St. Cloud State Men's Hockey Closes 2025 with No. 6/5 Denver

Friday, December 12

St. Cloud, Minn.

7:00 P.M. CT

St. Cloud State

Denver

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Photo by: Jason Soria

St. Cloud State Men's Hockey Closes 2025 with No. 6/5 Denver

12/11/2025 3:05:00 PM | Men's Hockey

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Huskies host Pioneers for Friday-Saturday tilt at Brooks Center

THE MATCHUP

St. Cloud State Men's Hockey will conclude the first half of its regular season this weekend when the Huskies host No. 6/5 Denver at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center. The series begins on Friday, Dec. 12 at 7:00 p.m. CT and concludes on Saturday, Dec. 13 at 6:00 p.m. CT and will be televised on The CW and NCHC.tv with the voice of the Huskies Jim Erickson and former captain Geno Parrish on the call. On the radio, Nick Maxson and Dave Reichel will have the call on KNSI (99.3 FM / 1450 AM).
Last weekend was another case of 'close but no cigar' for the Huskies, who fell to No. 5/6 North Dakota 4-3 and 4-2 at the Brooks Center. Meanwhille, the Pioneers took care of business against then-No. 19 ranked Miami, winning 4-0 and 5-2 with Quentin Miller and Kyle Chyzowski earning NCHC Goaltender and Rookie of the Week honors, respectively.

GAMEDAY PROMOTIONS

Military Appreciation Weekend: All active and retired service members receive free admission with military ID.
Friday, Dec. 5: Player Poster Giveaway, Chuck-a-Puck
Saturday, Dec. 6: Teddy Bear Toss, Country Music Night

NATIONAL POLLS / POST-SEASON OUTLOOK

SCSU has yet to crack the top-20 in either the USCHO or USA Hockey polls this season, but are receiving votes in the USCHO poll, while DU checks in at No. 6 in the USCHO poll and No. 5 in the USA Today poll.
With the first half of the season wrapping up, focus begins to shift to the NCAA Percentage Index (NPI), which replaces the Pairwise and is the official system for selecting and seeding teams for the NCAA Tournament. In the current NPI, Denver checks in at No. 6 with a 10-2-1 (1-3) NPI record while SCSU checks in at No. 24 with a 7-6-3 (0-3) NPI record.

SERIES HISTORY

Ever since St. Cloud State moved to Division-I ahead of the 1987-88 season, the Huskies and Pioneers have had a long-standing rivalry, meeting 121 times since November 1988. The all-time series is a close one between the two programs, as Denver holds a slight advantage at 61-53-7. In St. Cloud, the Huskies and Pios are dead even at 24-24-4. DU is 6-3-1 against the Huskies in the last 10 meetings.
In their last meeting, SCSU snapped a four-game losing streak and six-game winless streak with a 2-1 win in Denver on March 1, 2025 to earn a series split. The Huskies got timely goals from junior forwards Daimon Gardner and Verner Miettinen in the victory while former Husky and now current Colorado Eagles (AHL) goaltender Isak Posch made 38 saves. The win was SCSU's first against DU since Jan. 21, 2023 (2-0 in St. Cloud) and the first regulation win at Magness Arena since Dec. 12, 2015 (6-2).

A LOOK BACK AT LAST SERIES

SCSU played well enough to win but came up short twice in a series sweep against North Dakota, falling 4-3 and 4-2 at the Brooks Center last weekend (Dec. 5-6).
On Friday, the Huskies and Fighting Hawks traded goals for much of the night with SCSU never able to find the equalizing score in an evenly played game where shots were 23-23 and faceoffs were 35-34 in SCSU's favor.
On Saturday, UND jumped out to a 2-0 lead before SCSU's crawled back to tie the score with goals from sophomore defenseman Finn Loftus and redshirt senior forward Ryan Rosborough in the second and third periods, respectively. SCSU seemed to be poised to take the lead with a third period power play, but UND capitalized on a loose puck at the blue and raced the other way for the game-winning score shorthanded. UND added an empty netter with time running out to make the score 4-2 in a game where SCSU outshot UND 37-25 and won the faceoff battle, 37-23.

TERRIFIC TRIO

Junior forward Tyson Gross (20 points / 1.25 ppg), junior forward Barrett Hall (18 points / 1.13 ppg) and sophomore forward Austin Burnevik (17 points / 1.06 ppg) have led the way offensively for the Huskies through the first half of the season, all averaging more than a point per game. SCSU is one of two teams in the NCHC (UMD - 4) and nine in the NCAA to have 3+ players averaging 1.00+ points per game.
SCSU has not had three players average 1.00+ ppg over a full season since 2018-19 when Patrick Newell (46 points / 1.17 ppg), Blake Lizotte (40 points /1.08 ppg) and Robby Jackson (1.05 ppg) all reached the mark.
Gross' current mark of 1.25 ppg is the best mark by a Husky since Kale Kossila posted 1.31 points per game in 2015-16 (54 points in 41 games).

