Dec. 13, 2002

Box Score

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St. Cloud, Minn. - Senior Jon Cullen's goal at 19:43 of the third period helped St. Cloud State escape with a 1-1 overtime tie against the Denver Pioneers tonight in Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) action.

The tie sends Denver to a 12-4-3 overall record and 5-3-3 in the WCHA. St. Cloud State's record goes to 6-7-2 overall and 4-5-2 in conference play.

Cullen's game-tying goal came in the low slot after a beautiful pass from Ryan Malone. The Huskies pulled goaltender Jason Montgomery with less than one minute and Cullen beat an out-stretched Adam Berkhoel (Jr., Woodbury, Minn.), who made a career-high 41 saves in the game.

Berkhoel was simply outstanding and made several huge saves in the first period and continued his dominance throughout the game. The Pioneer goaltender made 19 saves in the third period and made a huge save at 19:35 before allowing the game-tying goal to Cullen.

Freshman Brett Skinner's (Brandon, Man.) power-play goal at 16:06 of the first period was the lone Pioneer goal. Skinner accepted a cross-ice pass from Lukas Dora (Lednice, Czech Republic) and beat Husky goaltender Jason Montgomery with a wrist shot from the low slot. The goal broke an 0-for-14 power-play drought for the Pioneers.

The Pioneers also dodged a major bullet when St. Cloud State's Joe Motzko hit the pipe on a two-on-one breakaway opportunity at 13:25 of the third period. St. Cloud out-shot Denver 42-33 in the game, but was limited to just two unsuccessful power-play opportunities.

The Pioneers and Huskies will play game two of the series tomorrow night in St. Cloud at 6:05 p.m. MT.

GAME #19 - vs. St. Cloud State
at St. Cloud, Minn. (The National Hockey Center)

	                                       1-2-3-OT-F
#7 Denver Pioneers (12-4-3, 5-3-3 WCHA)	  1-0-0-0--1
St. Cloud State Huskies (6-7-2, 4-5-2 WCHA)     0-0-1-0--1

SCORING SUMMARY:

FIRST PERIOD
1.	DEN, Brett Skinner 2 (Lukas Dora 7, Luke Fulghum 7) PPG, 16:06.
SECOND PERIOD
No Scoring
THIRD PERIOD
2.	SCSU, Jon Cullen 6 (Ryan Malone 13, Jeff Finger 6) 19:43.
OVERTIME
No Scoring

SHOTS: Denver 9-11-9-3--32, St. Cloud State 14-6-20-2--42.
SAVES: Adam Berkhoel (DEN) 14-6-19-2--41, Jason Montgomery (SCSU) 8-11-9-3--31.
POWER PLAY: Denver 1-6, St. Cloud State 0-2. Referee: Tom Goddard.
Assistants: J.B. Olson, Bill Vollbrecht.