College hockey’s regular season came to a conclusion Saturday night at Magness Arena, and for the host University of Denver, it was a happy ending to wrap up a difficult time.
DU got unassisted third-period goals from Drew Shore and Kyle Ostrow to overcome the loss of star freshman forward Jason Zucker and beat surging St. Cloud State 3-2 to finish second in the inaugural season of the 12-team Western Collegiate Hockey Association.
DU (21-10-5) went 5-5 in its final 10 regular-season games, splitting the past five series. St. Cloud State (15-16-5) had lost just once in its previous seven games and appeared to be in good position to pin the Pioneers with their first league sweep since November 2008 when Zucker was ejected 1:46 into the game for a checking-from-behind major.
Zucker didn’t have any points in the series and finished third in the WCHA scoring race. But DU played well without its explosive player.
“I couldn’t ask for a more challenging series to prepare us for the playoffs,” DU coach George Gwozdecky said. “St. Cloud is arguably the hottest team in our league, maybe the hottest team in the West. They’re really good and to prepare us for a playoff round, I couldn’t ask for anything more.”
DU will host No. 11-seeded Minnesota State (14-16-6) in a first-round WCHA playoffs series beginning Friday. With the No. 2 seed, DU joins league champion North Dakota with guaranteed byes at the March 17-19 WCHA Final Five — assuming they advance to the league finals at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn.
“Getting the No. 2 seed was an emotional obstacle,” Gwoz-decky said. “This team knew they put themselves in a bit of a hole, but I thought we played well throughout the game tonight. . . . It was a darn good win.”
Shore and Ostrow (short-handed) struck at 3:51 and 6:39 of the third period to give DU a 3-1 lead. The Huskies, who won the series opener 3-2 on Friday, scored with 2:53 remaining and nearly got the equalizer on freshman goalie Sam Brittain (33 saves) in the final minute.
“I think we outplayed them most of the game and we thought once we got one, we’d get another,” Shore said of the two goals within 2:48. “Obviously, finishing second was really important.”
On senior night, DU started five fourth-year players, including redshirt juniors John Ryder and Dustin Jackson.
Injured center Jesse Martin was honored during the first intermission along with Jackson and fellow seniors Ostrow, Anthony Maiani, Chris Nutini, Joey Brehm, Jon Cook and Josh Rosenholtz.
Mike Chambers: 303-954-1357 or mchambers@denverpost.com
DU Recap
The Post’s three stars
1. Drew Shore.
Produced his team-leading 22nd goal and had a plus-2 rating.
2. Kyle Ostrow.
DU captain had the unassisted, short-handed game- winning goal, his 100th career point.
3. Jarrod Mermis.
Freshman scored DU’s first goal on great second effort.
What you might have missed
DU sophomore defenseman Matt Donovan was benched the entire first period for breaking his stick late in Friday’s 3-2 loss.
Up next
Minnesota State, Friday at Magness Arena, 7:30 p.m.
Mike Chambers, The Denver Post
Pioneers 3, Huskies 2
St. Cloud State 0 1 1 — 2
Denver 1 0 2 — 3
First period — 1, Denver, Mermis 3 (Bennett, Lee), 10:04. Penalties — Zucker, DU (5-major, checking from behind), 1:46; Festler, SC (holding), 15:01.
Second period — 2, St. Cloud State, Gravel 1 (Reid, Christian), 19:13. Penalties — Bennett, DU (tripping), 4:45; K. Ostrow, DU (roughing), 12:06; Festler, SC (roughing), 12:06.
Third period — 3, Denver, D. Shore 22 (unassisted), 3:51. 4, Denver, K. Ostrow 11 (unassisted), 6:39 (sh). 5, St. Cloud State, Hanowski 12 (Eddy, Reid), 17:07 (pp). Penalties — Salazar, DU (slashing), 6:23; Johnson, SC (interference), 8:36; Novak, SC (boarding), 14:04; K. Ostrow, DU (hooking), 16:23.
Shots on goal — SC 12-11-12 — 35. DU 14-12-7 — 33. Power-play opportunities — SC 1 of 4. DU 0 of 3. Goalies — SC, Lee (12-12-4) 33 shots-30 saves. DU, Brittain (15-7-5) 35-33. A — 5,569.
