Box Score DENVER - Senior
Kyle Ostrow (Calgary, Alberta) celebrated Senior Night with the game-winning goal for his 100
th career point as No. 5/6 Denver clinched the No. 2 seed in the WCHA Playoffs with a 3-2 win over St. Cloud State tonight at Magness Arena.
DU improves to 21-10-5, 17-8-3 WCHA, while St. Cloud State falls to 15-16-5, 11-13-4. The Pioneers host No. 11 seed Minnesota State in the first round of the best 2-of-3 WCHA Playoffs on March 11-13 at Magness Arena.
Drew Shore (Denver) and Jarrod Mermis (Alton, Ill.) added goals and Sam Brittain (Calgary, Alberta) stopped 33 saves as DU earns its fifth consecutive series split. Kevin Gravel and Ben Hanowski scored and Michael Lee had 30 saves in the loss for St. Cloud State.
"We overcame a huge mental hurdle to claim the No. 2 seed in the WCHA playoffs," DU head coach George Gwozdecky said. "Our upperclassmen and younger players to a great job leading tonight and our entire staff is proud of the effort."
DU lost Jason Zucker (Las Vegas) in the first two minutes of the game when the star forward was whistled for a five-minute major and 10-minute game misconduct for checking from behind.
The Pioneers gained momentum after killing off the SCSU's five-minute power play and Mermis put DU on the board at 10:04. Beau Bennett (Gardena, Calif.) and John Lee (Moorhead, Minn.) earned assists on the goal.
Gravel beat a screened Brittain with 47 seconds left in the middle stanza to tie the score at 1-1. Cam Reid and Jordy Christian setup the tying goal for the Huskies.
Shore knifed down the slot and wristed an unassisted blast past Lee at 3:51 of the third period to give DU a 2-1 lead.
Ostrow's 51st career goal at 6:39 of the final period proved to be the game-winning goal after Hanowski's power-play goal from David Eddy and Cam Reid closed out the scoring at 17:07.
SCSU outshot DU, 35-33, and went 1-for-4 on the power play. Denver was 0-for-3 with the man-advantage.
Denver hosts Minnesota State on Friday, March 11 in game one of the WCHA Playoffs. Puck drop is set for 7:37 p.m. MT at Magness Arena.
Notes: DU seniors Jesse Martin (Edmonton, Alberta), Anthony Maiani (Shelby Township, Mich.), Chris Nutini (Centennial, Colo.), Dustin Jackson (Omaha, Neb.), Joey Brehm (Edina, Minn.), Jon Cook (Denver), Josh Rosenholtz (Ridgefield, Conn.) and Ostrow were honored during the first intermission. Zucker finished third in the league scoring race behind North Dakota's Matt Frattin. Drew Shore extended his career-best point streak to 10 games. The Pioneers are fifth in the latest PairWise Rankings.
