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ST. PAUL MN- The SCSU Huskies quest for a second straight NCHC Frozen Faceoff Championship and their seventh consecutive NCAA tournament appearance fell just short in a 5-4 overtime loss to the Denver Pioneers at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul on Friday, March 24. In a game they never trailed, it became a one-shot affair to keep their season alive. Denver University freshman defenseman and second-leading Pioneer points producer Zeev Buium ended the Huskies season with his second goal of the contest 6:21 into the overtime session.
The loss dropped the Huskies to 17th in the Pairwise ranking, and they will not be able to recover any ground by the end of conference tournament play on Saturday. The Huskies end their season with a 17-16-5 record. At the same time, the Denver Pioneers improved to 27-9-3. They advanced to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff Championship game vs. the Omaha Mavericks, who defeated the North Dakota Fighting Hawks 6-3 Earlier in the day. The win also most likely earned the Pioneers a number-one seed in the NCAA tournament.
“Many people labeled us as a rebuilding year,” head coach Brett Larson said in the postgame press conference. As much as we lost after last year, it didn’t feel like a rebuild. These guys competed all year, and unfortunately, we lost too many games in overtime, but we were always right there all the way up to tonight and among the last twenty teams to play for a national championship. Here we were in a one-shot game in overtime with one of the best teams in college hockey. I thought we did everything we could tonight to give ourselves a chance. They have nothing to hang their head about. So, I think these guys had a heckuva year.”
The Huskies started the game quickly, with an unassisted goal by Cooper Wylie just 1:40 into the contest. The puck floated out to Wylie, posted just inside the blue line, and he directed a shot glove side past DU goaltender Matt Davis for a 1-0 SCSU lead. The lead lasted seven minutes before Zeev Buium scored his first of two goals on the evening. Buium made it look easy by darting through traffic from the blue line and beating SCSU’s Isak Posch with a quick wrist shot from the low right slot to tie the game 1-1.
North Dakota transfer and St. Cloud native Nick Portz gave the Huskies another one-goal lead with his second goal of the season at 9:55. The Huskies won an offense zone faceoff in the left circle, and Portz collected the puck and snapped off a shot from inside the left circle for a 2-1 SCSU lead. But, the Pioneers responded again at 17:16 with a goal by McKade Webster to knot the game at 2-2. Webster started and finished the play, dishing the puck into the right corner, then sliding it to Aidan Thompson on the back wall, who returned the puck to Webster, who stuffed it under Posch to tie the game.
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Much like period one, the Huskies scored quickly in period two to regain the one-goal lead. The Huskies took advantage of a defensive lapse by the Pioneers, and on a two-on-one, Verner Miettinen found a wide-open Adam Ingram in the right slot, and he punched the puck under Davis for a 3-2 SCSU lead. The Pioneers capitalized on the Huskies first penalty of the game, a hooking penalty to Kyler Kupka at 4:41 to tie the game once again. Shai Buium fed Miko Mattika, who was positioned at the top of the right circle, and he hammered a shot past Posch to tie the game at 3-3.
But again, the Huskies countered with a goal by freshman Barrett Hall at 8:06. Controlling the puck in the Denver zone, Dylan Anhorn fed Kyler Kupka at the goal mouth, and he tried to force the puck past Davis. Davis made the save, but the rebound landed Barrett Hall’s stick in the left crease, and he buried it for a 4-3 SCSU lead.
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A five-minute major to Cooper Wylie for checking from behind at 9:29 may have been the game’s turning point. An incredibly effective penalty kill weathered the five-minute power play, but it certainly took a toll on the Huskies, who seemed gassed as they returned to full strength. The Pioneers continued to dominate possession of the puck in the Huskies zone, and it seemed inevitable that they’d add another goal. Eventually, they did with 1:43 remaining in the period with Miko Matikka’s second goal of the game. Shai Buium shot the puck towards the goal from the point, and Matikka, battling for position in the crease, got his stick on it, sending it past Posch to tie the game at 4-4.
“The problem (on the five-minute major) is the kill is a physically demanding aspect of the game. The problem is you’re killing (time) with many of our centers and top players for those five minutes,” explained Brett Larson. “I put a makeshift line out there with three guys that hadn’t been killing and one that didn’t play center much this year, and he got trapped in our zone. It took a few shifts to get our top players rested enough to get back out there. I thought they really took advantage of that. But, we weathered it and came out of the period tied.”
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Tyson Gross had an opportunity to give the Huskies another one-goal lead less than four minutes into the final period, but his backhand off a lone break hit the crossbar. Subsequently, a scoreless third period had the Pioneers outshooting the Huskies 9-3, leading to a regulation overtime session to determine the winner and who would advance to the tournament championship game.
Zeev Buium was the game hero for the Pioneers, collecting the puck outside the Huskies blueline, speeding wide into the zone, cutting in on goal, and beating Posch with a forehand-backhand move for the overtime game-winner and a 5-4 final.
The victory by the Pioneers sends them to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff championship game on Saturday at 7:30 PM CT.
Game Statistics
Shots on Goal: 41-25 (DU)
Goaltender Saves: Posch (SCSU) 36/41 (.878 SV%), Davis (DU) 21/25 (.840 SV%)
Power Plays: SCSU (1/1), DU (1/2)
Penaltes: SCSU (2/7:00), DU (1/2:00)
Faceoffs: 33/64 (51.6% (DU)
Blocked Shots: 4 (DU), 8 (SCSU)
Three Stars of the Game: #1 Zeev Buium (DU), #2 Miko Mattika (DU), #3 Shai Buium (DU)
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