#3 St. Cloud State men's hockey opens North Star Cup tourney with 5-4 win

Saturday, January 30

St. Paul, Minn.

1:00 p.m.

St. Cloud State

21-5-1, 12-3-1-1NC

North Star Cup - Minnesota State - Mankato

13-9-5, 12-3-5WCHA

Minnesota State

St. Cloud State

Jimmy Murray

#3 St. Cloud State men's hockey opens North Star Cup tourney with 5-4 win

1/30/2016 4:47:00 PM | Men's Hockey

Box Score

The #3 St. Cloud State University men's hockey team (21-5-1, 12-3-1 NCHC) opened play at the 2016 North Star Cup on Saturday, Jan. 30 with a 5-4 victory over downstate rival #19 Minnesota State University (13-9-5, 12-3-5 WCHA) at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn.

The Huskies will now advance to the championship game of the North Star Cup, which will take place at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 31 at the Xcel Energy Center. SCSU will Bemidji State, which scored a 4-2 win over Minnesota on Jan. 30.

In an offensive showdown, the Mavericks jumped to an early lead in the contest with a power play marker by Zach Stepan at 4:52 of the first period. The Huskies quickly replied with an even-strength goal by Patrick Russell at 8:43 of the first period. Mikey Eyssimont provided the solo assist on the play, which was Russell's 12th goal of the season.

Just over a minute later, Eyssimont pushed the score to 2-1 with his power play tally at 9:55 of the first period as Russell and Joey Benik added assists on the play for SCSU.

The Mavericks knotted the game in the closing minute of play in the first period with an even-strength goal by Dylan Margonari that made it 2-2.

In the second period, Eyssimont scored his seventh goal of the season with a power play marker at 9:15 of the period. Benik and Kossila each chalked up assists on the play. Kossila continues to lead the Huskies this season with 23 assists and 33 points. Later in the second period, Jacob Benson moved the meter to 4-2 with his goal at 10:07 with an assist by Blake Winiecki.

The Mavericks made it 4-3 at 15:19 of the second period with a goal by Brad McClure and then tied the contest at 9:48 of the third period with a goal by C.J. Franklin. A penalty by the Mavericks then set up a power play situation for the Huskies, which allowed SCSU's Jimmy Murray to drive home the winning run with his GWG at 16:41 of the final period. Winiecki and David Morley each had assists on the play for SCSU.

In the game, MSU outshot the Huskies 33-22. On the power play, SCSU was 3-4 and MSU was 1-3. SCSU junior goalie Charlie Lindgren made 29 saves in the game to gain his 20th win of the season. Jason Pawlowski started the game for MSU in the nets and made seven saves and allowed three goals before Cole Huggins was brought in to finish the game. He ended the day with 10 saves, two goals allowed and was the goalie of record.