St. Cloud State
University of Connecticut
Players Mentioned
SCSU men's hockey on the road to Arizona
12/26/2016 10:00:00 PM | Men's Hockey
The #18 St. Cloud State University men's hockey team (8-7-1, 4-5-1 NCHC) will continue its 2016-17 season on Dec. 30 with a 5 p.m. (CT) game against the University of Connecticut (6-6-6, 4-3-2 HE) in the first game of the Desert Classic. The tournament is being hosted by Arizona State University and will be played at the Prescott Valley Events Center in Prescott Valley, Ariz. In the other first round game of the tournament on Dec 30, Brown (3-9-0 2-6-0 ECAC) will play host Arizona State (7-13-0).
The Huskies will finish tournament play on Dec. 31. The two winning teams will play the late game on Dec. 31 and the two losing teams will play in the consolation game in game one that day. These will be the first games played by the Huskies in the state of Arizona.
ON THE RADIO
SCSU WEEKLY NOTES (PDF)
TEAM NEWS AND NOTES:
UCONN NOTES: This will mark the first meeting between UCONN and SCSU...Mike Cavanaugh is in his fourth season as head coach with the Huskies from UCONN...Tage Thompson, a draft pick of St. Louis, leads UCONN this season with 12 goals, eight assists and 20 points...Adam Huska, a New York Rangers draftee, is the team's top goalie with a 4-3-3 record and a 2.54 GAA.
ASU NOTES: The Huskies own a 2-0-0 record in action against tournament participant ASU...the first meeting between SCSU and ASU was in 2015-16. On Jan. 1-2, 2016, the SCSU Huskies posted a 6-1 and 7-0 series sweep against the Sun Devils at the HBNHC in St. Cloud, Minn. Judd Peterson had 2g/3a in the series against ASU and Niklas Nevalainen had 1g/4a vs. the Sun Devils.
BROWN NOTES: SCSU is 7-1-1 in the all-time series against Brown..the last time SCSU played Brown, the Huskies scored a 5-3 and 5-1 series sweep on Jan. 2-3, 2010 at the HBNHC...in the first meeting between these two teams, SCSU gained a 4-1 win on Dec. 22, 1988 in St. Cloud...the lone loss for SCSU against Brown was a 4-1 setback on Jan. 18, 2002 in Providence...SCSU's Nathan Widman is a transfer from Brown...SCSU head coach Bob Motzko is 3-0-1 during his career vs. Brown.
IN THE POLLS: The Huskies were ranked #18 in the USCHO.com poll this week and they received votes in the USA Hockey/USA Today poll this week.
NEXT HOME GAMES: The Huskies will be back home for a pair of games against Denver on Jan. 20-21 at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud, Minn. Game time on Jan. 20 is scheduled for 7:37 p.m. and the game on Jan. 21 will start at 7:37 p.m. For tickets, please visit www.scsutickets.com or call 1-877-SCSUTIX.
ASSIST TO AHCAN: SCSU's Jack Ahcan gained an assist in Team USA's 6-1 victory over Latvia in first round play of the IIHF World Junior Championships on Dec. 26 in Toronto. Ahcan is on the Team USA roster, which is being led this season by SCSU head coach Bob Motzko. Ahcan will not be on the ice with SCSU in the games at the ASU Desert Classic.
IN THE NCHC: In NCHC games played this season, the Huskies rank second among league teams with a power play rate of 20.9% and a penalty kill rate of 87.5%.
TOURNAMENT TIME: The games in Arizona will be the first tournament games of the season for SCSU. The Huskies will also play non-conference tournament games at the 2017 North Star Cup on Jan. 27-28 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. SCSU will join Bemidji State, UMD and Minnesota at this year's North Star Cup.
HOLIDAY BREAK: The Huskies enjoyed a break for the holidays. The last games for the Huskies were a pair of home dates at the HBNHC on Dec. 9-10. SCSU will start the second half of its season with an 8-7-1 overall record and a 4-5-1 record in the always rugged NCHC. In the last outing for SCSU, the Huskies split a weekend series against Omaha with a 3-1 loss and a 4-2 win on Dec. 9-10. This marked the first time in 2016-17 that the Huskies split a weekend series...the win on Dec. 10 also snapped a five-game home losing skid for SCSU...SCSU is 4-2-1 on the road this season and 4-5-0 at home in 2016-17.TEAM USA: SCSU head coach Bob Motzko will not be on the bench in Arizona this weekend since he is serving as head coach for Team USA at the IIHF World Junior Championships in Toronto and Montreal this week. This marks the first time that Motzko has served as a head coach for Team USA. He previously served as an assistant coach for Don Lucia at the World Juniors in 2014. He is joined on the Team USA staff by SCSU hockey operations and video coordinator Matt Chapman, who will serve as the Team USA video coach in 2017. On the player roster, SCSU rookie defenseman Jack Ahcan is part of the Team USA roster for 2017. Ahcan is the ninth SCSU player to gain a spot on Team USA for play at the World Junior championships since 1991. SCSU players in recent seasons to make the Team USA roster at the World Juniors include Will Borgen in 2016, Kevin Gravel in 2012 and Mike Lee in 2010. Current SCSU defenseman Mika Ilvonen also competed at the 2015 World Junior tournament for Team Finland.
ON THE ROAD: The games in Arizona will start a six-game road trip for the Huskies. After the two tournament games, SCSU will travel to Miami (Ohio) on Jan. 6-7 and then return to the bus for a road trip to NCHC rival Minnesota Duluth on Jan. 13-14 in Duluth, Minn. The Huskies' next home series is slated for Jan. 20-21 against the University of Denver. For complete ticket details on these games at the HBNHC, please visit www.scsutickets.com or call 1-877-SCSUTIX.
TEAM NOTES: Mikey Eyssimont leads the Huskies with 63 shots on goal this season, while Judd Peterson ranks second with 50. SCSU has outshot its opponents 512-445 this year. SCSU has outscored its opponents 54-51 this season and they have notched 14 power play goals, while giving up nine PPGs in 2016-17...Jimmy Schuldt leads the team on the plus/minus at +6...Mikey Eyssimont needs three more points to reach the 50-point plateau in his career with the Huskies. He currently has 22 goals and 25 assists in his 56 games played at SCSU. Eyssimont and Blake Winiecki (24g/23a) are the team's active career point leaders with 47 points apiece at SCSU.
KILLING TIME: The Huskies have been on a PK roll over the past few games. SCSU has not allowed a power play goal since a third period PPG posted by North Dakota on Nov. 19. Since that time, the Huskies have been perfect on the penalty kill. In the last four games played, SCSU is 15-of-15 on the penalty kill. On the season, SCSU is now 50-of-59 on the penalty kill (.847) - which ranks 20th in the nation for best PK among DI teams.
NICE GUYS: SCSU ranks second in the nation among Division I teams for least number of penalty minutes per game in 2016-17 at 9.6 penalty minutes per game.
