St. Cloud State men's hockey scores 4-3 victory vs. #4 Denver

Saturday, December 5

Omaha, Neb.

8:05 p.m.

St. Cloud State

2-0-0, 2-0-0NCHC

University of Denver

0-3-0, 0-3-0NCHC

St. Cloud State

Denver

Nolan Walker (20) celebrates his goal vs. #4 Denver

Photo by: Mark Kuhlmann/Omaha Athletics

St. Cloud State men's hockey scores 4-3 victory vs. #4 Denver

12/5/2020 10:59:00 PM | Men's Hockey

Box Score

In a battle against the nation's fourth ranked team, St. Cloud State University men's hockey (2-0-0, 2-0-0 NCHC) posted a big 4-3 win over the University of Denver (0-3-0, 0-3-0 NCHC) on Saturday, Dec. 5 at the NCHC pod in Omaha, Neb.

The Huskies and Denver engaged in a see-saw battle throughout the first half of the game before the Huskies scored three unanswered goals to claim the NCHC win over the nationally ranked Pioneers.

SCSU's Sam Hentges opened the game's scoring early with a goal at :33 of the first with assists from Zach Okabe and Kevin Fitzgerald. This was Hentges' first goal of the season and his 18th at SCSU. Okabe and Fitzgerald also added their first assists on the season on the play.

Denver tied the game at 1-1 later in the first period with a goal by Carter Savoie on the power play. The Pioneers pushed their lead to 2-1 at :58 of the second period with a PPG by Cole Guttman.

The Huskies rallied later in the period with a goal by Kevin Fitzgerald at 4:23, which include assists by Ondrej Trejbal and Hentges. This was Fitzgerald's second goal of the season and it was the first assist for both Trejbal and Hentges. Team captain Spencer Meier gave the Huskies a 3-2 lead at 7:19 with assists by Seamus Donohue and Okabe. Of note, this was Donohue's first point as a Husky and Meier's sixth career marker.

SCSU iced the contest with a GWG posted by Nolan Walker at 11:41 of the third period. The play was created on an outstanding pass from Easton Brodzinski, which included a second assist credited to Brady Ziemer. This was Walker's first goal of the season and his 11th career goal and 40 career point. For Ziemer, the assist was his first at St. Cloud State.

The pass! The shot 👌

Nolan Walker (from Brodzinski and Ziemer) gives @SCSUHUSKIES a 4-2 lead over Denver with 8:19 remaining in regulation!

P.S. we'll be nominating this for🍎 of the week#unleashSCSU #NCHCPod #NCHCHockey #SCSUHuskies @MidcoSN pic.twitter.com/CoDQEBjNL5
— SCSU Men's Hockey (@SCSUHUSKIES_MH) December 6, 2020

Denver concluded the game's scoring at 15:06 of the third with a goal by Brett Stapley, which made the final tally 4-3.

In the contest, SCSU's David Hrenak was the goalie of record with 30 saves in his second win of the season.

Denver outshot the Huskies 33-28, and the Huskies were 0-3 on the power play. The Pioneers was 2-of-8 on the power play.

SCSU will continue its time on Omaha the NCHC Pod with an 8:05 p.m. game against Omaha in Baxter Arena. Fans can follow the game on The River 96.7 FM and KVSC FM 88.1 and they can watch on NCHC.tv/scsu or MidcoSN

SCSU Game Highlights:

SCSU Photo Gallery by Mark Kuhlmann