Huskies host Mavericks to open regular season

Friday, November 27

St. Cloud, Minn.

6:07 PM CST

St. Cloud State

Minnesota State

The Huskies open their season against Minnesota State this Thanksgiving wekeend

11/24/2020 4:30:00 PM | Women's Hockey

Game Notes

St. Cloud State women's hockey (0-0-0) welcomes Minnesota State (0-2-0) to the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center this weekend as the Huskies open their season on home ice. Puck drop Friday will be at 6:07 p.m. CST with a 3:07 p.m. CST start time Saturday. SCSU's originally-scheduled season opener last weekend against Bemidji State was postponed due to COVID-19 precautions.

"We have a lot of eager faces in the locker room," said Huskies head coach Steve Macdonald, "Freshmen, seniors and coaches alike. We're excited to get things going! It's been a promising, prolonged preseason if you will, but I feel as though our team is ready to go."

The Huskies lead the all-time series against Minnesota State with a 43-35-13 record. SCSU went 1-3-1 in five games with the Mavericks a year ago, with their lone win of the season series coming on the road in Mankato. Huskies forward Olivia Cvar scored three of her 10 goals against MSU, while two of Jenniina Nylund's four goals came versus the Mavericks.

Scouting the Huskies

Senior netminder and alternate captain Emma Polusny will lead the Huskies in 2020-21. "Po" lead the NCAA with 1108 saves last season and has posted a career .920 save percentage and a 3.00 goals-against average while earning Third Team All-WCHA honors in 2017-18. Klara Hymlarova earned WCHA All-Rookie Team honors last season after leading the team with 26 points on eight goals and 18 assists. Freshman center Emma Gentry is poised to make serious waves during her rookie season with SCSU. Gentry scored 50 goals and added 26 assists in 50 games for the 19U HoneyBaked club team last season while helping the United States win gold at the 2020 IIHF U18 Women's World Championships. Olivia Cvar led all WCHA freshmen in goals with 10 a season ago and finished with 15 points while earning WCHA Rookie of the Month honors in January of 2020. The Huskies' top returning goal-getter will be trusted to provide plenty of scoring in 2020-21. 2020-21 captain Kenzie Wylie recorded 36 blocks and four points last season. The senior will lead an upperclassmen-heavy defensive group including fellow senior Hannah Bates and juniors Taytum Geier and Olivia Hanson. Junior Jenniina Nylund has provided SCSU with 35 points in two seasons, including a 21-point freshman campaign in 2018-19 that saw her net eight goals and tack on 13 assists. Nylund has scored a game-winning goal in each of her two collegiate seasons.

The Huskies closed their preseason with the program's first-ever COVID Cup Intrasquad tournament, featuring four teams captained by juniors Jenniina Nylund, Allie Cornelius, McKenna Wesloh and Taytum Geier participating in a round-robin competition. Team Nylund won the regular-season competition with a 2-1 showing, scoring more goals throughout play than fellow 2-1 opponents Team Cornelius and Team Wesloh.

Scouting the Mavericks

Minnesota State was swept last weekend at the hands of No. 8 Minnesota-Duluth as they were shut out 5-0 Friday and fell 7-3 Saturday. Two of Minnesota State's goals came on the power play, going two-of-six with the advantage during the finale. MSU's PK was most impressive as they killed off nine of the Bulldogs' 11 power play chances throughout the series. Junior forward Madison Oelkers (Warroad, MN) recorded two points with a goal and an assist, while redshirt-junior defender Taylor Wemple added a pair of helpers.

"Mankato always plays a high-tempo, very aggressive style of game," Macdonald said, "It's going to be fast-paced in that regard, it's going to be a very physical game. We're expecting it to be a high-pressure game. They like to have a high volume of shots and maximize on the volume of shots so we'll have to be ready defensively for those situations. One thing you can always expect from Mankato is that they're going to be a hard-working, very physical team and they will apply a lot of pressure."

Three Keys to the Game

"Special teams is one that we're going to be eyeing on this week," said Macdonald, "Making sure our special teams are in order, and then D-zone. We're spending time on D-zone, breakout, special teams...those would be the three things we're really trying to key on as we go into Friday."

Broadcast Information

Live video coverage of the series can be found on FloHockey. KVSC 88.1 FM will be broadcasting both games live, web streaming is available by visiting KVSC.org and pressing the "Listen Live" button at the top of the page.

Game Week Press Conference