Box Score DENVER - Aaron Marvin scored the game-winner and Michael Lee stopped 32 shots as St. Cloud State beat No. 5/6 Denver, 3-2, in WCHA action tonight before 5,398 fans at Magness Arena.
Brett Barta and Ben Hanowski also scored as the Huskies improve to 15-15-5, 11-12-4 WCHA. DU received goals from Luke Salazar (Thornton, Colo.) and Nick Shore (Denver) and Sam Brittain (Calgary, Alberta) made 26 saves as Denver falls to 20-10-5, 16-8-3 WCHA.
The Pioneers are tied for second place in the WCHA with Minnesota Duluth. Since DU holds the tiebreaker over the Bulldogs, a win tomorrow night would give the Pioneers the No. 2 seed in the WCHA Playoffs. North Dakota won the WCHA regular-season title tonight with a 6-1 win at Michigan Tech.
"Despite the loss, we still control our destiny to earn the No. 2 seed in the WCHA playoffs," DU head coach George Gwozdecky. "We played a pretty good hockey game, but didn't get the bounces. Give St. Cloud State credit. They are a good hockey team and have been playing really well lately."
Barta staked St. Cloud State to an early 1-0 lead when his wrist shot beat a screened Brittain at 3:19 of the first period. Jordy Christian earned the lone assist on the Barta goal. Salazar answered for DU on a give-and-go play from Drew Shore (Denver) and Matt Donovan (Edmond, Okla.) at 13:10. Hanowski scored on the power-play from Garrett Roe and Nick Jensen at 15:07 to give the Huskies a 2-1 lead. DU outshot the Huskies, 15-8, in the opening period.
After a scoreless second period, DU tied the game at 2-2 when Nick Shore slid across the slot and beat Lee at 3:54. Beau Bennett (Gardena, Calif.) and Jarrod Mermis (Alton, Ill.) recorded assists on Shore's sixth goal.
Marvin scored 4-on-4 when he buried a Travis Novak feed on an odd-man rush after a DU turnover with 96 seconds left in the game.
DU outshot SCSU, 34-29, and went 0-for-6 on the power play. The Huskies were 1-for-4 with the man-advantage.
The Pioneers aim for their fifth consecutive series split tomorrow night at 7:07 p.m. MT.
Notes: Senior Anthony Maiani (Shelby Township, Mich.) missed the game due to a violation of team policy. Senior captain Kyle Ostrow (Calgary, Alberta) returned to the DU lineup after missing six game with an injury. Drew Shore extended his career-best point streak to nine games. The Pioneers are for fifth in the latest PairWise Rankings. DU has allowed the first goal in nine of its last 10 games.
