ST. CLOUD, Minn. – The No. 3 Denver Pioneers hockey team fell 2-0 to the No. 4 St. Cloud State Huskies on Saturday night in the series finale at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center.
 
Both of the Huskies' goals came in a matter of 2:54 midway through the second period in what was otherwise a tight-checking game. St. Cloud (18-6-0, 10-4-0 NCHC) outshot Denver 23-19 in the contest.
 
"I loved the urgency that we had in the third. Again, the lesson is that it is really hard to score goals against really good teams," said Richard and Kitzia Goodman hockey head coach David Carle. "I thought this was obviously a tightly-contested game. For the big ice, there was not a lot of open ice for either team. I thought both teams checked extremely well. Unfortunately, the times we did get to the net-front and get there, we weren't able to put it in the back of the net for ourselves."
 
Jack Rogers opened the scoring for SCSU at 7:32 before Zach Okabe doubled the lead minutes later with a power-play tally. Jami Krannila had assists on both markers.
 
The Pioneers (19-7-0, 10-4-0 NCHC) appeared to have cut the deficit it half late in the middle stanza, but the officials ruled it as no goal on the ice. Casey Dornbach's shot slipped between the pads of Jaxson Castor and into the net with 1:15 left before the intermission, but the whistle was blown before the puck crossed the goal line, negating the tally.
 
Denver goaltender Magnus Chrona made 21 saves on 23 shots in the loss. St. Cloud State goalie Jaxon Castor stopped all 19 shots to earn the shutout.
 
DU's only power play of the night came midway through the first period, while SCSU went 1-for-2 on its man-up opportunities.
 
UP NEXT: Denver begins its season series against in-state rival Colorado College next, with the Pioneers hosting the Tigers on Friday at Ball Arena in downtown Denver. The teams will meet the following weekend on Saturday, Feb. 4 at Ed Robson Arena in Colorado Springs.
 
 
POSTGAME NOTES

• DU is now 56-52-6 all-time and is 22-24-4 in St. Cloud.
• SCSU wins the season series 3-1-0.
• Denver and St. Cloud are now tied atop the NCHC standings with 29 points each.
• Jack Devine and Shai Buium had their career-long four-game point streaks end, while Sean Behrens' season-best four-game run also stopped.

 
 
GOAL SUMMARY
1st Period
No Scoring
 
2nd Period
7:33 SCSU (0-1) – Jack Rogers whacked at the puck during a scramble in front and it slipped into the cage
10:26 SCSU (0-2) – PPG, Zach Okabe tallied on a rebound at the top of the crease.
 
3rd Period
No Scoring
 
 
QUOTABLES
Richard and Kitzia Goodman Head Coach David Carle
On the weekend: "It was a challenge, for sure. All weekend long. Give them a lot of credit. I do believe that we got better this weekend. Albeit the results aren't what we wanted it to be. I think we'll be better for it. It's great to play really good teams because you get pushed in different ways. Do you want the result? For sure, but our team needed to be in this type of a dogfight for 120 minutes. Some you young players, some are new players, I think some role players needed to be reminded. I think it was a really good thing."
 
On facing Colorado College next: "We need to have a good week of practice and prepare for the next trophy on our radar, which is the Gold Pan and a rivalry series that is going to start for the first time at Ball Arena. So we're really looking forward to that challenge. We'll have a good week of practice to continue to work on our game."
 
 
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