#1 St. Cloud State rolls to 8-2 victory at #10 Western Michigan

Saturday, March 2

Kalamazoo, MI

6:05 p.m. CT

St. Cloud State

25-4-3, 17-2-3-2

Western Michigan University

18-13-1, 11-10-1-1

St. Cloud State

Western Michigan

SCSU celebrates goal by Sam Hentges (#19)

#1 St. Cloud State rolls to 8-2 victory at #10 Western Michigan

3/2/2019 9:23:00 PM | Men's Hockey

Box Score

The #1 St. Cloud State University men's hockey team (25-4-3, 17-2-3 NCHC) continued its march through the NCHC with an 8-2 victory at #10 Western Michigan University (18-13-1, 11-10-1 NCHC) on Saturday, March 2.

The victory provided the Huskies with their 10th series sweep of the season and it was also the most goals scored by the Huskies in a game since 9-3 win over Colorado College on March 5, 2016.

Much like its victory over WMU in game one of the series, the Huskies scored early as Jacob Benson scored his fourth goal of the season at 2:38 of the first period with assists from Jon Lizotte and Jake Wahlin.

ICYMI - @SCSUHUSKIES_MH first period marker by Jacob Benson. That is his 4th goal of the year for the #1 Huskies. pic.twitter.com/tvoU5Jl9i6
— SCSU Men's Hockey (@SCSUHUSKIES_MH) March 3, 2019

Unlike the Friday game, SCSU continued its offensive surge in the first period with a goal by Luke Jaycox at 12:54 of the period with assists from Nolan Walker and Benson. The Huskies then stretched their lead to 3-0 with the eventual game winner charted by Blake Lizotte at 17:49 of the first with help from Robby Jackson and Jon Lizotte.

Make that a 2-0 lead! @SCSUHUSKIES_MH Luke Jaycox with goal at 12:54 of the 1st with assists from Walker and Benson makes score SCSU 2, WMU 0 on Mar. 2. #unleashSCSU #NCHCHockey #NCAAHockey pic.twitter.com/NEBBs2uyZt
— SCSU Men's Hockey (@SCSUHUSKIES_MH) March 3, 2019

In the second period, the Huskies rattled off four more unanswered goals to take a 7-0 lead by teh end of the period. The fireworks started with Blake Lizotte's goal at 9:14 of the second with assists from Jack Ahcan and Nick Perbix. This was Blake Lizotte's 13th goal of the year.

2nd period marker by @SCSUHUSKIES_MH Blake Lizotte makes the tally SCSU 4, WMU 0 at 9:14 of 2nd. Assists go to Ahcan and Perbix. pic.twitter.com/gj3ObecqDz
— SCSU Men's Hockey (@SCSUHUSKIES_MH) March 3, 2019

Sam Hentges lit the lamp for SCSU at 13:09 of the second period with his eighth goal of 2018-19. Easton Brodzinski and Ahcan each had assists on the play. The assist was Ahcan's team-leading 24th of the year.

ICYMI - 2nd period goal by Sam Hentges at 13:09, which gave SCSU a 5-0 lead. Following goals by Nick Poehling and Jack Poehling make it 7-0 late in 2nd pic.twitter.com/oGac64Y33q
— SCSU Men's Hockey (@SCSUHUSKIES_MH) March 3, 2019

At 14:26 of the second period, Nick Poehling scored his fifth goal of the year with a solo assist from Wahlin, which made the tally 6-0. Jack Poehling pushed the lead to 7-0 with his ninth goal of the year just seconds later at 14:59, as assists were credited to Ryan Poehling and Jaycox on the play.

WMU finally broke the shutout at 1:39 of the third period with a goal by Dawson DiPietro. The Huskies added one more goal in the third as Patrick Newell capped another strong weekend with his team-leading 18th goal of the season at 7:09 of the third. Blake Lizotte and Jackson each had assists on the play. Of note, Blake Lizotte finished his weekend in Kalamazoo with two goals and four assists. Newell had 2g/2a and Jackson had 2g/3a over the weekend at WMU.

ICYMI - Patrick Newell clicks on his team-leading 18th goal of the year (35th as a Husky) to give SCSU an 8-1 lead with 10:20 left in the 3rd. #NCHCHockey #CollegeHockey pic.twitter.com/kt3lXFyfA1
— SCSU Men's Hockey (@SCSUHUSKIES_MH) March 3, 2019

WMU finished the night with a goal by Wade Allison to make the final 8-2.

On the night, WMU outshot the Huskies 40-28. SCSU was 0-2 on the power play and the Huskies were perfect on the penalty kill at 3-3. Jeff Smith was the goalie of record for SCSU with 38 saves in the contest. Smith's performance was the most saves in a game by a SCSU goalie in 2018-19.

On the topic of penalty kill, SCSU has not allowed a PPG in its last four games and the Huskies currently rank third in the nation on the PK at 88.5% (92-of-104). The Huskies lead the nation with a scoring margin of 1.94 gpg and SCSU ranks second in the nation on offense with a scoring rate of 4.03 goals per game.

The Huskies will finish their 2018-19 regular season schedule with home games against Minnesota Duluth at the HBNHC on March 8-9. The game on March 8 will begin at 7:37 p.m. and the game on March 9 will begin at 4:07 p.m. A special senior salute and Penrose Cup celebration will take place at the March 9 game. Tickets for both games are available at www.scsutickets.com or by calling 1-877-SCSUTIX.