GROSS IN THE DOT

Junior forward Tyson Gross has been dominate in the faceoff circle this season, winning an NCAA-best 230 draws this season. The Husky junior has won 61.5 percent (230-144) of his faceoffs this season, including an NCAA-high 20 wins in both games of the Alaska Anchorage series (Oct. 24-25).
The Husky junior has won 10+ faceoffs in 15 of 16 games this season and 15+ faceoff wins in seven games.
Gross has scored a point in 14 of 16 games this season, collecting seven goals and a team-best 13 assists for 20 points, ranking 18^th in the NCAA in assists and 15^th in points.
When he scored his 20th point with an assist against North Dakota on Dec. 6, Gross became the 23rd player in program history to begin their SCSU career with three consecutive 20-point seasons.
Gross scored a power play goal and had two assists in SCSU's 5-1 win over Western Michigan (Nov. 1) to extend his point streak to 10 consecutive games dating back to March 15, 2025. His 10-game point streak is the just the seventh streak of 10+ games in program history since 2002-03.
Gross' three points match a career-high, the third time he has reached that mark after also reaching that mark against Omaha on Dec. 7, 2024 and against Colorado College on Feb. 21, 2025.

NO STOPPING BURNEY

After becoming the first freshman in program history to lead the team in both goals and points in 2024-25, sophomore forward Austin Burnevik is picking up right where he left off a season ago. The rising sophomore ranks among the nation's best among goal scorers, ranking fourth in power play goals with six, fifth in game-winning goals with three and 10th in overall goals with 11.
After being held off the score sheet in the series against Minnesota Duluth, Burnevik scored SCSU's lone goal on Nov. 11 against St. Thomas and added assists in each game against Miami (Nov. 21-22) to keep his hot streak going. He's scored a point in 14 of 18 games this season.
The 2024-25 All-NCHC Rookie Team honoree opened the season with a nine-game point streak, which is the second-longest streak in the nation this season. He also scored in the last two games of last season, moving his point streak to 11 games, the longest point streak by a Husky since Jonny Brodzinski had an 13-game point streak from Dec. 12, 2012 - Feb. 2, 2012. Since 2002-03, only six Husky skaters have recorded seven point streaks of 10+ games. Burnevik is joined by Garrett Roe (14, 2007-08), Jonny Brodzinski (13, 2012-13), Drew LeBlanc (13, 2012-13), Ryan Lasch (11, 2007-08; 10, 2007-08) and Tyson Gross (10, 2025-26).
Burnevik scored a goal in five consecutive games between Oct. 18 and Nov. 1, the longest streak since Veeti Miettinen scored in six straight games between Oct. 20 – Nov. 11, 2023.

LETHAL POWER PLAY

The Huskies have been lethal on the man advantage this season, scoring 21 of its 52 goals on the man advantage with at least one power play tally in 12 of 16 games this season and six games with multiple power play goals.
SCSU's 29.2 percent success rate (21-of-72) ranks third in the NCHC and sixth nationally while its 21 power play goals rank second in the NCAA, trailing only Michigan's 25 on the man advantage.
The Huskies' four power play goals against Vermont on Oct. 18 were its most since scoring four against St. Thomas on Oct. 7, 2023 while sophomore forward Austin Burnevik netted two of the four power play tallies to become the first Husky to score two power play goals in the same game since Grant Cruikshank scored two at Omaha on Feb. 24, 2023.
Burnevik's six power play goals rank fourth in the NCAA while junior forwards Tyson Gross and Barrett Hall both rank 17th with four power play goals.

NOTES FROM LAST SERIES:

GAME 1 - 4-3 loss vs. North Dakota (12-5-25)
- On the season, SCSU moves to 0-7-0 when its opponent scores first, 0-6-0 when trailing after the first period, 0-7-0 when trailing after two periods and 1-6 in one-goal games.
- SCSU won the faceoff battle, 35-34, the 11th time in 15 games this season SCSU has won the faceoff battle.
- The Huskies scored their third shorthanded goal of the season, its most since scoring eight in 2022-23.
- Junior forward Barrett Hall recorded his sixth two-point game of the season and 14th of his career with a goal and assist. Hall's goal was his first career shorthanded goal and 22nd career goal overall.
- Junior forward Tyson Gross netted his seventh goal of the season and took the team lead with his 19th point of the season.
- Gross went 17-10 in the faceoff dot, marking the sixth time this season he has won 15+ faceoffs.
- Sophomore forward Gavyn Thoreson scored his fourth goal of the season and 10th of his career.
- Sophomore defenseman Finn Loftus and senior defenseman Max Smolinski had single assists in the game.
GAME 2 - 4-2 loss vs. North Dakota (12-6-25)
- With the loss, SCSU moves to 50-85-19 all-time against North Dakota and 26-34-10 against the Fighting Hawks in St. Cloud.
- On the season, SCSU moves to 0-8-0 when its opponent scores first, 0-7-0 when trailing after the first period and 0-8-0 when trailing after two periods.
- SCSU won the faceoff battle, 37-23, the 12th time in 16 games this season SCSU has won the faceoff battle.
- Sophomore defenseman Finn Loftus scored his second goal of the season and fifth point.
- Senior forward Ryan Rosborough scored his fifth goal of the season and fifth career goal.
- Senior defenseman Max Smolinski and junior forward Tyson Gross recorded assists on Loftus' goal while junior forward Jack Reimann and senior forward Grant Ahcan recorded assists on Rosborough's goal.
- Gross recorded his 13th assist and 20th point of the season with the secondary assist on Loftus' goal.
- The Husky junior captain becomes the 23rd player in program history to begin their SCSU career with three consecutive 20-point seasons.
- Gross went 18-5 in the faceoff dot, marking the seventh time this season he has won 15+ faceoffs.
- Freshman goaltender Yan Shostak made 21 saves, the seventh time in nine starts he's made 20 or more saves.