DENVER — Strange things, it seems, occur whenever the Minnesota State men’s hockey team plays Denver.

Friday night was no exception, as the second-ranked Pioneers defeated the Mavericks 4-3 in a Western Collegiate Hockey Association game at Magness Arena.

On the same night that Denver goaltender Marc Cheverie set the school record for consecutive shutout minutes, the Pioneers’ backup, freshman Adam Murray, ended up getting his first collegiate victory.

“Everytime these two teams get together, something unique is going to happen,” Pioneers coach George Gwozdecky said. “That’s not a slam on either team. The two teams play very hard. It was a very, very close game tonight.”

Cheverie left a tie game on a stretcher after his leg was cut by the skate of Mavericks forward Justin Jokinen on a scoring chance 2 1/2 minutes into the third period. Denver officials said Cheverie suffered a deep cut on his left calf and is likely out for a few weeks.

Cheverie’s departure gave the Pioneers a spark, though, and their third line of Jesse Martin, Matt Glasser and Luke Salazar scored two goals in a span of 2:02. Martin had the first at 4:50, and Glasser got behind the Mavericks defense and tipped in a Salazar shot at 6:52.

“It was a really good college hockey game,” Mavericks coach Troy Jutting. “I thought we played hard. I thought we competed. Both goaltenders made some big saves and kept things tight for both teams.”

Shots on goal were even at 35 apiece. Mavericks goaltender Austin Lee stopped 31 shots. Murray stopped seven of eight shots after replacing Cheverie.

Minnesota State freshman Eriah Hayes made it a one-goal game at the 11:29 mark of the third period, picking the upper right-hand corner of the net for his third goal of his young career. However, Minnesota State couldn’t get the equalizer, and extended its winless streak at Denver to nine games (0-8-1).

Early on, it was a goaltending battle between Cheverie and Lee, who faced a combined 26 shots in a scoreless first period.

“(Cheverie) was probably the hottest goalie in the country, and Lee was toe to toe with him,” MSU junior Rylan Galiardi said.

Cheverie stopped 15 MSU shots in the first period. After 5:23 had passed, the junior set his record and built the three-plus-game mark to 218:51 before Galiardi broke a scoreless tie just 32 seconds into the second period.

Galiardi finished off a rush started with Mike Louwerse’s steal in the defensive zone. Jerad Stewart passed the puck across to Galiardi, who fired it into the upper corner on the goalie’s stick side.

That goal sparked a brief, old-fashioned MSU-DU shootout, as the two teams scored four goals in first 3:50 of the middle frame.

Martin tied the game with a backhanded shot at the end of a 3-on-2 rush at 1:30.

Thirty-eight seconds later, the Mavericks had the lead again as Andrew Sackrison beat Cheverie between the pads with a shot from low in the right circle.

“We definitely battled really hard the entire game,” Galiardi said. “As far as effort goes, that was our best game all year. Every man brought it. … Still, it’s a game we could have won. It was in our hands.”

Denver tied it once more with a power-play goal by their giant sophomore wing, Joe Colborne. Colborne, who stands 6-foot-5 and weighs 210 pounds, parked in front of goalie Austin Lee and tipped in a shot from the blue line by defenseman Patrick Wiercioch.

The game’s lone power-play goal proved to be the difference, as the Mavericks finished 0 for 5 with the man advantage.

“We’ve faced two of the best penalty-killing teams in the country the last two weeks,” Jutting said, referring to Denver and Wisconsin.

Early in the third period, Jokinen was hauled down on a scoring chance by Wiercioch and his skate got between Cheverie’s pads and cut the goalie’s leg. Trainers hurriedly attended to the bleeding goalie, cutting off his pad and taking him out of the rink on a stretcher. He finished with 25 saves.

“It’s too bad their goalie got hurt,” Jutting said. “You hate to see that.”

The Mavericks (3-4-0, 1-4-0 in WCHA) and the Pioneers (5-2-0, 3-0-0) will play again at 8:07 p.m. tonight.



Minnesota State 0-2-1—3
Denver 0-2-2—4

FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: None.
Penalties: Rakhshani, DU (elbowing) 15:57

SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 1. MSU-Galiardi 3 (Stewart 3, Louwerse 2) :32; 2. DU-Martin 2 (Glasser 2, Wrenn 2) 1:30; 3. MSU-Sackrison 2 (Hayes 2, Mouillierat 2) 2:08; 4. DU-Colborne 3 (Wiercioch 4, Donovan 4) ppg 3:50
Penalties: Thomspon, MSU (elbowing) 2:23; Ostrow, DU (hooking) 8:20; Zuck, MSU (hooking) 10:27; Shore, DU (tripping) 14:28

THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 5. DU-Martin 3 (Salazar 2) 4:50; 6. DU-Glasser 1 (Salazar 3, Martin 4) 6:52; 7. MSU-Hayes 3 (Sackrison 2) 11:29
Penalties: Boe, MSU (slashing) :34; Ruegsegger, DU (interference) :39; Wiercioch, DU (slashing) 2:31; Zuck, MSU (charging) 13:09

SUMMARIES
Shots on goal: MSU 15-11-9—35; DU 11-14-10—35. Penalties: MSU 5 for 10 minutes; DU 5 for 10 minutes. Power-play opportunities: MSU 0 for 5; DU 1 for 5. Goalie saves: MSU-Lee 11-12-8—31 (4 GA), DU-Cheverie 15-9-1—25 (2 GA), Murray x-x-7—7 (1 GA)
MSU called its timeout at 18:59 of the third period.
Referees: Peter Friesema, Butch Mousseaux. Linesmen: Tim Swiader, Bob Keltie.
Attendance: 5,803