Insider: Familiarity breeds postseason comfort for St. Cloud State

ST. CLOUD—In all of his years involved in hockey, St. Cloud State women's hockey head coach Eric Rud said he has never seen anything like what his team has experienced in each of his now first three postseasons behind the Huskies bench.

Bizarrely, in each of its last three campaigns, SCSU (9-21-4, 7-18-3-2 WCHA) has played the same team on the final regular season weekend and then again in the first round of the WCHA Playoffs. This year for sixth-seeded St. Cloud State, that means an immediate road rematch against third-seeded No. 2 Minnesota Duluth and Rud believes the Huskies will have a "certain comfort level" in the best-of-three series.

"You're not trying to process a whole different ball of wax," Rud said. "There is nothing new. You've just walked through everything about them the week before and not a lot of it is going to change."

"Now we can fine tune some things and hone in on little things that we didn't notice last week."

Oddities aside, St. Cloud State is seeking to snap a 14-game losing skid in WCHA postseason play that dates back to the 2009-10 season and advance to its first Final Face-off since 2008.

"There is no secret that this is the most important time of the year," Rud said. "I think we are ready to take that next step."

"Some how, some way you need one win in these first two games to get it to a game three," he added. "Because then we did what wasn't expected, we're having fun and the pressure mounts on them."

The Huskies were 0-4-0 against the Bulldogs this season, but two of those were one-goal games. They believe if they can create and convert more goal-scoring opportunities by playing simple hockey that they have a chance at the upset. In Rud's eyes, that means shooting at better areas to create chances off of rebounds and capitalizing on those second-chance opportunities.

"The small details of the game are the biggest ones," Rud said. "It is those little things that make the difference this time of year."

"The games have been tight and we've being in a good position in a lot of them," he added of the season series with UMD. "We've gotten better as the games have gone on, but just ran out of time."

If the Huskies play to their potential, maybe their time is now.

UP NEXT (WCHA Quarterfinals): St. Cloud State (9-21-4, 7-18-3-2 WCHA) at No. 2 Minnesota Duluth (22-5-5, 21-4-3-2 WCHA)

HOW TO FOLLOW:

SCSU POSTSEASON NOTES:

Bizarrely, this is the third-straight year that SCSU has faced the same team on the final regular season weekend and the first round of the postseason. The Huskies are 0-4 in the previous two such series.
The Huskies are seeking to end a 14-game losing streak in postseason play that dates back to the 2009-10 season. SCSU's last playoff win came on Feb. 26, 2010 against Bemidji State—a 3-0 game one victory in a series the Huskies eventually lost, two games to one.
By clinching sixth place in the WCHA this season, St. Cloud State ensured its highest back-to-back conference finishes since placing fourth and third, respectively, in the 2008-09 and 2009-10 campaigns. The Huskies finished fifth a season ago.

KEY NOTES TO CONSIDER:

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS: Third-seeded Minnesota Duluth comes into the postseason as the No. 2-ranked team in the nation and winners of nine of its last 12 games (9-1-2), including last weekend's sweep of the Huskies. The Bulldogs have advanced to the WCHA Final Face-off in two of the last three years. UMD is led by senior forward Lara Stalder, who paces the team with 19 goals, 28 assists and 47 points. Not far behind are her linemates—senior forward Ashleigh Brykaliuk and senior forward Katherine McGovern—who have 39 (16+23) and 33 (17+16) points this season, respectively. Sophomore goaltender Maddie Rooney has started every game in goal for the Bulldogs this season and boasts a 1.69 goals-against average and a .939 save percentage, the latter of which ranks fourth in the country.

ALL-TIME SERIES: St. Cloud State and UMD have met four times in the postseason and the Huskies are 1-3 in those games. The in-state rivals last playoff meeting was at the 2008 Final Face-off—a 9-0 SCSU loss. Overall, the Huskies are 11-62-5, all-time, against the Bulldogs, including 0-4-0 this season. They are 1-6-1 in its last four series against UMD. Their last road win in the series was a 4-1 triumph on Nov. 1, 2013.

REACHING NEW HEIGHTS: SCSU players continue to push new boundaries, offensively. This season 13 players established new or equaled career highs in one or more of goals, assists and points in a single season—including six seniors: Forward Lauren Hespenheide (assists, points), defenseman Caroline Markstrom (goals, assists, points), forward Kelsey Saelens (assists, points), defenseman Jenna Redford (assists, points), forward Payge Pena (goals, points) and defenseman Christa Moody (goals).

FANTASTIC FRIESEN: Freshman forward Kayla Friesen notched the primary assist on Stewart's goal last Saturday against the Bulldogs and now has five points (2+3) in her last six games and nine (3+6) in her last 10. The Winnipeg, Manitoba native leads the team in assists (10) and is second in points (17). She is tied for fifth among WCHA rookies in points and assists and tied for second in goals (7).

SWISS SENSATION: Freshman goaltender Janine Alder continues to set the standard for rookie goaltenders at St. Cloud State. The Zurich, Switzerland native has started six-straight games and has a .941 save percentage over that span. On the season, she boasts a .929 save percentage and a 2.38 goals-against average. Her save percentage is on pace to set the SCSU single season record. She is also the first freshman to record multiple shutouts in a season (3) and her save percentage ranks ninth, nationally.

SILKY TYLKE: Sophomore forward Julia Tylke leads SCSU in points (19) and goals and is tied for second in assists (8). The Delafield, Wis., native is 14th among conference goal-scorers and is tied for 24th among point-getters.

POTRYKUS PROSPERING: Since returning from injury on January 6 against Colgate, sophomore forward Hannah Potrykus has 10 points (4+6) in 14 games, including three multi-point performances, which is tied with Friesen (3+7) for the team lead.

MAGNIFICENT MARKSTROM: Markstrom has been an offensive revelation on the blue line in her senior season. The Kovland, Sweden native leads all Huskies defenders with three goals and has set new career highs in goals (3), assists (2) and points (5).

CLASS of 2021: Eight players have signed National Letters of Intent to play for this Huskies this fall: forwards Emma Bigham (Minnetonka, Minn.), Laura Kluge (Berlin, Germany), Aubrey Pritchett (Orange, Calif.) and Megan Roe (Woodhaven, Mich.); defensemen Hannah Bates (Trenton, Mich.), Tatum Coats (Lakewood, Calif.) and Kenzie Wylie (Ham Lake, Minn.); and goaltender Emma Polusny (Mound, Minn.).

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