DENVER Ryan Lasch scored 20 seconds into overtime to give the St. Cloud State Huskies (18-14-2, 13-12-1 WCHA) a 2-1 victory over the Denver Pioneers (20-10-4, 16-8-3 WCHA) tonight in front of 6,050 fans at Magness Arena.

 

Tyler Ruegsegger (Lakewood, Colo.) scored DU’s lone goal, while Marc Cheverie (Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia) stopped 25 shots as the Pioneers’ four-game unbeaten streak came to a halt.

 

“It’s a really disappointing loss, there’s no question about it,” Denver head coach George Gwozdecky said. “I thought we were playing very well, but in the third period we flirted with disaster too many times. We played with fire and we got burned.”

 

Ruegsegger notched the only goal of the game’s first 40 minutes when he registered his WCHA-leading 11th power-play goal at the 6:34 mark of the second period. The junior forward took a cross-ice feed from Joe Colborne (Calgary, Alberta) and ripped a shot past St. Cloud netminder Jase Weslosky (23 saves).

 

The Huskies evened the game with a power-play goal of their own in the third period, with Drew LeBlanc notching his eighth goal of the season at 5:11.  That tally sent the game to overtime and set up Lasch’s game-winning goal.

 

“He just turned and fired and caught me off guard. It was a good play by them,” Cheverie said of Lasch’s tally.

 

Despite the loss, Denver still leads the WCHA with 35 points - one ahead of North Dakota and has already secured one of the top two seeds in the conference’s final standings.

 

“Obviously we’re still hoping for the best and we’re fortunate enough to lock up the second seed at least,” Cheverie noted. “We want to get the win next Saturday and give ourselves a chance to win the league.”

 

The Pioneers will conclude their regular season schedule next Saturday with a 7:07 p.m. tilt against Colorado College at Magness Arena.

 

Notes: The Pioneers are tied for third with the University of Michigan in the latest PairWise Rankings...The Huskies held a 27-24 advantage in shots...St. Cloud scored on one of its nine power-play chances, while the Pioneers recorded one goal in seven opportunities...Junior forward Rhett Rakhshani (Huntington Beach, Calif.) missed tonight’s contest after suffering a lower-body injury in the first period last night...Senior Julian Marcuzzi (N. Vancouver, British Columbia) replaced Rakhshani in DU’s lineup...Colorado Avalanche captain and 20-year NHL veteran Joe Sakic was in attendance at tonight’s game.