The National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) Frozen Faceoff’s second semi-final was between the St. Cloud State Huskies and the University of Denver Pioneers on Friday, March 22. The game was evenly matched in offense, with an edge going to the Pioneers, who led in shots.
The Huskies jumped to an early lead, but with every goal they scored, the Pioneers answered right back. The whole game was back-and-forth, as the first ended tied at two a piece, and then the second ended tied at four a piece. The third was when neither team could find the back of the net, and overtime was needed.
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Both teams gave it everything, but the Pioneers scored first in overtime and won 5-4. Both teams played a pretty even game, so that’s where we’ll start.
Huskies & Pioneers Equal Game
Other than the Pioneers’ edge in the shot department, it was a pretty even game. There was a lot of end-to-end action, and while players scored, no one stood out. Neither team had a clear advantage as they both scored one after the other. While it seemed the Huskies had the upper hand since they scored first each time, the Pioneers always had an answer.
It was a team effort from both sides, and that’s why the game was so tight. Once the teams stopped scoring in the third, overtime was needed to settle it. While the game was never one-sided, the shots on goal made it look that way. However, someone had to win, and the Pioneers Zeev Buium did it.
During the post-game press conference, the Pioneers coach, David Carle, discussed the game’s back-and-forth pace: “It was an excellent game, really back and forth, just have a lot of respect for them (St. Cloud State). Really proud of our players, we’ve not had a lot of success here, a lot of Fridays, it’s actually our first time scoring here on a Friday since March of 2018 so it’s been a while and we’re really excited to play for a big trophy tomorrow.”
Huskies & Pioneers Strong in Net
It was the second straight game of solid goaltending from both sides. While the number of goals scored was equal for each team, the goaltenders still made a high number of saves. However, one goaltender had to make a bit more saves than the other due to the difference in shots on goal.
The Pioneers goaltender made 21 saves on 25 shots, while the Huskies goaltender made 36 saves on 41 shots. Crucial moments in the game for both teams could’ve swayed the momentum had it not been for the goaltending. Each team also had sloppy moments that looked like the puck would surely go in for the opposing team, but the goaltender came up with the save.
The Huskies Josh Luedtke talked about the shots and chances the Pioneers had in the post-game press conference: “Really on their blue line too their defense are able to create space and get shots through to the net so that was something we knew going into it, something an area of focus for us was just to get stick on puck and knew they were going to try to one on one us and obviously they have a skilled group.”
Huskies & Pioneers Special Teams Key
While it was a pretty back-and-forth game, both teams also found ways to score while on the man advantage. There weren’t as many penalties in the game, with the Huskies getting just one power play opportunity that they did find a way to score on, and the Pioneers had two chances.
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They scored on the first but couldn’t find a way to score on the five-minute power play because the Huskies went to the box for a check from behind major. That was a crucial kill for the Huskies that helped keep them in the game, but unfortunately, it wasn’t enough.
Pioneers Move on to Championship
It’s hard to watch someone lose in this type of game because both sides played so well, but someone had to lose. However, unlike the first game of the day, where the loser’s season will still go on with the NCAA tournament, the same can’t be said for the Huskies. While the Pioneers will play for the NCHC Championship and will also advance to the NCAA tournament, the Huskies had to win the tournament to have a chance to go to the NCAA tournament.
So, their season ends with a difficult overtime loss after they won the Frozen Faceoff last season. The Pioneers will go on to face the University of Nebraska Omaha Mavericks in the Championship on Saturday evening, March 23.
