St. Cloud State men's hockey upsets #2 ranked Minnesota State, 7-2

Saturday, December 28

Minneapolis, Minn.

4:00 p.m.

St. Cloud State

6-7-4, 3-5-0-0

Minnesota State University - Mankato

15-3-1, 10-2-0-0

St. Cloud State

Minnesota State

Zach Okabe

Photo by: Bill Prout

St. Cloud State men's hockey upsets #2 ranked Minnesota State, 7-2

12/28/2019 6:34:00 PM | Men's Hockey

Box Score

SCSU to face Minnesota in title game on Dec. 29

The St. Cloud State University men's hockey team (6-7-4) rolled to an impressive 7-2 victory over #2 ranked Minnesota State University (15-3-1) in the first round of play at the Mariucci Classic on Saturday, Dec. 28. The game was played at 3M Arena at Mariucci in Minneapolis, Minn.

SCSU will now advance to the title game of the Mariucci Classic, which will be played on Sunday, Dec. 29 against Minnesota. SCSU and Minnesota will play the title game at 7 p.m. at 3M Arena at Mariucci.

The spotlight in the game against Minnesota State was directed at SCSU rookie forward Zach Okabe, who scored four goals in the contest, including the first three goals of the game to set the tempo early for the Huskies.

Okabe opened the day's scoring at 5:22 of the first period with a goal to make it 1-0. Assists on the play were added by linemates Jami Krannila and Chase Brand. This was Okabe's first collegiate point and first collegiate goal.

The scoring continued at 16:08 of the first period as Okabe posted his second goal with assists from Krannila and Brand.

In the second period, Okabe earned the natural hat trick with his third marker of the game at 1:38. Assists on the goal were added by Nolan Walker and Krannila. The goal proved to be the game winner for the Huskies.

SCSU junior forward Easton Brodzinski then stepped into the spotlight with his seventh goal of the season at 3:30 of the second. Walker and Sam Hentges each had assists on the play. Hentges now has 15 assists this season and a team leading 22 points. This was also Walker's six assist of the season.

The Mavericks finally broke the shutout at 5:45 of the second with an unassisted goal by Parker Toumie. SCSU quelled the MSU comeback at 7:17 of the second with Okabe's fourth goal of the game that was assisted by Ondrej Trejbal and Krannila.

Of note, Okabe is the first SCSU player to score four goals in a game since Joey Benik had four vs. Western Michigan on Nov. 14, 2015. The assist for Krannila was his fourth of the game and his seventh of the season. The last SCSU player to post four helpers in a game was Jack Ahcan at Alaska on Oct. 13, 2018.

The Huskies' roll continued in the second with their sixth goal of the night by Jake Wahlin at 11:25. Spencer Meier and Trejbal each had assists on the play, which was Wahlin's second goal of the season.

In the third period, MSU's Jack McNeely scored at 7:52 to narrow the gap to 6-2, but an unassisted goal by SCSU's Micah Miller at 10:38 of the third made the final tally 7-2.

This was the first time SCSU had seven goals in a game since posting an 8-2 win at Western Michigan on Mar. 2, 2019.

In the game, SCSU outshot the Mavericks 25-18. SCSU was 0-of-3 on the power play and 1-of-1 on the penalty kill in the game. SCSU has not allowed a power play goal in a game since Nov. 23 at North Dakota.

In the nets, Jaxon Castor gained his first start as a Husky and also gained the win with 16 saves to his credit. This was his first win as a college goalie at SCSU.