St. Cloud, Minn. – The No. 6 Denver Pioneers hockey team (20-9-5, 10-8-4-3) needed to win to keep control of its destiny in the battle for home-ice advantage in the first round of the NCHC playoffs. The result was as convincing as it was rewarding for Denver. The Pioneers beat St. Cloud State 5-2 on Saturday at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center, jumping to 3rd in the conference standings and drawing within one win of clinching home-ice advantage in the conference playoffs.  
 
Denver's win also helped the program reach a milestone 19 years in the making. Since the 2001-02 season, the Pioneers have won at least 20 games in a season. The streak affectionately known as the "Tenzer Streak," in honor of former Director of Hockey Operations David Tenzer, is the longest active streak in the NCAA.
 
The Pioneers did everything they didn't in Friday's 5-1 loss to the Huskies. Denver built a 3-1 lead by 1:08 of the second period, received a 27-save performance from Magnus Chrona and defended well in front of its net. The Pioneers went 3/4 on the on the penalty kill with a colossal five-on-three PK for 1:53 midway through the second period, then defended a late push that saw the Huskies add the extra attacker and draw within two goals at 17:47.
 
"All night long, that might be one of our most committed efforts of the year," Richard and Kitzia Goodman Head Coach David Carle said. "I thought our puck management was great. We stayed committed to what we were doing. We forced them to break a lot of pucks out and created a lot of turnovers. The story of the game was special teams again, but this time in our favor."
 
Denver faced a blip of early misfortune. After a back-and-forth start to the game, Jack Doremus' interference penalty at 8:18 of the first period put the Huskies on the power play where Nolan Walker's centering pass hit Jake Durflinger's skate and redirected on net, slipping behind Chrona.
 
The Pioneers went on the offensive trailing 1-0 and reaped the benefit with a hard-working goal at 15:09 of the first period. Brett Stapley forced a turnover on the forecheck and sent a pass to Liam Finlay, who found the five-hole to tie the game. Three minutes later, Griffin Mendel found Durflinger with a stretch pass through the neutral zone. Durflinger moved down the boards before firing a shot through traffic from the left faceoff circle to give the Pioneers their first lead of the weekend.
 
Momentum from Denver's finish to the first period carried into the beginning of the second. At 1:08 of the period, Ian Mitchell capped a long stretch of Pioneer pressure by whipping a wrist shot over David Hrenak's shoulder to make it 3-1. Denver added to its lead with Emilio Pettersen's snipe from the left faceoff circle at 10:29 of the third period.
 
The Huskies pulled the goalie for the extra attacker with 7:30 left in regulation, making good on a five-minute stretch of pressure in the final three minutes of the third period with Jami Krannila's one-timer. Kohen Olischefski added an empty-netter shortly after the Huskies made it 4-2 to seal Denver's win.
 
"The guys beared down," Carle said. "The battle level was much higher, the commitment to each other and our team game was much higher and that's the standard these guys are learning. As we said to them after the game, that was Denver Hockey. We have to play to that level every night if we want to do what we want to do. We certainly have the talent and the capability, it's the commitment and the will to win that we saw tonight that was really exciting."
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Denver went 0/6 on the power play and 3/4 on the penalty kill…Magnus Chrona made 27 saves…Denver improved to 20-0-1 when scoring three or more goals…

UP NEXT: Denver Hockey presented by Centura Health closes its regular season with a home-and-home series against Colorado College on March 6-7

FROZEN FACEOFF TICKETS: Tickets for the 2020 Frozen Faceoff in St. Paul, Minn. are on sale now. More information is available here.
 
2020 DENVER ATHLETIC HALL OF FAME RECEPTION: Denver announced its 2020 Athletic Hall of Fame class in January. The inductees will be honored on the DU campus May 16. For more information, registration for the reception and donation information, click here. 

DONATE: Fans interested in making a donation to the hockey program can do so by clicking here. Your contribution will make a direct impact on the success of YOUR Pioneers. Thank you in advance for your unwavering support of our student-athletes and their quest for excellence.  
 
SHOP PIONEERS: Get dressed for Game Day! Get your Pioneers gear at ShopPioneers.com, the official online store of University of Denver Athletics.

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