, January 21
St. Cloud, Minn.
7:07 p.m.
St. Cloud State
11-12-1, 6-9-1NCHC
1
vs
3
University of Denver
16-6-4, 8-3-3NCHC
1
2
3
F
Denver
0
2
1
3
St. Cloud State
1
0
0
1
Jack Poehling
St. Cloud State falls to No. 1/2 Denver, 3-1, in series finale
1/21/2017 10:13:00 PM | Men's Hockey
Huskes strike first, but Pioneers salvage series split with three-goal rally
ST. CLOUD—An early for the St. Cloud State men's hockey team (11-12-1, 6-9-1 NCHC) eroded in the face of three unanswered No. 1/2 Denver (16-6-4, 8-3-3) goals Saturday as the Huskies took a 3-1 loss and settled for a series split.
The split is SCSU's second straight against a conference opponent. The loss, combined with UNO's 2-0 win over Miami, dropped the Huskies into sixth place in the NCHC with eight league games to play.
"We weren't bad tonight," head coach Bob Motzko said. "They were just good."
After freshman forward Jake Wahlin's fifth goal of the season opened the scoring just over midway through the first period, St. Cloud State had visions of a sweep. But a pair of unfortunate bounces near the game's halfway point force the Huskies to play catch up and proved to be too much to overcome.
In a 2:21 span in the second period, DU sophomore forward Dylan Gambrell received credit for a goal that appeared to deflect off of a Husky defender's stick and sophomore forward Jarid Lukosevicius was the beneficiary of a puck that bounced precariously into the SCSU crease from behind the goal line. Both ended up in the back of the net and, despite its best efforts late in the game, St. Cloud State never recovered.
Denver added a power play goal in the third to round out its scoring.
St. Cloud State was not without chances to pull itself back, though. The Huskies out-shot the Pioneers, 28-22, in the final two periods—including a handful of golden opportunities in the third that came up just short of pay dirt as they tried to climb out of a two-goal hole.
"We had a few good hops tonight, but we just didn't finish it off," Motzko said. "When you're just not all the way there and when you miss the net that many times, it's because you're not ready to go."
SCSU struggled to solve Denver junior goaltender Tanner Jaillet, who made 37 saves. Sophomore Jeff Smith started for the Huskies and turned away 35 shots—his second-highest total of the season—while taking the loss.
St. Cloud State heads to the Xcel Energy Center next weekend to defend its North Star Cup title. The Huskies will face Bemidji State on Friday, January 27 at 4 p.m. in St. Paul. Depending on that result, they will play at either 4 p.m. or 7 p.m. on Saturday, January 28. Tickets will be available at the box office on game day or via xcelenergycenter.com.
###
The split is SCSU's second straight against a conference opponent. The loss, combined with UNO's 2-0 win over Miami, dropped the Huskies into sixth place in the NCHC with eight league games to play.
"We weren't bad tonight," head coach Bob Motzko said. "They were just good."
After freshman forward Jake Wahlin's fifth goal of the season opened the scoring just over midway through the first period, St. Cloud State had visions of a sweep. But a pair of unfortunate bounces near the game's halfway point force the Huskies to play catch up and proved to be too much to overcome.
In a 2:21 span in the second period, DU sophomore forward Dylan Gambrell received credit for a goal that appeared to deflect off of a Husky defender's stick and sophomore forward Jarid Lukosevicius was the beneficiary of a puck that bounced precariously into the SCSU crease from behind the goal line. Both ended up in the back of the net and, despite its best efforts late in the game, St. Cloud State never recovered.
Denver added a power play goal in the third to round out its scoring.
St. Cloud State was not without chances to pull itself back, though. The Huskies out-shot the Pioneers, 28-22, in the final two periods—including a handful of golden opportunities in the third that came up just short of pay dirt as they tried to climb out of a two-goal hole.
"We had a few good hops tonight, but we just didn't finish it off," Motzko said. "When you're just not all the way there and when you miss the net that many times, it's because you're not ready to go."
SCSU struggled to solve Denver junior goaltender Tanner Jaillet, who made 37 saves. Sophomore Jeff Smith started for the Huskies and turned away 35 shots—his second-highest total of the season—while taking the loss.
St. Cloud State heads to the Xcel Energy Center next weekend to defend its North Star Cup title. The Huskies will face Bemidji State on Friday, January 27 at 4 p.m. in St. Paul. Depending on that result, they will play at either 4 p.m. or 7 p.m. on Saturday, January 28. Tickets will be available at the box office on game day or via xcelenergycenter.com.
###
Team Stats
DEN
SCSU
Shots
38
38
PPG
1
0
SHG
0
0
Penalties
2
1
Penalty Mins
4
2
Faceoffs Won
38
31
Game Leaders
+/-
+1
Goals
1
Sh
1
A
0
+/-
0
Goals
0
Sh
8
A
0
+/-
0
Goals
0
Sh
5
A
0
Players Mentioned
G
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