#5 St. Cloud State Men's Hockey blanks Arizona State, 7-0

Saturday, January 2

St. Cloud, Minn.

7:07 p.m.

St. Cloud State

16-4-0, 8-2-0NCHC

Arizona State University

5-14-0

Arizona State

St. Cloud State

Huskies celebrate a goal against Arizona State on Jan. 2, 2016

Photo by: Bella Rose Photography

1/2/2016 9:55:00 PM | Men's Hockey

Box Score

The #5 ranked St. Cloud State University men's hockey team posted its 16th victory of the 2015-16 season with a 7-0 shutout over non-conference rival Arizona State University on Saturday, Jan. 2 at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud, Minn. SCSU improves to 16-4-0, 8-2-0 NCHC, while Arizona State falls to 5-14-0 on the season.

This ranks as SCSU's best start to a season since opening the first 20 games of the 2001-02 season with a 17-2-1 record.

The Huskies dominated from start to finish in the contest as the eventual game winner was scored by Patrick Russell on the power play at 6:51 of the first period. Ethan Prow and Judd Peterson posted assists on the game winner.

SCSU hit again on the power play at 13:51 of the first period with a marker by Jimmy Schuldt, while David Morley and Niklas Nevalainen each had assists on the play. In the second period, Judd Peterson added his 12th goal of the season with a goal at 11:12 as assists went to Mikey Eyssimont and Jimmy Murray. Blueliner Niklas Nevalainen got on the scoresheet at 12:18 of the second period with his second goal of the year, which made the score 4-0. Blake Winiecki had the lone assist on the play.

Peterson is now tied for the team's goal scoring lead in 2015-16 along with senior forward Joey Benik, who also has 12 goals this year.

To finish the second period, Russell added his second goal of the evening at 15:08. Robby Jackson provided the solo assist on the play for the Huskies. This was Russell's ninth goal of the season and his 20th point this winter. In the third period, Murray scored at 7:13 with helpers from Eyssimont and Nevalainen and the evening was completed at 8:44 of the third period with a goal by Eyssimont. Nevalainen and Peterson each had assists on the play.

Nevalainen hit a career game-high with four points (1g/3a) in the offensive showcase against ASU. On the season, Nevalainen now has two goals and 11 assists for 13 points.

The Huskies hit a season game-high with their 51 shots on goal in the game. Junior netminder Charlie Lindgren added his fifth shutout of the year with his 29 save effort against the Sun Devils. He now owns a 15-4-0 record this season and has eight shutouts in his career. Lindgren is one shutout shy of the team career record of nine shutouts marked by Scott Meyer from 1996-01. He is also two shutouts away from Meyer's single season shutout record of seven, which was set in 1999-00. Lindgren now ranks third in the nation this season with five shutouts to his credit.

Of note, the Huskies moved to the top of the NCAA scoring charts in 2015-16 with an average of 4.50 goals per game. SCSU's 90 goals leads the nation this winter and the Huskies moved up to number eight in the country with a goals allowed average of 1.95 per game. SCSU also ranks second in the nation on the power play at 30.6% (22/72) and SCSU 's Prow leads all NCAA DI defenders with 20 points scored this winter. He also ranks fourth among all NCAA players with an average of 1.00 assists per game in 2015-16.

The Huskies will continue their season with an exhibition game on Sunday, Jan. 3, against the U.S. National Team Development Program U18 squad. Game time is scheduled for 4:07 p.m. at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud, Minn. Tickets for the game are available online at www.scsutickets.com or you can also purchase tickets for the contest at the gate on game day.