DENVER – The No. 6 University of Denver hockey team lost 2-1 against the St. Cloud State Huskies in the series finale on Saturday night at Magness Arena.
 
Goaltender Isak Posch led SCSU to the victory by saving 38-of-39 shots, including all 20 that DU sent his way in the third period.
 
"The message isn't much different than what it's been a few nights here at home in the second half," said Denver Richard and Kitzia Goodman Hockey Head Coach David Carle. "Our challenge is to stick together as a group in the room. Again, everything we want to do is still in front of us, and feeling sorry for ourselves is a wasted emotion, and it's getting back to work on Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, getting ready for Colorado College. Trophy on the line this coming weekend. Obviously a lot of other stuff on the line. Just trying to stay upbeat through the disappointing loss. Tip your hat to them and their goaltender. He had an excellent night."
 
The Pioneers (24-9-1, 13-8-1 NCHC) defeated the Huskies (13-18-1, 6-15-1 NCHC) 5-1 in the opener on Friday night.
 
Senior Jack Devine, the only Pioneer to tally in the game, recorded his 55th career goal with to tie the score on the power play with 5:37 remaining in the second period. Devine took back the No. 1 position for scoring in the country with 48 points (11g/37a).
 
Junior forward Aidan Thompson and sophomore defenseman Zeev Buium contributed assists on the Devine's 11th goal of the season.
 
St. Cloud State answered just 70 seconds after Devine to retake the lead at 2-1 as Verner Miettinen was the benefactor on a double redirection off a center pass. Daimon Gardner opened the scoring at 8:03 of the first period.
 
The Pios outshot St. Cloud 39-25 overall in the contest, with their 20 shots in the final period beating the previous record for the most in a stanza this season. Senior goaltender Matt Davis made 23 saves tonight and faced 14 shots during the middle stanza.
 
DU's penalty kill didn't allow St. Cloud to capitalize on any of its five man advantages, while the Pioneers finished 1-for-4 on the power plays.
 
UP NEXT: The Pioneers wrap up their three-game homestand on Friday with the start of a home-and-home series with Colorado College. Friday's game at Magness Arena begins at 7 p.m. MT and DU concludes the regular season the next Saturday versus the Tigers in Colorado Springs.
 
 
POSTGAME NOTES

• Graduate student Connor Caponi played in his 175th career game on Saturday, becoming the 53rd player in NCAA history to reach that milestone.
• Aidan Thompson stretched his point streak to nine games (4g/10a).
• Jack Devine (3g/4a) and Zeev Buium (1g/4a) are now both on four-game point streaks.
• Carter King's six-game point streak (5g/3a) and Boston Buckberger's three-game run (0g/4a) each came to an end on Saturday night.
• Kieran Cebrian appeared in his 70th game with Denver. 
• Denver went 5-for-5 on the penalty kill, the third time this season they have killed that many in a game: Oct. 6 at Alaska Anchorage (5/5) and Oct. 25 vs. Wisconsin (6/6).
• The Pioneers are now 5-1-1 in their last seven games against the SCSU Huskies. DU has a 61-53-7 record in the all-time series and is 35-26-3 at home.
• Saturday's game is the final meeting of the regular season between DU and SCSU, as the Pios don't make a trip to St. Cloud this year. 

 
GOAL SUMMARY
1st Period
8:03 SCSU (0-1) – Daimon Gardner chased down the puck in the Pioneers' end and scored from a tough angle below the left circle.
 
2nd Period
14:23 DU (1-1) – PPG, Jack Devine fired a one-timer from the top of the left circle off a pass by Aidan Thompson.
15:33 SCSU (1-2) – Colin Ralph's centering pass went off the stick of Barrett Hall and then caromed off the skate of Vernier Miettinen before sliding five-hole on Matt Davis and across the goal line.
 
3rd Period
No Scoring
 
 
QUOTABLES
Richard and Kitzia Goodman Hockey Head Coach David Carle
On the penalties in the game: "It certainly made things a little disjointed. I thought our kill was excellent all weekend long. Kept them off the scoresheet, but certainly made it challenging to find a rhythm when you have to kill two in the first, two in the second and then the one in the third."
 
On the seeding implications ahead of next weekend's game vs. Colorado College: "I mean it's a hard tournament. Our job is to get into the tournament, so again it's sticking to our process, sticking to our daily prep. I know there's a lot of teams hoping that we lose, so that we don't make the tournament because I know a lot of teams won't want to play us, so it's just continuing to stick with it. Like I said, stay positive. We know we have an excellent hockey team in Colorado College coming in here Friday."
 
On the key takeaways: "I mean the margins are tight. You have to bear down on your chances. Penalties, obviously five is the first time we've done that—I think in the second half maybe the first time all year—so that was uncharacteristic for us. Those would be the two things that you leave the night disappointed on. You tip your hat to the goaltender on the other side on one of them, and then the other is a lot in our control."
 
Senior Forward Jack Devine
On the game: "We did a lot of really good things out there tonight. I thought we had a lot of good chances, especially there in the third and kudos to their goalie, he made a lot of good saves. I think for us, obviously, a disappointing loss, but we've got a lot of hockey left, and we know how good of a team we are."
 
On battling through tough parts in games: "You can get too frustrated. If you stay like that, it's not really going to help. You just got to stay a little bit positive and all calm. I know games where we've scored 11 and then a game like tonight. So like I said their goalie played good, but it's one of those where we know we outplayed them, and we got to be lucky."
 
On success killing penalties: "Yeah, it definitely made a difference. Special teams like that can make a huge difference in a game. There were definitely a lot of penalties tonight, and you never want that, especially in a game like that. Going down 4-0 on penalties early on was something we were not so happy with, especially myself—can't take two." 


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