DENVER – The No. 9 Denver Pioneers hockey team lost 4-2 to the St. Cloud State Huskies on Friday night at Magness Arena.
 
St. Cloud rallied with four unanswered goals to take the series opener. DU (13-11-2, 9-6-0 NCHC) and SCSU (13-12-0, 6-9-0 NCHC) conclude their weekend and season series on Saturday at 6 p.m. MT, and the game will be broadcast on NCHC.tv. Limited tickets are still available. 
 
Freshman forward Kristian Epperson recorded his second-straight multi-point game with a goal and an assist to help the Pioneers take a 2-0 lead early in the contest, and junior defenseman Cale Ashcroft also scored.
 
Denver freshman netminder Quentin Miller stopped 22 pucks on net. Sophomore D-man Tory Pitner had an assist in his first game of the season after missing the previous 25 contests with a lower-body injury, and rookies Eric Jamieson and Kyle Chyzowski also contributed helpers.
 
Huskies goaltender Yan Shostak denied 33-of-35 shots that DU sent his way to earn the win.
 
The only score during the first period came from Ashcroft, who placed the puck into the back of the net from the left circle for his first goal of the season.
 
Epperson registered his eighth career goal 1:30 into the second stanza off a fortuitous bounce, as his centering pass for Jamieson instead redirected off a Huskies player's skate and past Shostak.
 
St. Cloud State's Tyson Gross and Verner Miettinen each tallied later in the middle frame to even the score at 2-2 at the intermission, and Gavyn Thoreson netted the game-winner 1:06 into the third period off a wrister during a rush. Austin Burnevik added an empty-net marker with 1:11 left to play.
 
DU killed off both St. Cloud State power plays in the game, including a five-minute major late in the second frame. The Pioneers also went scoreless on their two man advantages.
 
UP NEXT: Denver concludes its weekend and season series on Saturday night versus St. Cloud State. The Pioneers continue their homestand next weekend on Jan. 30-31 against No. 6 Minnesota Duluth.
 
 
POSTGAME NOTES

• Denver was beginning a four-game homestand, tied for its longest of the year (Jan. 2-10).
• The Pioneers have killed off nine straight penalties dating back to last weekend's series at North Dakota.
• Denver is 1-2-0 this season against the SCSU Huskies and 6-3-1 in the last 10 games of the all-time series.
• Junior defenseman Cale Ashcroft tallied his first goal of the season and sixth of his career.
• Sophomore defenseman Tory Pitner made his season debut after missing the first 25 games of the campaign with a lower-body injury. He recorded his first point of the season and second of his career with an assist on Cale Ashcroft's goal.
• Kristian Epperson recorded a goal and an assist for this third career multi-point game and his second in as many contests after also scoring and contributing a helper last Saturday at North Dakota.
• Goaltender Quentin Miller has started 23 consecutive contests.
• Denver is celebrating Hockey Parents Appreciation Weekend during the series versus St. Cloud State and will honor the families during the first intermission in Saturday's game.

 
GOAL SUMMARY
1st Period
7:48 DU (1-0) – Cale Ashcroft took a pass from Tory Pitner at the left circle and unleashed as wrist shot that squeezed through the goaltender and into the back of the net.
 
2nd Period
1:30 DU (2-0) – Kristian Epperson's centering feed from the low right side caromed off the skate of Gavyn Thoreson and slid through the five-hole of the goalie and into the cage.
8:58 SCSU (2-1) – Tyson Gross scored into an open net after a wild scramble and chances by the Huskies that were saved by goaltender Quentin Miller, who lost his stick during the sequence.
14:22 SCSU (2-2) – Verner Miettinen tallied with a backhander into an open net during a 2-on-1 rush up the ice.
 
3rd Period
1:06 SCSU (2-3) – Gavyn Thoreson hit twine with a wrister from the left circle after receiving a cross-pass from Barrett Hall during a rush up the ice.
18:49 SCSU (2-4) – ENG, Austin Burnevik's shot from the neutral zone flew into the open net.
 

TICKETS: Tickets for the remaining games of DU hockey's 2025-26 campaign are available. Click here for more information.