#17 St. Cloud State ventures north to Kendall Hockey Classic

KENDALL CLASSIC: The #17 St. Cloud State University men's hockey team (0-0-0, 0-0-0 NCHC) will open its 2015-16 regular season with a trip to the Kendall Hockey Classic on Oct. 9-10 in Anchorage, Alaska. The Huskies will begin the tournament with a 8 p.m. (CT) match against the University of Alaska. On Oct. 10, the Huskies will complete tournament play with a 10 p.m. (CT) game against host Alaska Anchorage. Both games will be played at Sullivan Arena in Anchorage, Alaska. The other team playing in the Kendall Hockey Classic this year is Arizona State.

LISTEN: KCML FM 99.9 (www.lite999.com)

LIVE VIDEO STREAM: goseawolves.com

LIVE STATS: www.goseawolves.com

SCSU NOTES/NCHC NOTES: SCSU Notes (PDF) / NCHC Notes (PDF)

HUSKIES HEADLINES

FOLLOW THE HUSKIES UP NORTH: Both games at the Kendall Hockey Classic will be broadcast live on KCML FM 99.9 with Dan Terhaar on the call from Anchorage. You can listen to the game on the web at www.lite999.com. For complete live video and live stats details, please visit www.goseawolves.com

POLL POSITION: SCSU was ranked #17 in the USCHO.com preseason poll and the Huskies received votes in the USA Today/USA Hockey preseason poll for 2015-16.

THE OPENER: SCSU skated to a 6-2 victory over the University of Alberta on Oct. 3 at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud. SCSU used a balanced attack with six different players scoring goal in the contest. Patrick Russell, Joey Benik, Patrick Newell and Ben Storm alll scored first period goals to help SCSU take a 4-1 lead. Blake Winiecki and Ethan Prow added goals in the second to make the final 6-2. SCSU was outshot 34-25 in the contest, while Charlie Lindgren was the netminder of record with 16 saves. Rasmus Reijola also had 16 saves for SCSU in the final 28:34 minutes of play.

FROZEN FACEOFF: The Huskies made their first appearance at the NCHC Frozen Faceoff on March 20-21 at the Target Center in Minneapolis. SCSU opened the weekend with a 3-1 victory over #1 seed and #1 ranked North Dakota on March 20. David Morley opened the day's scoring, while Joey Benik added the game winner in the first period. Joe Rehkamp ended the game with an ENG at 18:55 of the final period. In the nets, Charlie Lindgren made 19 saves to gain the win as SCSU outshot UND 24-20...in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff title game on March 21, the Huskies lost a 3-2 decision vs. Miami. The Huskies' goals were posted by Benik and Jonny Brodzinski in the contest. Lindgren made 18 saves in the game as the RedHawks outshot the Huskies 21-20.

SEASON OPENERS: SCSU coach Bob Motzko is 5-5-0 in regular season openers for the Huskies since he joined the staff in 2005-06.

25 YEARS: Former SCSU All-American Dave Reichel, celebrated his 25th season of providing color commentary on SCSU's men's hockey radio broadcasts in 2014-15. He begins his 26th season behind the mic in 2015-16 and will be working alongside SCSU play-by-play announcer Dan Terhaar on KCML FM 99.9. Fans can also listen to the broadcast on www.lite999.com.

READY FOR 2015-16: The Huskies have seven of its top 10 point producers from 2014-15 returning along with starting goalie Charlie Lindgren and reserve netminder Rasmus Reijola. Those seven top point producers coming back in 2015-16 compiled 63 goals, 105 assists and 168 points for the Huskies in 2014-15. Goalie Charlie Lindgren was 19-18-1 with a 2.26 GAA and a .919 SV%.

AMONG THE BEST: SCSU senior forward Kalle Kossila is the active career leader in points in the NCHC with 99 and sixth among active NCAA players. His 65 career assists are second among active NCAA players. Kossila needs one more point to join SCSU's 100-point club. He would become the 27th player at SCSU during the Huskies' DI era to join the 100-point club.

TIES THE RECORD: David Morley ranked ninth in the nation last year with five game winning goals. This ties the team record for most GWGs in a season. Nic Dowd, Ryan Lasch, Tyler Arnason, Matt Cullen and Fred Knipscheer all had five GWG seasons during their time at SCSU...SCSU allowed 97 goals in 2014-15, which is the third lowest number of goals allowed in a season by the Huskies. The team record of 92 goals allowed was set in 2000-01.

KENDALL CLASSIC NOTES: This marks SCSU's second trip to the Kendall Hockey Classic. In 2011, the Huskies charted a 4-1 victory over Alaska on Oct. 7, 2011 and ended the tournament with a 4-3 OT loss to host UAA on Oct. 8, 2011...SCSU is 52-17-6 in the all-time series against UAA and 6-6-0 in the all-time series vs. Alaska...this will be the third time SCSU has played Alaska in a regular season tournament situation. Aside from the meeting against UA in 2011, the Huskies and Nanooks played each other at the Dexter Hockey Classic in Orono, Maine on Dec. 28, 1987. SCSU won that contest 5-4 in OT.

200 WINS: Last year, SCSU coach Bob Motzko became just the second coach in team history to gain his 200th career victory. In 10 seasons with the Huskies, Motzko has 204 career wins to his credit. The all-time win leader is Craig Dahl, who had 338 wins from 1987-2005.

DRAFT PICK: Newcomer Will Borgen was selected by Buffalo in this year's NHL draft. He will join Judd Peterson (Buffalo) and Ben Storm (Colorado) as NHL drafted players on this year's roster. Of note, former Huskies Matt Cullen (Pittsburgh) and Matt Hendricks (Edmonton) are both listed on NHL rosters to start the 2015-16 season.

UAA NOTES: SCSU is 52-17-6 in the all-time series against Alaska Anchorage...the last time these two clubs played, the Huskies scored a 6-1, 5-1 series sweep at the HBNHC on March 15-16 in the first round of the WCHA playoffs - which was SCSU's final season of play in the WCHA...the last time these two teams played in Anchorage, the Huskies lost a 3-1 decision on Dec. 1, 2012...SCSU is 4-1-0 vs. UAA in the last five meetings and 6-4-0 in the last 10 meetings of this series...SCSU is 16-13-2 during the series in games played at UAA and the Huskies are 33-4-4 in the series in games played in St. Cloud...coach Bob Motzko owns a 17-6-2 record against UAA during his career...Blake Tatchell led UAA last year with 22 points (7g/15a)...Olivier Mantha was UAA's top goalie in 2014-15 with a 2.90 GAA and a 7-18-3 record.

UA NOTES: St. Cloud State will resume their series with Alaska at the Kendall Hockey Classic this weekend. The Huskies are 6-6-0 in the all-time series against Alaska, which started in 1980-81...SCSU leads the series during its DI era by a 5-3-0 margin...the last time that SCSU and Alaska have played each other was at the Kendall Hockey Classic on Oct. 7, 2011 (SCSU won that game 4-1 in Sullivan Arena)...prior to the DI era, UA owned a 3-1 series lead over SCSU...Alaska opened their season with 4-0 exhibition win over Mount Royal on Oct. 4 in Fairbanks...UA was led last year by Tyler Morley with 37 points (15g/22a)...in the nets, Davis Jones shared duties and charted a 2.54 GAA and a 9-6-1 record.