#4/5 St. Cloud State opens play at Frozen Faceoff on March 18

The #4/5 St. Cloud State University men's hockey team (29-8-1, 17-6-1 NCHC) will meet up with #6 University of Denver (23-8-5) in the semifinals of the NCHC Frozen Faceoff tournament at 7:38 p.m. on Friday, March 18. SCSU is the #2 seed and Denver is the #3 seed. The game will be played at the Target Center in Minneapolis. The first game on March 18 will feature #1 seed North Dakota (30-5-3) and #4 seed Minnesota Duluth (17-14-5) at 4:08 p.m. at the Target Center.

The two winning teams will then play at 7:38 p.m. on Saturday, March 19 in the title game at the Target Center. The consolation game between the two losing teams from Friday will take place at 3:38 p.m. on Saturday, March 19 at Target Center in Minneapolis.

SCSU's COMPLETE WEEKLY RELEASE (PDF Format)

TICKETS FOR UPCOMING NCHC FROZEN FACEOFF GAMES: Fans can purchase tickets in advance for the 2016 NCHC Frozen Faceoff through the www.axs.com website. For complete details on the events surrounding the NCHC Frozen Faceoff please visit

www.nchchockey.com

PRE-GAME SOCIAL: Attention all SCSU fans! There will be a pre-game social beginning at 1:30 p.m. on March 18 and March 19 at Kieran's Irish Pub, which is located across the street from the Target Center at 85 6th Street North, Minneapolis, MN 55403. All fans are invited to attended this event that is being set up by the SCSU Alumni Association. This will be a great chance to grab a drink and a bite to eat before the games at the Frozen Four.

NCAA BRACKET SHOW: Fans wanting to check out the bracket for the upcoming 2016 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament should mark their calenders for Sunday, March 20 at 11 a.m. (CT). The bracket will be announced live on ESPNU that day. Of note, SCSU has earned three consecutive NCAA tournament bids since 2013 and 11 NCAA bids since 1989.

FOLLOW THE HUSKIES THIS WEEKEND: The SCSU games will be aired live on 99.9 MORE FM (www.999morefm.com) with Dan Terhaar and Dave Reichel making the call from the Target Center. KVSC FM 88.1 (www.kvsc.org) will also broadcast the games lives this weekend...follow the live in-game blog from the HBNHC with SC Times writer Mick Hatten.

WATCH THE HUSKIES: Fans can watch the games on March 18 and the championship game from the NCHC Frozen Faceoff on the CBS Sports Network. Check you local cable/dish listings for the channel near you. Fans can also watch the consolation game on the live video stream at www.NCHC.tv/scsu

PRE-GAME PRESS CONFERENCES: The SCSU pre-game press conference on Thursday, March 17 at 2:55 p.m. (CT) will be streamed live for free on the www.NCHC.tv/scsu

POLL POSITION: SCSU was ranked #4 in the USCHO.com and #5 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.

FIRST ROUND KNOCKOUT: SCSU punched its ticket to Minneapolis with a 4-3 OT and 4-2 series sweep over Western Michigan in the first round of the NCHC playoffs on March 11-12 at the HBNHC. This marks the second consecutive trip to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff for the Huskies...last year at the NCHC Frozen Faceoff, SCSU claimed a 3-1 win over North Dakota in the semifinals and then lost a 3-2 match against Miami in the title game at Target Center... - The Huskies bring a four-game winning streak into the NCHC Frozen Faceoff.

TOP 10 HOBEY FINALIST: St. Cloud State's Ethan Prow was selected as a top 10 Hobey Baker Award finalist on March 16. Prow was the only player selected for this elite honor from the NCHC and he becomes the sixth SCSU player to be named as a top 10 finalist. The other SCSU players to gain top 10 spots in clude Mark Hartigan in 2002, Bobby Goepfert in 2007, Ryan Lasch in 2008, Drew LeBlanc in 2013 and Nic Dowd in 2014. Dowd and Hartigan were named Hobey Hat Trick top three finalists while Drew LeBlanc won the Hobey Baker Award for SCSU in 2013. The Hobey Baker Award will be presented this year during the 2016 Frozen Four in Tampa, Fla.

