St. Cloud State gains sweep over defending national champs with 2-0 win

Saturday, January 18

St. Cloud, Minn.

4:07 p.m.

St. Cloud State

8-10-4, 5-7-0NCHC

University of Minnesota Duluth

12-8-2, 7-3-2NCHC

Minnesota Duluth

St. Cloud State

St. Cloud State gains sweep over defending national champs with 2-0 win

1/18/2020 7:08:00 PM | Men's Hockey

Box Score

The St. Cloud State University men's hockey team (8-10-4, 5-7-0 NCHC) capped a stellar weekend at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center with a thrilling 2-0 win over #8 Minnesota Duluth (12-8-2, 7-3-2 NCHC) on Saturday, Jan. 18 in St. Cloud, Minn.

The victory provided SCSU with its second NCHC sweep of the season and it was SCSU's sixth consecutive win over the Bulldogs in St. Cloud.

In a classic defensive battle, St. Cloud State junior netminder David Hrenak notched his first shutout of the season and his eighth career shutout as a Husky. He is now tied for second on SCSU's all-time career shutout list along with Charlie Lindgren, who had eight shutouts from 2013-16. In the contest, Hrenak had 27 saves and improved his season record to 7-7-4.

The Huskies finally broke the shutout at 18:25 of the third period with a goal by Nick Poehling, who deflected a shot from the blueline by Jack Ahcan. Jack Poehling added the second assist on the goal, which was Nick Poehling's sixth of the season. Ahcan now has 14 assists this season and the point was his 96th career point with the Huskies.

St. Cloud State then iced the game at 19:25 of the third period with an unassisted empty net goal by Micah Miller. This was Miller's fourth goal of the season and it was SCSU's first empty net goal of the season.

Once again, SCSU's defensive effort was up for the challenge of playing the defending national champs as the Huskies posted 14 blocked shots on the day and a total of 29 blocked shots in the two-game series vs. UMD. Ahcan and Ondreji Trejbal paced the team with three blocked shots each. The SCSU penalty kill was also on point with a 2-of-2 rate against UMD.

The Huskies jumped from eighth placed in the NCHC standings at the start of the week to fifth place with the weekend sweep over the Bulldogs. SCSU will continue its 2019-20 season on Jan. 24-25 with a pair of road dates at Western Michigan University. Fans can follow allow the action in Kalamazoo on NCHC.tv/scsu and they can listen to the games live on The River 96.7 FM with Jim Erickson on the call.