Before losing forward Rhett Rakhshani to injury and rallying with two third-period goals to beat St. Cloud State 3-1 at Magness Arena on Friday night, the University of Denver’s three-game homestand was extended to at least five — given that the Pioneers clinched home-ice advantage for the first round of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association playoffs.
The guarantee of a top-five finish in the 10-team league developed when Minnesota-Duluth and Minnesota tied 2-2 in Minneapolis. Now the Pioneers can focus on winning the MacNaughton Cup as the WCHA regular-season champions.
With Friday’s win — spearheaded by Kyle Ostrow’s two goals, Patrick Mullen’s two points and Marc Cheverie’s 25 saves — DU produced its 20th win of the season and broke a tie with North Dakota for first place, forging two points ahead.
The Fighting Sioux (34 points), who have played one fewer game than DU, tied Colorado College 4-4 on Saturday and will play CC again today before finishing the season with a two-game set at Wisconsin. The Pioneers (35 points) concluded their two-game series against St. Cloud State Saturday night before hosting CC next Saturday on the final night of the regular season.
Rakhshani, who entered the game as DU’s second-leading scorer and tied for the team lead in goals (14), might not be available for the Cup run. He sustained what the team is calling a lower-body injury in the first period and did not return.
“He’s questionable for (Saturday night) — at best questionable,” DU coach George Gwozdecky said.
Without Rakhshani, the Pioneers rallied from a 1-0 deficit, getting the tying goal from Ostrow midway through the second period and the game-winner from Mullen early in the third.
Ostrow added a power-play goal late in the third to make the Pioneers 1-of-2 with the man advantage. The Huskies (17-14-2, 12-12-1) went 0-of-4 with the extra attacker.
“Losing Rhett was a big thing for us. He’s a big part of our team,” Ostrow said. “We had to switch up the lines and try to get things going, and we pulled together as a team. It was a big win for us.”
Mullen’s goal was a beauty. He skated in the offensive zone on a 2-on-1 with Luke Salazar, faking a pass to Salazar before wristing the puck in off the far post.
“Not too many 2-on-1s this year,” Mullen said. “I practice it all the time, and (usually) shoot it, and that’s what I did, and it went in. I really wasn’t thinking pass at all.”
Said Gwozdecky: “It was a hard- earned win. I thought we executed very well, and obviously Patrick Mullen and Kyle Ostrow had big nights for us, and Marc gave us strong goaltending (and) the penalty kill was good. I thought the adjustments we made with the forward lines when Rhett went down were effective, and probably will look something like that (Saturday night).”
St. Cloud 1 0 0 — 1
Denver 0 1 2 — 3
First period — 1, St. Cloud, LeBlanc 7 (Swanson, Hepp), 12:10. Penalties — None. Second period — 2, Denver, Ostrow 11 (Colborne, Mullen), 8:44. Penalties — Colborne, DU (tripping), 3:03; Lasch, SC (embellishment), 9:34; Wiercioch, DU (hooking), 9:34; Gaudet, SC (holding), 15:23. Third period — 3, Denver, Mullen 3 (Ryder, Glasser), 2:22. 4, Denver, Ostrow 12 (Salazar, Testwuide), 15:42 (pp). Penalties — Testwuide, DU (hooking), 5:54; Jackson, DU (cross checking), 11:16; Christian, SC (interference), 13:53; Gifford, DU (high sticking), 16:19; Swanson, SC (hooking), 19:51; Ruegsegger, DU (unsportsmanlike conduct), 19:51.
Shots — SC 11-10-5 – 26. DU 16-14-5 – 35. Power plays — SC 0-of-4. DU 1-of-2 Goalies — SC, Weslosky (15-10-1) 35 shots-32 saves. DU, Cheverie (20-9-4) 26-25.
Falcons fall to RIT.
Rochester Tech clinched at least a share of the Atlantic Hockey Association regular-season title after beating Air Force 6-4 in New York on Friday.
Air Force can clinch a share of the championship if it beats RIT on Saturday night. Jacques Lamoreaux had two goals in the second period for the Falcons (22-9-2, 19-6-2), the second tying the game at 4. RIT (21-10-2, 20-5-2) went ahead with only four seconds left in the period on a goal by Andrew Favot. Brennan Sarazin added an insurance goal in the third.
Mike Chambers: 303-954-1357 or mchambers@denverpost.com
