MANKATO — What’s the difference between No. 1 in the country and ninth place in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association?

“I feel like we’re right there,” Minnesota State forward Rylan Galiardi said after Minnesota State’s 3-1 loss to top-ranked Denver on Friday. “It was there for us to take. I gotta hand it to (Denver). The difference between us and them, is they’ve learned how to win.”

The difference before a crowd of 3,723 at the Verizon Wireless Center was also having the nation’s best goaltender and having a group of all-conference-caliber players who could cash in on special teams.

Pioneers goalie Marc Cheverie stopped 28 shots, and Denver’s top line of Rhett Rakhshani, Tyler Ruegsegger and Joe Colborne had a hand in all three goals. Two of the Pioneers’ goals came on the power play, and the other one came during a delayed penalty. Rakhshani, the WCHA’s scoring leader, finished with three assists.

Minnesota State outshot Denver 29-20, and the game was tied 1-1 until Colborne’s redirection at 6:51 of the third period.

“It tells you the margin for success and no success in this league is so thin,” said Denver coach George Gwozdecky, whose team can clinch the WCHA championship with a win tonight.

Zach Harrison scored the Mavericks’ lone goal, tying the game at 11:19 of the second period on a pretty play from Galiardi and Mike Louwerse.

Minnesota State freshman goaltender Phil Cook made 17 saves. There wasn’t much he could do about any of the goals.

Denver opened the scoring with a power-play goal midway through the first period when Ruegsegger tried to make a back-door pass through the crease but hit MSU defenseman Channing Boe. The puck took an unfortunate carom and popped into the net behind Cook.

During a delayed penalty in the third period, Colborne broke the tie when he tipped defenseman William Wrenn’s shot between Cook’s pads. Less than four minutes later, Denver defenseman Matt Donovan snuck down low and buried a cross-crease pass from Ruegsegger during a power play for a 3-1 lead.

“I thought we played a good hockey game with the exception of special teams,” Mavericks coach Troy Jutting said. “We got beat on special teams.

“I thought we played a smart game. I thought our effort was good. Defensively, we played very good hockey, and offensively, we created some things for ourselves.”

Cheverie, who leads the WCHA in save percentage and goals-against average, stopped Galiardi on two great scoring chances. In the first period, Galiardi walked the puck across the goalmouth and tried to score at the far post only to be turned away by an alert Cheverie. In the third period, the goalie turned aside Galiardi’s redirection try with his left pad during a power play.

“I thought that Mankato had us on our heels,” Gwozdecky said. “They created some chances down low and we got mixed up in our coverages. (Cheverie) made some great saves. …

“We were a tad more opportunistic than they were.”

The Mavericks finished 0 for 4 with the man advantage.

“It was just them bending and not breaking and us not capitalizing,” Galiardi said.

Early this season, Minnesota State lost 4-3 and tied 4-4 at Denver.

“We’re better now than we were then,” Galiardi said. “Denver’s the No. 1 team in the country. We’re neck and neck with them. It would be easy to just sit and say that they’re better than us. But the tough things is, I can’t say that.”

The Mavericks (14-17-2, 8-16-1 in WCHA) and the Pioneers will play again at 7:07 p.m. tonight.



Denver    1-0-2—3

Minnesota State    0-1-0—1



FIRST PERIOD

Scoring: 1. DU-Ruegsegger 16 (Rakhshani 23, Wiercioch 17) ppg 10:11

Penalties: Irwin, MSU (interference) 7:21; Hayes, MSU (boarding) 9:58; Donovan, DU (slashing) 19:09



SECOND PERIOD

Scoring: 2. MSU-Harrison 8 (Galiardi 12, Louwerse 6) 11:19

Penalties: Rakhshani, DU (contact to the head) 13:32



THIRD PERIOD

Scoring: 3. DU-Colborne 18 (Wrenn 7, Rakhshani 24) 6:51; 4. DU-Donovan 6 (Ruegsegger 19, Rakhshani 25) ppg 10:34

Penalties: Galiardi, MSU (contact to the head) 1:02; Ruegsegger, DU (interference) 8:17; Hayes, MSU (holding) 10:25; Rakhshani, DU (tripping) 12:22



SUMMARIES

Shots on goal: DU 6-10-4—20; MSU 10-13-6—29. Penalties: DU 4 for 8 minutes; MSU 4 for 8 minutes. Power-play opportunities: DU 2 for 4; MSU 0 for 4. Goalie saves: DU-Cheverie 10-12-6—28 (1 GA), MSU-Cook 5-10-2—17 (3 GA).

Referees: Don Adam, Tim Walsh. Linesmen: Jeff Schultz, Tony Czech

Attendance: 3,723