#3 SCSU Men's Hockey at North Star Cup on Jan. 30-31

The #3 St. Cloud State University men's hockey team (20-5-1, 12-3-1 NCHC) will play a pair of games at the North Star Cup this weekend at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn. The Huskies will open play in the tournament on Saturday, Jan. 30 at 1 p.m. against #19 Minnesota State University (13-8-5, 12-3-5 WCHA). In the second game of the day on Jan. 30, #20 Minnesota (13-10-0, 8-2-0 B10) will play Bemidji State (10-10-5, 7-9-4 WCHA) at 4 p.m. The consolation game of the tournament will then take place at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 31 and the title game will take place at 4 p.m.

TICKETS: www.ticketmaster.com
LISTEN: 99.9 MORE FM and KVSC FM 88.1
WATCH: Fox Sports North
ON-LINE: Fox Sports GO
LIVE STATS: North Star Cup Live Stats
NOTES: SCSU Team Notes
PRE-GAME SOCIAL - MEET AT THE LIFFEY: SCSU fans and alumni headed to the game are encouraged to meet at The Liffey (175 7th St W, St Paul, MN) for a pre-game social beginning at 11 a.m. on Jan. 30. The pre-game social on Jan. 31 is scheduled to begin two hours before the start of the SCSU game that day.

POLL POSITION: SCSU was ranked #3 in the USCHO.com and 3rd in the USA Today/USA Hockey DI national polls this week....SCSU has been ranked among the nation's top 20 teams in every poll so far this season...Minnesota State is ranked #19 and Minnesota is ranked #20 in the polls this week.

TICKETS: Great tickets are available for all remaining home games in 2015-16. Fans can purchase tickets online at www.scsutickets.com or by calling 1-877-SCSUTIX. You can also stop by the SCSU Athletic Ticket Office in the HBNHC during regular business hours and purchase your tickets in person.

WATCH THE HUSKIES: The games at the North Star Cup are slated to be aired on Fox Sports North. The live video stream is available at Fox Sports GO.

TICKETS FOR THE NORTH STAR CUP: If you would like to purchase tickets for the games at the North Star Cup, please visit the Ticketmaster website at www.ticketmaster.com or order tickets by phone at 800-745-3000. You also purchase tickets at all Ticketmaster Ticket Center or by stopping by the Xcel Energy Center Box Office in St. Paul, Minn.

BACK HOME ON FEB. 26-27: SCSU fans should mark Feb. 26-27 on their calendars as those dates will be the final regular season home games for 2015-16. SCSU will battle Minnesota Duluth on those days at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center. For complete ticket information for this key NCHC games, please visit www.scsutickets.com or call 1-877-SCSUTIX. Great tickets are available for these games and all SCSU students get in FREE with their valid SCSU student ID card for these games.

VOTE FOR HOBEY: Fans can vote in this year's Vote for Hobey campaign for SCSU's Charlie Lindgren and Ethan Prow. Visit www.hobeybaker.com/vote for all the details... Prow leads the nation's blueliners this winter with 25 points...Lindgren leads the nation's goalies with 19 wins this season.

#1 STAR OF THE WEEK: SCSU senior forward gained NCAA DI #1 Star of the Week honors for his two goals and five assists in the weekend series against WMU. He was also selected the NCHC Offensive Player of the Week on Jan. 25... Benik ranks first on the team with 15 goals and second on the team with 29 points... the Huskies have outscored Western Michigan 31-8 in four games this season. Joey Benik has seven goals and six assists in those four games against WMU. In six games played against WMU during his career, Benik has scored 19 points.

POTENT OFFENSE: The Huskies lead the nation this season with 113 goals. SCSU ranks second in the nation with a scoring average of 4.35 points per game. The current team record for best PPG in one season is 4.26 (2001-02)... SCSU leads the nation with a scoring margin of +2.35 this season...SCSU's 2.00 goals allowed per game average this season ranks 7th in the nation.

20-WIN SEASON: SCSU and North Dakota are the first two teams in the nation this season to reach the 20-win plateau. This marks the 13th time during SCSU's Division I history that the Huskies have won 20-plus games in a season. The Huskies have now won 20-plus games in the last four consecutive seasons and seven times during the Bob Motzko era (since 2005-06).

KALLE TALLY: Kalle Kossila leads the team with 32 points and 22 assists. This marks his third season as a Husky with 30-plus points. His 131 career points now ranks 11th in the team record behind Nate DiCasmiro (1998-02) and Tyler Arnason (1998-01) with 136 points apiece. His 87 career assists rank seventh in the team records.

PROW POINTS: Ethan Prow now has 86 career points, which ranks fourth in the SCSU career charts for most points by a defenseman along with Nick Jensen (2010-13) and Taj Melson (1992-96).

FIRST ONE: Sophomore defender Nate Widman scored his first goal of the 2015-16 season in the Huskies win over WMU on Jan. 23. A team alternate captain, Widman has 1g/9a this season for the Huskies.

AT THE CUP: SCSU did not play in the North Star Cup in 2014-15. The last time SCSU played in the North Star Cup, the Huskies lost a 4-1 opening round game to Minnesota on Jan. 24, 2014 and then rallied with a 6-4 win over Minnesota State in the consolation game on Jan. 25, 2014. Of note, SCSU is 8-12-0 all-time in games played at the Xcel Energy Center, which includes games at the North Star Cup, WCHA Final Five and two NCAA regionals (2010 and 2014)... Earlier this season, the Huskies charted a 4-0 and 3-0 series sweep at home against Minnesota State on Oct. 16-17. The Huskies also posted a 3-2 and 7-4 series sweep at Minnesota on Nov. 27-29. SCSU has not played Bemidji State this season... The Huskies are 27-15-7 in the all-time series vs. Minnesota State (Division I level) since 1993. SCSU is 54-31-12 in play against Minnesota and the Huskies are 17-3-1 in play against Bemidji State in the all-time series at the DI level (since 2008). All four of these teams were members of the WCHA until the 2012-13 season. SCSU joined the NCHC at the start of the 2013-14 season, while Minnesota joined the Big 10 conference in 2013-14. Minnesota State and Bemidji State are still members of the WCHA.

LAST WEEKEND: SCSU charted a two-game sweep at the HBNHC against Western Michigan last weekend. On Jan. 22, the Huskies scored an 8-2 win and on Jan. 23, SCSU posted a 7-3 victory over the Broncos.

ON DECK: SCSU will return to the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center on Feb. 26-27 for a pair of home dates against the University of Minnesota Duluth. For complete ticket information, please visit www.scsutickets.com or give the SCSU Athletic Ticket Office a call at 1-877-SCSUTIX or 320-308-2137.