St. Cloud State
Minnesota State
Players Mentioned
Insider: Huskies persevering through early offensive hardships
10/25/2017 2:58:00 PM | Women's Hockey
St. Cloud State's confidence remains high through scoring drought
The Huskies have gone without a goal over their last 245:24 of play—already the sixth-longest such drought in program history—but a deeper look at the season's first six games shows their production is not as barren as it seems.
Head coach Eric Rud and his staff use a "Grade A" system to chart dangerous chances for and against. If you contribute to a play that results in a positive scoring chance you get a plus and the opposite nets you a minus. The data helps them back up the things they see on a daily basis and lets them track trends over the course of the season to inform lineup decisions.
For the first time, Rud posted his notes for this season to supply a confidence boost after SCSU suffered back-to-back shutouts in its conference-opening series against Ohio State. It was an eye-opening experience for many players because their natural inclination is to judge themselves based solely on goals and assists.
"There were a bunch of players going to look and thinking 'I bet I was a minus,'" Rud said, "but we actually had a lot of players that were pluses."
"You want to find ways to encourage things that are going to help your team. If you can show some of those things to your players, it gives them a little but more confidence and gets them ready to go and fired up."
The Huskies charted 26 shots in each of their losses to the Buckeyes, which tied for their second highest totals of the season. But it was how those opportunities were created that was most encouraging. SCSU generated chances with speed off of the rush, with sustained pressure in the offensive zone and by working the puck down low.
"You want to have a multi-layered attack," Rud said. "We showed a bunch of different ways to create and now it is a matter of finding ways to finish, which is more than just the person shooting the puck. It's also screens and two or three people fighting for a rebound and finding a way to poke it in."
If chances were not coming at all, then Rud would have cause for concern. But he is seeing the right steps forward being taken every day and week by week—leading him to believe that the floodgates, relatively speaking, are getting ready to open.
"Once you score a couple you get a little confidence and you feel a little better about your game," he said. "Then it leads to one more on a weekend. If we can get one to two more goals on a weekend that is what we're looking for."
UP NEXT: St. Cloud State (1-5-0, 0-2-0 WCHA) at Minnesota State (1-4-1, 0-2-0)
Friday, October 27 and Saturday, October 28 | 2:07 p.m. | Verizon Center (Mankato, Minn.)
| SCSU WOMEN'S HOCKEY CENTRAL, Oct. 27-28, 2017 |
| LIVE STATS: sidearmstats.com/mnsu/whockey/ |
| RADIO: None |
| TELEVISION: None |
| VIDEO STREAMING ($): portal.stretchinternet.com/mnsu/ |
| GAME NOTES (PDF): SCSU at MINNESOTA STATE GAME NOTES |
KEY NOTES TO CONSIDER:
- SCOUTING THE MAVERICKS: Like the Huskies, Minnesota State was swept in its WCHA season-opening series last weekend. The Mavericks were downed by Wisconsin at home, 3-2 and 3-1. MSU's lone win of the season came in its season opener, 4-1, at Lindenwood on September 29. Junior forward Jordan McLaughlin (2+3) and freshman forward Brittyn Fleming (0+5) lead the team with five points apiece, while senior forward Amanda Conway paces the Mavericks with three goals. Junior goaltender Katie Bidulka has started four of six games and has a 2.57 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage—marks that both rank sixth among WCHA net minders.
- ALL-TIME SERIES (SCSU leads, 36-30-11): The Huskies are 36-30-11 (.539) all-time against the Mavericks—their best winning percentage against a WCHA rival. St. Cloud State is unbeaten (5-0-3) over the last two seasons against Minnesota State and 7-1-4 in their last 12 meetings.
- LAST MEETING: SCSU took five of six points from Minnesota State, Jan. 20-21, 2017, with a 2-1 win followed by a 3-3 tie and 3-2 shootout win on Hockey Day Minnesota 2017 at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center. Forward Alyssa Erickson scored the game-winning goal in the series opener as part of a two goal weekend. Forwards Hannah Potrykus (0+3) and Kayla Friesen (0+2) also notched multiple points in the series, while goaltender Janine Alder stopped 53 of the 57 shots (.930) she faced.
