Denver Pioneers drop one in overtime, losing to St. Cloud Huskies 3-2

The Denver Pioneers, coming off a split decision last weekend against Western Michigan with a 0-3 loss Friday and 7-2 win Saturday, stepped onto the St. Cloud ice holding on to the #1 seed in the conference. Unfortunately, Denver was without top-scorer Troy Terry due to an upper body injury. Coach Jim Montgomery said before the game that the team has been without its star players before this season—most notably the player who shares that top-scoring spot with Terry, Henrik Borgström—and continued to win. Tonight, unfortunately, things did not happen that way.

Immediately, Denver gave St. Cloud a chance to take an early lead with an ill-timed penalty just six seconds after the initial puck drop as Emil Romig went to the box for hooking. The Huskies made the Pioneers pay with Robby Jackson taking a snapshot from the point, sending the puck over the glove of Denver’s goaltender Tanner Jaillet. Freshmen Borgström answered right back to tie the teams at one, getting Huskies goaltender Jeff Smith to commit to the pass while he flipped home a puck from the slot.

The remainder of the period featured plenty of opportunities for both teams, but the first period buzzer sounded with the score still tied at one.

Just under three minutes into the second period, Denver took the lead as Liam Finlay took a page out of Borgström’s book and snapped a shot home from in between the hash marks in the slot. Kevin Conley and Evan Ritt got the assists. It looked like the Huskies had answered right back when Daniel Tedesco powered towards the net and batted at the puck, which banked off the back of Jaillet’s head, onto the crossbar, and dropped onto the nameplate of his jersey until the referee lost sight of it and the whistle blew.

Borgström and St. Cloud’s Will Borgen got into a scuffle at the end of a play along the boards, but Borgen put the Pioneer into a headlock, earning himself two minutes for roughing and putting the Huskies on a two-minute penalty kill. Unfortunately, Denver was unable to convert. Shortly after St. Cloud returned to full strength, Denver went a man down with Colin Staub sitting two for tripping. Like DU, however, the Huskies did not see the man advantage translate to the scoreboard.

Seconds before the end of the middle frame Jack Poehling and Borgen combined for a weak goal past Jaillet to tie the game at two.

The teams came out for the third with Evan Cowley replacing Jaillet in the Denver goal. The two teams fought back and forth, each trying to break the tie, but for the fifth game this season, the Pioneers went into overtime.

The first two minutes of overtime was all Denver with Pioneers swarming Smith and missing the net by inches. On the first clear opportunity for the Huskies, St. Cloud slipped a puck past Cowley and took the first game of the weekend 3-2. Officially, of course, the score is recorded as a tie due to NCAA scoring procedures.