The #17 St. Cloud State University men's hockey team (8-7-1, 4-5-1 NCHC) scored a big 4-2 victory over #20 Omaha (9-6-3, 4-4-0 NCHC) on Saturday, Dec. 10 at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud, Minn.
The victory snapped a five-game losing skid at home for the Huskies and it marked their fourth win of the season against a top 20 nationally ranked team.
The Huskies set the tempo early with a delayed penalty goal by Niklas Nevalainen at 1:34 of the first period. Nick Poehling and Jon Lizotte each provided assists on the play that had an extra attacker on the ice for SCSU after a delayed penalty call to Omaha's Ryan Jones for boarding. The goal was Nevalainen his first goal of the 2016-17 season and his fifth career goal.
Just :29 later, Jack Ahcan netted his third goal of the season with a power play marker at 2:03 of the first period. Blake Winiecki added the solo assist on the play. To complete the first period scoring, Omaha's Tyler Vessel posted his squad's first goal at 16:53 with assists from Jake Randolph and Joel Messner.
In the second period, SCSU's Judd Peterson stretched the Huskies' lead to 3-1 with his eighth goal of the year. Ryan Papa and Dennis Cholowski each had assists on the play. This was Cholowski's eigth assist of the year and it marked the return to the ice for Papa, who had been an injury scratch since Nov. 4.
Omaha narrowed the gap with a goal by Fredrik Olofsson at 11:09 of the second period. In the final period, Peterson putting the icing on the cake with his team-leading ninth goal of the year at 8:47. He was assisted on the play by Papa and Jacob Benson.
In the contest, SCSU dominated the stat sheet by outshooting the Mavericks 36-24. Peterson led the Huskies with six shots on net in the game. On the power play, SCSU was 1-of-5 and once more the Huskies were a perfect 4-of-4 on the penalty kill. SCSU has not allowed a power play goal since Nov 19. SCSU is now 15-of-15 on the penalty kill in its last four games played.
SCSU goalie Jeff Smith (2-2-0) earned his second win of the season with 22 saves in 59:57 minutes played. Evan Weninger was the goalie of record for Omaha with 32 saves.
The Huskies will continue their 2016-17 season on Dec. 30 with a game against the University of Connecticut in game one of the Arizona State Desert Classic. The tournament will be played in Prescott, Ariz. and it will also feature ASU and Brown University. The championship game and consolation game will be played on Dec. 31. Fans can follow the action out west on REV 96.7 FM with Jim Erickson on the call. Members of the family of the late Dr. Earl H. Potter III, who were at the game on Dec. 10 for a
special ceremony during the first intermission to honor Dr. Potter. The 22nd president of
St. Cloud State, Dr. Potter led the school from 2007-16.
