St. Cloud State men's hockey loses OT thriller against Omaha

Saturday, December 14

St. Cloud, Minn.

6:07 p.m.

St. Cloud State

Omaha

Jaxon Castor

St. Cloud State men's hockey loses OT thriller against Omaha

12/14/2019 9:12:00 PM | Men's Hockey

Box Score

The St. Cloud State University men's hockey team (5-7-4, 3-5-0 NCHC) saw its three-game winning streak snapped with a 4-3 overtime loss against Omaha (7-7-2, 2-5-1 NCHC) on Saturday, Dec. 14 at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud, Minn.

The Mavericks captured the victory with a goal at :11 of the overtime session by Zach Jordan, which included assists from Martin Sundberg and Nolan Sullivan. The goal broke up a tight contest that saw the Huskies battle back from an early 2-0 deficit in the first period.

The night's scoring opened at 2:05 of the opening period when Omaha's Jason Smallidge scored with assists from Kirby Proctor and Ryan Brushett. The Mavs pushed their lead to 2-0 after Sullivan scored at 3:26 of the first with assists from Sundberg and Jordan.

The Huskies lit the lamp for the first time in contest at 9:47 of the first period with a power play marker by Jami Krannila. Assists on the play were added by Nolan Walker and Nick Perbix. This was Krannila's third goal of the season and his first SCSU power play goal.

Omaha ended the first period offense with an unassisted goal by Teemu Pulkkinen at 18:40 that pushed the score to 3-1.

In the second period, SCSU narrowed Omaha's lead to 3-2 with an unassisted goal by Perbix at 16:21. This was Perbix' third goal of the season. The Huskies then tied the contest at 3-3 with a goal by Kevin Fitzgerald at 1:13 of the third period. Nick Poehling and Easton Brodzinski both had assists on the play, which was Fitzgerald's third goal of the campaign.

Neither team was able to gain the go ahead goal in regulation, which forced the shortlived overtime session. This marked the seventh time this season that SCSU has played in overtime and just the second time this season that the OT session ended in a loss for the Huskies.

In the game, SCSU outshot the Mavericks 32-27. David Hrenak made the start for SCSU and allowed three goals in 20 minutes of play. Freshman Jaxon Castor then made his college hockey debut at the start of the second period and collected 16 saves in 45 minutes of play. Isaiah Saville was the goal of record for Omaha with 29 saves to his credit. On the power play, SCSU was 1-4 and it was 1-1 on the penalty kill. In the last four games combined, SCSU is 11-of-11 on the penalty kill.

SCSU will next play at the Mariucci Classic on Dec. 28-29 at the 3M Arena at Mariucci in Minneapolis. SCSU opens tourney play with a game on Dec. 28 against Minnesota State, Mankato. Bemidji State and host Minnesota will play in the other first round game.