No. 17 St. Cloud State Men’s Hockey Drops NCHC Semifinal to No. 3 Denver

Friday, March 22

St. Paul, Minn.

7:30 P.M. CT

St. Cloud State

17-16-5

Denver

27-9-3

OT 1

St. Cloud St.

Denver

Photo by: Jason Soria

No. 17 St. Cloud State Men’s Hockey Drops NCHC Semifinal to No. 3 Denver

3/23/2024 12:23:00 AM | Men's Hockey

Box Score

Huskies grab the lead four times but fall in overtime, 5-4 to close season

ST. PAUL, Minn. – No. 17 St. Cloud State Men's Hockey (17-16-5, 11-9-4 NCHC) fell in overtime to No. 3 Denver (27-9-3, 15-7-2 NCHC), 5-4, in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) Frozen Faceoff semifinals on Friday night at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. The Huskies never trailed in the game until the overtime score, as each team traded goals before the final game-winning goal. The loss closes the 2023-24 season for the Huskies.

The first two periods were back-and-forth affairs with both teams trading goals and scoring two goals in each period to pull even at 4-4 heading into the final period. The Huskies struck first just 1:40 into the game when sophomore defenseman Cooper Wylie (Stillwater, Minn.) intercepted a clearing attempt and fired a shot in past the Pioneer goaltender for the quick 1-0 lead. After Denver responded with a goal at the 8:38 mark of the second period, the Huskies responded just 1:17 later to re-take the lead. Redshirt sophomore forward Ryan Rosborough (Mt. Brydges, Ontario) won an offensive zone draw at the left circle and fed junior forward Nick Portz (St. Cloud, Minn.) behind him, as he moved into the slot and fired a laser past the Pioneer goalie for the 2-1 lead. Denver scored once again at the 17:16 mark to make the score 2-2 at the first intermission.

SCSU struck fast again in the second period to take a 3-2 lead just 1:00 into the second stanza. Fifth-year forward Zach Okabe (Okotoks, Alberta) was able to chip a puck back behind the defense to freshman forward Verner Miettinen (Espoo, Finland), who drew the only Pioneer defender towards him and then fed a streaking sophomore forward Adam Ingram (West St. Paul, Manitoba), who was all alone in front of the goal for the score. After Denver knotted the score at 3-3 with a power play score, freshman forward Barrett Hall (Apple Valley, Minn.) scored a power play goal of his own, cleaning up a rebound attempt to give the Huskies its fourth lead of the night at the 8:06 mark of the middle frame.

SCSU then successfully killed off a five-minute major after Wylie was sent to the box for a check from behind. Freshman goaltender Isak Posch (Umea, Sweden) was fantastic in the net during the major, making six saves to turn away the Pioneers. However, Denver was able to tie the score at 4-4 at the 17:16 mark with a tip-in goal.

The third period was a scoreless frame that saw Denver outshoot the Huskies 9-3. In the overtime peiod, Denver's Zeev Buium scored his second goal of the game at the 6:21 mark to cap the victory.

TOP HUSKIES

Hall scored his eighth goal of the season and fourth power play goal.
Portz scored his second goal of the season in the first period.
Wylie scored his third goal of the season.
Ingram scored his 10^th goal of the season.

NOTES

With the loss, SCSU moves to 53-59-7 all-time against Denver and 3-2-0 against the Pioneers on neutral ice.
The Huskies loss in the semifinals is its first loss in the Frozen Faceoff semifinals in seven chances. SCSU had previously advanced to the championship game in 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2023 with championship victories in 2016 and 2023.
SCSU converted its only chance on the power play this season to end the season at 24.2 percent (31-of-128) on the man advantage.
Fifth-year defenseman Dylan Anhorn (Calgary, Alberta) recorded his 27^th assist of the season with the secondary assist on Hall's power play goal. He finishes the season with the sixth-most assists of any Husky blue-liner (27) and 33 points, the 11^th-most in SCSU defenseman history.
Okabe recorded his 14^th assist of the season and 119^th career point to finish his collegiate career ranked 21^st in program history in scoring.
Okabe's 176 career games played rank second in program history, trailing only Brendan Bushy (178 games, 2018-23) and matching Easton Brodzinski (176 games, 2017-22).
Verner Miettinen recorded his 19^th assist of the season to finish 12^th all-time in program history for freshman assists in a season.
Fifth-year forward Kyler Kupka (Camrose, Alberta) had an assist in the game and closes his collegiate career ranked 57^th on SCSU's all-time scoring list with 85 points (32 goals / 53 assists).
Ingram logged his 10^th goal of the season to reach double-digit goals for the first time in his career.

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.