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St. Cloud State
25-9-6
Air Force Academy
23-14-5
No. 1 St. Cloud State stifled by Air Force, 4-1, in NCAA Tournament loss
3/23/2018 6:33:00 PM | Men's Hockey
Huskies offense frustrated by Falcons in season-ending defeat
SIOUX FALLS, S.D.—Despite its best efforts late, a pair of early second period goals proved to be fatal for the No. 1 St. Cloud State men's hockey team (25-9-6, 16-4-4 NCHC) on Friday as its season came to disappointing end with a 4-1 loss to Air Force (23-14-5, 13-11-4 Atlantic Hockey) in the semifinals of the 2018 NCAA Tournament West Regional.
The defeat was the Huskies second-straight in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and just the second time in tournament history that a No. 16 team eliminated the top overall seed.
"I did not think I could ever hurt worse than when we lost to Ferris State a couple years ago but here we are," junior forward Robby Jackson said. "It sucks."
Trailing by two late, freshman forward Blake Lizotte briefly drew SCSU within one, 2-1, but the Falcons added a pair of empty netters in the final 94 seconds to bring a once-promising Huskies season to a bitter end.
After falling behind, 2-0, early in the second period, SCSU began pouring on the pressure but was unable to capitalize until it was too late. After jumping out to a lead, Air Force sold out in the defensive zone and did well to clog the shooting lanes.
The Huskies out-shot and out-attempted the Falcons by commanding 40-26 and 78-38 margins, respectively, but Air Force blocked an incredibly 29 shots and got a standout 39-save effort from its senior goaltender, Billy Christopoulos, to stifle the Huskies No. 4-ranked offense.
"It hurt to get down, but we did everything imaginable to get back into the game," head coach Bob Motzko said. "If one goes in the net, you could tell we were going to start going."
"It was not to be."
Motzko called Christopoulos's outing, which included a handful of highlight reel-worth saves, "one of the better goalie performances" he has seen in a long time.
"The chances we got were crazy," Motzko said. "We settled in, had confidence and were waiting for the goal to go in. It came a little too late."
"I am so proud of our guys this season and how we battled from start to finish."
To his credit, freshman goaltender David Hrenak did all he could to keep his team in the game. He stemmed the tide in the opening period, in which Motzko admitted his team played nervous, and finished with 22 saves—including standing tall against a trio of breakaway opportunities.
St. Cloud State finishes its 2017-18 season with a 25-9-6 record, which included a 16-4-4 mark in the NCHC that earned the program its second Penrose Cup as NCHC regular season champions. The NCAA Tournament loss was the final game for the Huskies trio of seniors: forwards Judd Peterson and Blake WIniecki and defenseman Mika Ilvonen.
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