#5 St. Cloud State opens weekend at CC with 5-2 win

Friday, March 4

Colorado Springs, CO

8:37 p.m. (CT)

St. Cloud State

26-8-1,16-6-1-1NCHC

Colorado College

6-26-1, 4-18-1NCHC

St. Cloud State

Colorado College

Huskies celebrate goal by Ethan Prow

Photo by: Tom Nelson

3/4/2016 11:51:00 PM | Men's Hockey

Box Score

Colorado Springs, Colo. - The #5 ranked St. Cloud State University men's hockey team (26-8-1, 16-6-1 NCHC) gained a 5-2 victory at Colorado College (6-26-1, 4-18-1 NCHC) on Friday, March 4 at the World Arena in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The victory snapped a two-game losing skid for the Huskies and more importantly helped SCSU maintain a share of second place in the NCHC standings with one game left on the schedule. SCSU and Denver are both tied for second place in the league standings with 50 points apiece. A victory by the Huskies on Saturday, March 5 at Colorado College would allow SCSU to clinch the second seed in the upcoming NCHC playoffs since it owns the tiebreaker against DU.

The Huskies gained the win at CC with a dominate effort that saw SCSU outshoot the Tigers 20-11 in the first period and 55-24 in the game. SCSU was 1-2 on the power play and 2-2 on the penalty kill as Charlie Lindgren made 22 saves in the game for the Huskies. This was Lindgren's 25th win of the season, which ties the team record for most wins by a goalie. Scott Meyer also had 25 wins at SCSU during the 2000-01 season.

In the first period, SCSU lit the lamp first with a goal by Jimmy Murray at 4:20. He was assisted on his 11^th goal of the season by Kalle Kossila and Joey Benik.

CC knotted the score at 1-1 with a goal by Ben Israel at 11:47 of the first period with assists from Duggie Lagrone and Matt Hansen.

To cap the first period, SCSU Hobey Baker Award candidate Ethan Prow scored his eighth goal of the season with a power play marker at 19:44. Kalle Kossila and Mikey Eyssimont each had assists on the play, which was Prow's 93^rd career point.

The Huskies stretched their lead to 3-1 at 4:53 of the second period with a goal by Benik. Murray and Prow each added assists on the play. This was Benik's 20^th goal of the season for the Huskies.

Matt Hansen closed the gap to 3-2 for the Tigers with his goal at 10:01 of the second period, but a goal in the final second of the period by SCSU's Jimmy Schuldt made the score 4-2 in favor of the Huskies heading into intermission. Eyssimont and Patrick Russell each had assists on the play at 19:59 of the second. This was Schuldt's eighth goal of the season.

In the third period, Judd Peterson pushed SCSU's lead to 5-2 with a goal at 6:54 of the period with helpers from Will Borgen and Patrick Newell. The goal was Peterson's 15^th of the season for the Huskies.

St. Cloud State and Colorado College will complete their weekend series on Saturday, Mar. 5 with a 7:37 p.m. (CT) game at the World Arena. Fans can watch the game live back in Minnesota on CW 23, which will pick up the American Sports Network telecast of the game. You can listen to the game on 99.9 MORE FM with Dan Terhaar on the call from the World Arena.

Fans can also watch online at NCHC.tv/scsu

SCSU Hockey Game Notebook:

The game was SCSU's 26th win of the season, which is the most wins in a single-season for head coach Bob Motzko. His previous season-high was 25 victories in 2012-13.
This is also the third most wins in a season for the Huskies in team history. SCSU hit 31 wins in 2000-01 and 29 wins in 2001-02. Of note, the Huskies have at least two more games to play this season.
SCSU goalie Charlie Lindgren gained his 25th win of the season tonight. He is tied for the lead among NCAA DI goalies this season for most victories at 25.
Joey Benik hit a career season-high with his 40th point of the year tonight. He now has 20 goals and 20 assists this year for the Huskies. Benik leads the Huskies with 20 goals this season and is second on the team with 40 points. He has 118 points in his career at SCSU and is one point behind Chris Scheid, who had 119 points from 1987-91. Scheid ranks 17th in the team records.
Jimmy Murray snapped a five-game scoring drought with his goal and assist on March 4. Murray has 31 points this season, which is a career season-high for the senior from Darien, Illinois.
The 55 shots on goal in the game for SCSU is a new season game-high. The previous high was 51 shots vs. Arizona State on Jan. 2. He is the sixth SCSU player on the roster this year with 30-plus points in 2015-16.
The game on March 5 will be televised live on the American Sports Network. Fans back in Minnesota can watch it locally on CW 23 out of the Twin Cities.
Hobey Baker Award candidate Ethan Prow scored his 8th goal of the season tonight and also notched his 25th assist of the year on Joey Benik's goal. In his career, Prow now has 94 career points, 19 goals and 75 points. He is now ranked 2nd in the team records for most career assists by a defenseman with 75. Andrew Prochno also had 75 assists from 2011-15.
Prow leads all NCAA blueliners with 33 points, 1.06 ppg and 25 assists in 2015-16.
Mikey Eyssimont ranks 16th in the NCAA for most rookies scoring. Eyssimont now has 9g/18a for 27 points.
SCSU ranks first in the NCAA with 147 goals this season.
SCSU ranks ninth in the NCAA with a defensive average of 2.11 goals allowed per game.
SCSU is the second least penalized team in the nation with an average of just 7.2 PIM per game.
SCSU ranks second in the nation with a power play rate of 29.8% this season.