Denver’s winning streak might have come to an end, but the Pioneers’ split of their weekend games with Minnesota Duluth over the weekend helped the Pioneers climb into the top 10 in this week’s USCHO rankings.

It helps when your goalie can post a shutout.

Junior goaltender Magnus Chrona posted his fourth career shutout after stopping 23 shots to back the Pioneers’ 5-0 victory Dec. 10.

The Pioneers scored twice in the first period and sophomore defenseman Mike Benning backed Chrona’s efforts with a pair of second-period goals, as Denver outshot Duluth 26-23 and upped their winning streak to seven games.

Bennings’s performance helped him earn NCHC defenseman of the week honors, it was announced Monday.

Ryan Barrow and Cole Guttman each notched a goal and assist for the Pioneers (11-5, 5-3 NCHC) in the win.

A night later, however, the Bulldogs (11-6-1, 4-3-1) jumped out to a 3-0 lead after one period and never looked back.

“A real good response, real proud of our guys,” Bulldogs coach Scott Sandelin told the Duluth News Tribune after Saturday’s win. “We talked about some stuff this morning. They had a little meeting (Friday) just to go through what we could do better. We met this morning and showed some video, and I thought our guys executed some things.”

Denver tried to climb back into the game, cutting the lead to 3-1 in the second after Cameron Wright’s goal and 4-2 in the third with a goal by Carter Mazur, but the Bulldogs pulled away with a score less than three minutes later and an empty-net goal late.

Chrona gave up five goals on 26 shots.

The split moved the Pioneers into sole possession of third place in the conference. They also climbed from No. 11 to No. 8 in this week’s rankings. The Bulldogs fell one spot to sixth.

The Pioneers now get a nearly three-week break before returning to the ice on New Year’s Eve. The Pioneers will host Alaska-Fairbanks Dec. 31 and Jan. 1. The series with Fairbanks will be non-conference play. After that, DU’s final 16 games will all be conference matches.