St. Cloud State men's hockey falls by 5-4 decision in OT at NCAA Regional

Saturday, March 26

St. Paul, Minn.

2:00 p.m. (CT)

St. Cloud State

31-9-1

Ferris State University - NCAA West Regional

20-14-6

OT 1

Ferris State

St. Cloud State

Joey Benik (9) and Jimmy Murray (21) celebrate goal vs. FSU on March 26

Photo by: Brace Hemmelgarn

St. Cloud State men's hockey falls by 5-4 decision in OT at NCAA Regional

3/26/2016 5:39:00 PM | Men's Hockey

Box Score

The St. Cloud State University men's hockey team saw its historic 2015-16 season come to a close with a heartbreaking 5-4 overtime loss to Ferris State University (20-14-6) in the first round of the NCAA Division I West Regional at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn.

The loss ended SCSU's season with a 31-9-1 overall record, which tied the team's record for most victories in a season. This also marked SCSU's fourth consecutive trip to the NCAA Division I tournament and the Huskies also captured the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament by virtue of their first place finish in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff Tournament.

The Huskies battled back throughout the game against Ferris State to force the overtime session in St. Paul. In the first period, FSU opened the scoring with a goal by Mitch Maloney at 2:56 of the first period. The Huskies wasted little time getting back into the fray as Jacob Benson scored his fourth goal of the year at 3:13 of the first with assists from Robby Jackson and Blake Winiecki. This was Jackson's eighth assist of the year and Winiecki's 12th assist of the season.

FSU regained the lead late in the first period with a goal by Jared VanWormer at 19:37 of the first period. The Bulldogs stretched their lead to 3-1 early in the second period with a goal by Kenny Babinski at 1:04.

The Huskies returned to the scoring column at 4:56 of the second period with a power play marker by Mikey Eyssimont. Kalle Kossila and Ethan Prow each had assists on the play. The assist by Kossila set a new team record for most assists in a season at 39. He moves ahead of Mark Hartigan (2001-02) and Brandon Sampair (2000-01), who each had 38 assists in their record setting seasons.

The assist by Prow was also his 30th of the season, which ties the team record for most assists in a season by a blueliner. Brett Hedican also had 30 assists in a season for the Huskies in 1990-91. Prow caps his stellar career with 19 goals, 80 assists and 99 points. He broke the team record for most career assists by a defenseman with 80 during his career, which moves him ahead of Kelly Hultgren's 79 career assists from 1991-95.

Ferris State pushed its lead to 4-2 with a goal by Gerald Mayhew at 12:01 of the second period. In the third period, Eyssimont posted his second power play goal of the night with his goal at 4:38. Joey Benik and Kossila both had assists on the play, which moved Kossila's final season total to a record-setting 40 assists.

At 11:29 of the third period, SCSU knotted the score at 4-4 with a game tying goal by Benik that featured assists from Jimmy Murray and Jimmy Schuldt. This was Benik's team leading 23rd goal of the year for the Huskies and it capped his career totals at 59 goals, 67 assists and 126 points. He finishes as SCSU's 10th leading goal scorer in team history. Jimmy Murray ended his season with 26 assists and 39 points and had 36g/61a and 97 points during his four year at SCSU.

On the topic of epic careers, Kossila completed his tenure at SCSU with 48 goals, 105 assists and 153 points. He now ranks second in the team records for most career assists along with Drew LeBlanc (2008-13) and eight behind record owner Garrett Roe with 113 from 2007-11. Kossila also ranks sixth in the team records with 153 career points. SCSU's other 100-point club member in 2015-16 was David Morley, who ended his career with 51 goals, 67 assists and 118 points.

In the OT session, Ferris State ended the game quick with a goal at the :18 mark by VanWormer.

In the game, SCSU outshot the Bulldogs 33-31 as Charlie Lindgren had 26 saves in the nets for SCSU. Darren Smith was the goalie of record for FSU with 29 saves. On the power play, SCSU was 2-4 and FSU was 0-2.