Pioneers, St. Cloud State meet in Top-10 battle
About three weeks, when this weekend’s series was originally scheduled for Denver to host St. Cloud State, the matchup looked like a solid battle.
Now, it’s among the best series on this weekend’s slate of college hockey games, as two top-10 teams battle in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference.
St. Cloud State (No. 7 in both the USCHO.com poll and the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll) travels to battle Denver (No. 4/3, respectively) at Magness Arena Friday at 7 p.m. (MST) and Saturday, 6 p.m.
The Pioneers (18-5-0, 11-3 NCHC) haven’t lost at home this season, the last remaining team in the nation to be able to make that claim. Denver has gone 11-0-1 at Magness this season.
But DU will be put to the test by the Huskies. St. Cloud’s power play has clicked at a whopping 37.8% (34-of-90) this season.
“(They’re) just a really, really good hockey team that makes life hard on you many different ways, starting with their offensive game and their power play running north of 35%,” DU coach David Carle said on the Campus Lounge Coach’s Show podcast this week. “A real big challenge for us on our hands.”
Not only are the Pioneers rolling at home, but they are also unbeaten in their last eight games overall (8-0-1). That has helped them climb into first place in the conference with 32 points. North Dakota, which swept the Pioneers in November, is in second with 29 points.
North Dakota swept St. Cloud State last weekend, as the Huskies (14-7-1, 6-5-1) find themselves in fifth place in the conference.
The Pioneers were supposed to host the Huskies Jan. 14-15, but following a couple weeks of Covid protocol issues affecting several NCHC teams, the Huskies and Pioneers landed on this weekend as a makeup date.
Bobby Brink leads the Pioneers with 35 points (8 goals, 27 assists), while Carter Savoie (13 G, 17 A) and Brett Stapley (10 G, 20 A) are tied for second with 30 points.
As it’s done all season, Denver will lean on goalie Magnus Chrona to backstop them. Chrona went on a streak of 198:10 without allowing a goal last month, the third best stretch in Denver’s illustrious history. That impressive performance in January, combined with a 6-0-1 record, a 1.67 goals-against average and a .920 save percentage helped Chrona garner Goaltender of the Month honors for the NCHC.
The Huskies will be missing second-leading point scorer Nick Perbix (3 G, 20 A) and head coach Brett Larson, who are both at the Beijing Winter Olympics competing for Team USA. Kevin Fitzgerald leads St. Cloud with 26 points (11 G, 15 A).
After St. Cloud State, it doesn’t get any easier with Minnesota Duluth and Western Michigan on the horizon.
“All in all it goes to a different level in the next six games,” Carle said. “… Obviously our sole focus (is) on St. Cloud.”
St. Cloud State at Denver, Friday, 7 p.m., CBS Sports Network
St. Cloud State at Denver, Saturday, 6 p.m., Altitude 2
Denver goaltender Magnus Chrona eyes the puck Dec. 20, 2020, against St. Cloud State in Omaha, Neb.