- Senior forward Alyssa Erickson led the Huskies goals and tied with sophomore forward Kayla Friesen (2+2) for the team points lead in the 2016-17 season series against Minnesota State. Junior forward Hannah Potrykus paced the team with three assists in those four games.
- Junior forward Julia Tylke is SCSU's career points leader against MSU with eight (4+4) in eight games. She and Erickson are tied for the team's active goals leader in the in-state rivalry with four apiece.
- SCSU was 3-11-2 away from home last season, including a 1-0-1 mark against MSU.
- LAST TIME OUT: In their last outings, the Huskies were shutout in back-to-back games and swept by No. 4 Ohio State in their WCHA season-opening series via a pair of 4-0 setbacks. SCSU has started slow offensively this season and is without a goal in its last 245:24 of play and has been shutout in four straight contests, five of six games and 17 of 18 periods.
- Despite being shutout twice, SCSU charted 26 shots on goal in both games against the Buckeyes—which tied for their second-highest offensive efforts of the season.
- RETURNING FIREPOWER: St. Cloud State returns 75 percent of its goals and 71 percent of its total offensive production from last season, including its top four goal-scorers and point-getters—Tylke, Friesen, Erickson and Potrykus—and six of its top eight scorers, overall.
- SWISS SENSATION: Sophomore goaltender Janine Alder is off to a strong start in her second season. The former Swiss olympian boasts a .926 save percentage in three starts, which ranks fourth in the WCHA. She put together back-to-back 30-plus save outings, including a personal and team high 44 in last Friday's game against OSU.
- POLUSNY PROSPERING: Freshman goaltender Emma Polusny is second among WCHA rookies in both save percentage (.901) and goals-against average (3.35) in three starts.
- CREASE CREATURES: St. Cloud State's goaltending duo rank one and two in the WCHA in saves per appearance. Alder averages 33.3 saves per game, while Polusny turns away an average of 30.3 shots per contest.
- SILKY TYLKE: With two points (2+0) in the Huskies' first six games, Tylke enters this series with 46 career points (23+23)—just four shy of the 50 career points plateau. Tylke is SCSU's active career scoring leader and has the chance to become the 24th player in program history to reach the 50-point mark and just the fourth to do so since the 2012-13 season.
- FRIESEN THE PHENOM: Sophomore forward Kayla Friesen came on in a big way for SCSU during the second half of last season, which she has continued with a team-leading two assists in the team's first six games. After scoring four goals and seven points in the first half, she led the team with eight assists and 11 points over the Huskies final 16 games. The Winnipeg, Manitoba native finished the season ranked No. 6 in points, No. 5 in goals and assists among WCHA rookies.
- WELCOME TO SCSU: The Huskies roster includes a total of 12 new faces this season—including nine freshman, which is tied with Bemidji State for the most in the conference, as well as two transfers and a redshirt player from last season.
- WCHA COACHES POLL: After securing its best back-to-back conference finishes in seven years last season, the WCHA coaches picked St. Cloud State to place sixth in the league this year. SCSU finished sixth in 2016-17 with 26 league points and a 7-18-3-2 conference record. The Huskies have equaled or bettered their preseason pegging in each of their first three seasons under head coach Eric Rud.
- TWO DECADES OF HUSKIES HOCKEY: The 2017-18 season marks the 20th in St. Cloud State women's hockey history. In that time, the Huskies have produced one NCAA Div. I All-American (Felicia Nelson, 2010), one Patty Kazmaier top-10 finalist (Felicia Nelson, 2010), 16 All-WCHA selections and 27 WCHA Scholar Athletes. SCSU has won 200 games in its history and has appeared in a pair of WCHA Final Face-Offs (2006, 2008).
- HOCKEY DAY MINNESOTA 2018: For the second-straight year, the SCSU women will be featured on Hockey Day Minnesota as the city of St. Cloud hosts the 2018 event. The Huskies will play outdoors at Eastman Park on the shores of Lake George on Saturday, January 20 at 1 p.m. against WCHA and in-state rival Minnesota Duluth. The contest will be televised live by Fox Sports North. This year marks the first time an NCAA Div. I women's hockey game will be played outside as part of the State of Hockey's state-wide celebration of the sport.
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