If the win streak was going to end, it’s better in an NCHC semifinal than an NCAA Tournament game.

It’s likely small consolation to No. 6 DU, which hung tough against No. 4 St. Cloud State, but in the end fell to the Huskies (30-8-1) for the third time this season, 4-2, at Minneapolis on Friday night. With it went the Pioneers’ 11-game winning streak, which began on Jan. 30 at Miami.

The deciding goal came on somewhat of a fluke play, when Huskies forward Mikey Eyssimont, who is from Littleton, threw a puck toward the slot from the goal line, only to have it bounce off Nolan Zajac‘s backside past Tanner Jaillet just 1:41 into the third period. Zajac was tying up a forward in front of the net. The tally gave St. Cloud a 3-1 lead.

The Pioneers (23-9-5) countered with a goal by Evan Janssen off a nice feed from Troy Terry just  32 seconds later to make it 3-2. Terry also scored immediately after DU killed off a penalty 6:29 into the second period to knot the score at 1.

The teams combined for just 35 shots on goal – 19 by DU – a far cry from the combined 65 shots they’d typically have.

“They’re not the most physical team, but they have great sticks,” Pioneers captain Grant Arnold said. “They make it hard for guys to make plays behind the goal line. To be honest, we didn’t get pucks to the net enough tonight. It was obvious on the shots. You have to give a lot of credit to St. Cloud.

“We’ve got to get to the net more. You’re not going to score on a great goalie like that without getting more shots.”

St. Cloud goaltender Charlie Lindgren made 17 saves and was good when he needed to be, but the Pioneers didn’t play with a lot of urgency until the third period, when they had the puck in the Huskies zone for what felt like 90 percent of the period.

“I thought we were coming (in the third), we were going to get the equalizer,” DU coach Jim Montgomery said. “We were playing desperate, we were getting to the net front.”

The Pioneers got off on the wrong foot – giving up a power play, and a goal, to St. Cloud State when Joey Benik buried a pass from Ethan Prow 7:45 into the game. It was Benik’s fourth goal in three games against DU this season.

“We talked about it all week, try not to give their power play an opportunity,” assistant coach David Carle told AM 1600 after the game. “After that our penalty kill settled in.”

The teams traded power-play chances in the first four minutes of the second period before Terry took a beautiful drop pass from Tariq Hammond, who was a presence all over the ice, to make it 1-1.

David Morley converted a pass from Benik, stationed below the goal line, for a short side goal on Jaillet to give the Huskies a lead they wouldn’t relinquish exactly five minutes later. The Huskies clinched the game with an empty-net goal with 1:17 to go.

Next up: The Pioneers face No. 1 North Dakota in the third-place game at 3 p.m.  Saturday. It’s the teams’ fifth meeting this season. They split their regular-season meetings, with each team winning twice at home. It’s unlikely the result will affect DU’s standing heading into the NCAA Tournament.

It’s also a rematch of last year’s third-place game, which DU won.

“Tomorrow’s game is just about playing the right way going into the tournament,” Montgomery said.

Streaks: Danton Heinen picked up a secondary assist on Terry’s goal, running his points streak to 15 games. He has 27 points in that stretch. … Terry has a goal in every playoff game for DU.

Three stars: 1 – Joey Benik, SCSU – the senior had a goal and an assist and was a constant threat. 2 – Troy Terry, DU – the freshman had a goal and an assist and was around the puck all game. 3 – SCSU defense – so many sticks and bodies in lanes blocking passes and shots by DU all game. (Honorable mention: DU’s Tariq Hammond, who uncorked a beautiful rush and shot that went off the cross bar in the third period after setting up Terry’s goal).