St. Cloud State
25-7-6
University of North Dakota
16-13-10
Poehling’s OT-winner pushes St. Cloud State past UND, 3-2
3/16/2018 8:07:00 PM | Men's Hockey
Sophomore forward’s heroics send Huskies to Saturday's Frozen Faceoff title game
ST. PAUL—Nick Poehling played hero for the St. Cloud State men's hockey team (25-7-6, 16-4-4 NCHC) on Friday as the sophomore forward netted the overtime-winner that sent the Huskies past North Dakota (16-13-10, 8-10-6), 3-2, and into Saturday's NCHC Frozen Faceoff title game.
With the win, top-seeded SCSU will play for the conference tournament crown for the third team in the league's five-year history. The Huskies will face the winner of second-seeded Denver and No. 3 Minnesota Duluth in Saturday's title tilt.
"I liked how we played tonight," head coach Bob Motzko said. "You're never not going to get an intense game from North Dakota."
Poehling's decisive moment came just 1:47 into the extra period. The Lakeville, Minn., native jumped on a turnover at the UND blue line and uncorked a wicked wrist shot for his seventh goal of the season and arguably the biggest of his collegiate career to date.
"I guess I got a little bit lucky," Poehling said. "This goal ranks pretty high for me. It was a good goal and hopefully we can keep it going."
The two rivals traded blows through regulation. SCSU never trailed in the contest, but never led by more than one goal and had to re-group after North Dakota's game-tying power play goal with just under 10 minutes left in regulation forced overtime.
The Huskies might not have made it to overtime, though, had it not been for the standout effort from its penalty killers. They blocked shots and stifled the Fighting Hawks on zone entries to go 4-for-5 for the game and killed off two early in the third period that had the potential to change the course of the contest.
"That put us back on our heels," Motzko said. "As well as we were playing, we were on the verge of getting knocked out of that game."
SCSU got itself going quickly as junior forward Patrick Newell finished a feed from sophomore defenseman Jack Ahcan to open the scoring 5:54 into the contest—a shift and a goal Motzko called "critical" for his team because they got the bench going and the players into the game at an early juncture.
North Dakota equalized just over four and a half minutes into the second period, but freshman forward Easton Brodzinski capitalized on a UND turnover just 74 seconds later to re-gain the lead and set the stage for the penalty kill's game-saving effort in the third period effort and Poehling's eventual overtime heroics.
"It was critical to counter like that and steal the momentum back," Motzko said.
St. Cloud State will meet either the Pioneers or Bulldogs for the NCHC conference championship on Saturday, March 17 at 7:38 p.m., at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. Tickets are available at nchchockey.com/tickets.
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