No. 15/13 St. Cloud State Men’s Hockey Swept by No. 5/4 Denver

Saturday, March 2

St. Cloud, Minn.

6:00 P.M. CT

St. Cloud State

15-12-5, 11-7-4

Denver

23-8-3, 14-6-2

Denver

St. Cloud St.

No. 15/13 St. Cloud State Men’s Hockey Swept by No. 5/4 Denver

3/2/2024 11:03:00 PM | Men's Hockey

Box Score

Huskies honor seniors Basse, Miettinen and Molenaar following the game

ST. CLOUD, Minn. – No. 15/13 St. Cloud State Men's Hockey (15-12-5, 11-7-4 NCHC) dropped the series finale to No. 5/4 Denver (23-8-3, 13-5-4 NCHC), 7-2, on Saturday night at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center. For the second night in a row, SCSU outshot the Pioneers but couldn't find the back of the net before falling behind to the high-powered offense of the Pioneers.

The Huskies outshot Denver 10-5 in the opening frame, but it was Denver who broke through first, scoring a goal with 20 seconds left in the period as Aidan Thompson led a breakaway and beat the Husky netminder. Denver's lead would increase to 6-0 before junior forward Mason Salquist (Grand Forks, N.D.) ended the shutout with a goal at the 13:48 mark of the final period. Senior forward Veeti Miettinen (Espoo, Finland) would tack on a goal late to make the score 7-2.

Following the game, SCSU would recognize its three seniors – senior goaltender Dominic Basse (Alexandria, Va.), Miettinen and senior forward Joe Molenaar (Minnetonka, Minn.).

TOP HUSKIES

Miettinen extended his team-lead in goals to 15 goals.
Salquist scored his fifth goal of the season.

NOTES

With the loss, SCSU moves to 53-58-7 all-time against Denver and 25-23-4 against the Pioneers in St. Cloud.
This weekend's sweep marked the first time this season the Huskies didn't get any points – pairwise or conference – in a series the entire season.
SCSU killed off each of its three penalties in the game to move to 79.6 percent (82-of-103) on the penalty kill this season.
The Huskies were 59.6 percent (34-24) in the faceoff dot.
Veeti Miettinen scored his 15^th goal of the season and 48^th goal of his career. He now has 111 career points.
Salquist scored his fifth goal of the season and 15^th point.
Verner Miettinen recorded his 15^th assist on the season, moving to sixth all-time among SCSU freshmen.
Okabe had an assist to log his 117^th career point, ranking 24^th all-time in program history.
Sophomore defenseman Mason Reiners (Edina, Minn.) and sophomore forward Jack Rogers (East Northport, N.Y.) recorded their third and second assists of the season, respectively.
Freshman forward Tyson Gross (Calgary, Alberta) went 15-6 (71.4 percent) in the faceoff dot while Salquist went 13-9 (59.1 percent).
Gross' 15 faceoff wins are his second-most this season, trailing only the 16 he won against Michigan on Nov. 25.

HIGHLIGHTS

PRESS CONFERENCE

UP NEXT

St. Cloud State will finish the regular season on the road against Minnesota Duluth next weekend, as the Huskies head to Duluth for a March 8-9 series. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. CT on Friday and 6:00 p.m. CT on Saturday.

For all the latest on St. Cloud State Men's Hockey, stay tuned to SCSUHuskies.com and follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Tickets for the 2023-24 season are available at www.scsutickets.com, downloading the St. Cloud State Huskies app or by calling 1-877-SCSUTIX / 320-308-2137.