St. Cloud State Men’s Hockey Rallies to Beat No. 9 Denver 4-2 on the Road

Friday, January 23

Magness Arena | Denver, Colo.

8:00 P.M. CT

St. Cloud State

13-12-0, 6-9-0

Denver

13-11-2, 9-6-0

St. Cloud State

Denver

Photo by: Bill Prout

St. Cloud State Men’s Hockey Rallies to Beat No. 9 Denver 4-2 on the Road

1/23/2026 10:49:00 PM | Men's Hockey

Box Score

Huskies score four straight to beat Pioneers for second straight time

DENVER, Colo. – St. Cloud State Men's Hockey (13-12-0, 6-9-0 NCHC) fell behind 2-0 but responded with four consecutive goals in a 4-2, come-from-behind victory over No. 9 Denver (13-11-2, 9-6-0 NCHC) on Saturday night at Magness Arena in Denver, Colo. Three Huskies had two points on the night, led by sophomore forward Gavyn Thoreson, who had the primary assist on the game-tying goal before scoring the game-winning goal 66 seconds into the third period. Freshman goaltender Yan Shostak was sharp in net once again, stopping 31-of-33 shots to earn his third victory in his fourth consecutive start between the pipes.

The first period saw each team go empty on power play chances in the game's first five minutes before Denver found the scoresheet first at 7:48 with Cale Ashcroft's first goal of the season. With just under five minutes left in the period, Denver was called for a five-minute boarding major penalty, but SCSU was unable to capitalize on the power play opportunity after being called for a too-many-men minor 1:00 into the power play.

Denver extended its lead to 2-0 early in the second period with a goal from Kristan Epperson before SCSU responded with back-to-back goals in the middle frame. The Huskies first goal of the night came on a frenzy around the net where the Pioneer goaltender lost his stick. Sophomore forward Austin Burnevik's slap shot hit the back wall, where sophomore defenseman Finn Loftus was able to corral the puck and pass to junior forward Tyson Gross in the slot where he one-timed home his 14^th goal of the season. Then, freshman goaltender Yan Shostak made a save on Denver chance and SCSU was able to start a break the other way, with Thoreson feeding junior forward Verner Miettinen on a backdoor tap-in to finish a 2-on-1 breakaway to tie the score at 2-2.

SCSU took the lead early in the final stanza when the Huskies converted a rush play when they didn't seem to have numbers. Junior forward Barrett Hall carried the puck into the offensive zone into a 2-on-3 and waited for reinforcements, finding Thoreson striking down the weakside of the ice. Hall's cross-ice pass found Thoreson's tape, where he wristed a shot far side to beat the goalie for a 3-2 lead. Burnevik added his team-leading 15^th goal of the season with an empty net goal to ice it in the game's final minutes.

TOP HUSKIES

Thoreson, Burnevik and Hall all had two points to lead the offensive charge for the Huskies.
Shostak made 31 saves in net and improved to 6-8-0 on the season.

NOTES

Head Coach Brett Larson recorded his 150th career win on Friday. In his eighth season, Larson is 150-109-22 (.573) with four NCAA Tournament appearances (2019, 2021-23), two conference championships (2019 NCHC Penrose, 2023 NCHC Frozen Faceoff) and one NCAA Frozen Four appearance (2021).
With the win, SCSU improves to 55-62-7 all-time against Denver and 27-35-3 all-time against the Pioneers in Denver.
The Huskies move to 4-5-0 on the road, 2-10-0 when its opponent scores first, 2-9-0 when trailing after first period, 2-0-0 when tied after two periods
The win is the second two-goal comeback of the season for the Huskies, with the other coming on Dec. 13 against the same Pioneers, a 4-3 win at the Brooks Center.
Thoreson recorded his seventh goal of the season and fifth assist for his second multi-point game of the season. The goal was his first career game-winning score.
Gross netted his 14^th goal of the season and 30^th goal of his career. He becomes the 65^th player in program history to reach the 30 career goal mark.
Miettinen scored for the second straight game to extend his point streak to three games with five points (2-3—5) in that stretch.
Shostak made 31 saves in net, his third-highest mark this season while lowering his GAA to 2.86 and raising his save percentage to .901.
Hall recorded two assists for his eighth multi-point game of the season and first since two points against Denver on Dec. 13. His two points move him back to averaging a point per game this season with 25 points in 25 games.
Burnevik extended his point streak to five consecutive games with his 14^th helper of the season in the second period while adding his team-leading 15^th goal of the season on an empty net goal.
His two points give him 29 on the season, surpassing his freshman season total of 28.
Senior defenseman Max Smolinski and Loftus continued their production on the blue line, recording their 12^th and ninth assists, respectively.

UP NEXT

SCSU and Denver will finish its series on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. CT / 6:00 p.m. MT at Magness Arena in Denver.

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 2025-26 season are available at www.scsutickets.com, downloading the St. Cloud State Huskies app or by calling 1-877-SCSUTIX / 320-308-2137.