MIKE RICHTER AWARD: SCSU junior goalie Charlie Lindgren has also been selected as a top five finalist for the Mike Richter Award in 2016. He joins the list along with Kevin Boyle of UMass Lowell, Thatcher Demko of Boston College, Cam Johnson of North Dakota and Alex Lyon of Yale. The Richter Award is presented annually by Let's Play Hockey and the Herb Brooks Foundation to the nation's top Division I goaltender. The Richter Award will be presented this year during the 2016 Frozen Four in Tampa, Fla.

NCAA LEADERS: The Huskies currently rank number one in the nation with 164 goals scored in 2015-16 and second in the nation with a scoring rate of 4.32 goals per game...On defense, SCSU ranks 10th in the country with a goals allowed average of 2.16 goals per game...SCSU has outscored its opponents 164-82 and the Huskies lead all DI teams this winter with a scoring margin average of 2.16 goals per game...On the power play, SCSU paces the NCAA with a power play rate of 29.5 percent (38/129) in 2015-16...The Huskies rank second in the nation with 29 victories this season and Mike Richter Award candidate Charlie Lindgren leads all DI goalies with 28 wins this season.

PENALTY KILL: The Huskies rank second in the nation for fewest penalty minutes in 2015-16. After 38 games played, SCSU is averaging 7.2 PIM per game. SCSU has charted 274 penalty minutes this season, while the current team record of 304 penalty minutes was set in 2013-14...in its last 10 games, SCSU is 31-33 on the penalty kill and has only allowed two power play goals during that stretch.

TEAM LEADER: Kalle Kossila paces SCSU this winter with 48 points (14g/34a) and ranks 13th among all DI players with a scoring rate of 1.26 ppg.

HE'S A WINNER: Senior Joey Benik has already set a new team record for most game winning goals in a season with seven in 2015-16. He currently ranks second among DI players for most GWGs this winter. Teammate Patrick Russell has six game winners this season for the Huskies.

PROW POINTS: Hobey Baker top 10 candiate Ethan Prow currently paces all DI blue liners with 27 assists and 35 points. He also ranks ninth among all DI players with an average of 0.79 assists per game this winter...Prow has 77 career assists and now ranks second in the team records for most assists by a defenseman. The team record of 79 assists by a blueliner was set by Kelly Hultgren from 1991-95. Prow also ranks second in the defenseman category with 96 career points behind Hultgren's 107 career points...Prow was recently selected to the 2016 All-NCHC First Team this week.

RECORD SETTER: Charlie Lindgren already owns the team record for most goalie wins in a season with 28 in 2015-16. His 944 saves this year ranks seventh in the team records. For career records, Lindgren ranks third in the team records with 49 career wins and seventh with 2025 saves. Lindgren was selected to the 2016 All-NCHC First Team at goaltender.

KOUNTING ON KOSSILA: Kossila needs four most assists this year to tie the school's record of 38 assists in a season set by Mark Hartigan in 2001-02 and Brandon Sampair in 2000-01. Kossila currently has 34 helpers this year. Kossila also ranks fifth in the team records with 99 career assists along with Tim Hanus, who had 99 assists from 1988-92. Kossila would become just the fifth player in SCSU history to hit 100 career assists... Kalle Kossila is now tied for sixth place on SCSU's career point scoring list with 147 points. SCSU Hobey Baker Award winner Drew LeBlanc also had 147 points from 2008-13.

BENIK UPDATE: Joey Benik ranks 11th in the team records with his 57 career goals at SCSU.

THE MURR: Senior forward Jimmy Murray had a huge weekend for the Huskies against WMU with one goal and three assists. He now has 37 points (13g/24a) this season and is five points away from SCSU's 100-point club with 95 points (36g/59a) in 152 career games.

SCSU VS. DENVER: SCSU is 2-0-0 in action against Frozen Faceoff opponent Denver in 2015-16. The Huskies scored a 5-2 and 6-2 sweep at DU on Dec. 11-12, 2015...Denver owns a 45-40-5 edge in the series against SCSU, which dates back to an 8-4 victory by the Pioneers on Nov. 29, 1988. SCSU is 3-2-0 in the last five outings against Denver and 5-4-1 in the last 10 outings against Denver.

POSTSEASON PLAY VS. DU: This will mark the first time SCSU and DU have met in NCHC postseason play. As members of the WCHA, SCSU was 2-1 in play against Denver in first round play and 0-0 in play at the WCHA Final Five.