#9 St. Cloud State men's hockey loses close 4-3 match vs. #4 North Dakota

Wednesday, December 16

Omaha, Neb.

7:35 p.m.

St. Cloud State

University of North Dakota

Easton Brodzinski scores vs. UND on Dec. 16.

Photo by: Mark Kuhlmann/Omaha Athletics

#9 St. Cloud State men's hockey loses close 4-3 match vs. #4 North Dakota

12/16/2020 10:40:00 PM | Men's Hockey

Box Score

In a battle of two of the nation's top 10 men's college hockey teams, #9 St. Cloud State University (4-3-0, 4-3-0 NCHC) lost a close 4-3 overtime showdown against #4 North Dakota (5-2-1, 5-2-1 NCHC) on Wednesday, Dec. 16 at the NCHC Pod in Omaha, Neb.

Down by a 3-1 tally late in the second period, St. Cloud State rallied to score two unanswered goals to tie the game up in the third period and force the 3x3 overtime session. The loss in OT did provide the Huskies with one point in the NCHC standings, which moves their season total to 13 behind first place Minnesota Duluth with 18 and North Dakota with 14.

UND opened the night's scoring at 2:15 of the first period with a goal by Mark Senden. SCSU broke the ice later in the game with a goal by senior forward Easton Brodzinski at 16:08 with assists from Chase Brand and Brendan Bushy. This was Brodzinski's third goal of the season and his 45 career goal at SCSU. Brand also added his first point of the season with his assist on the play.

The Fighting Hawks charged back at 7:54 of the second period with a PPG by Shane Pinto. This was just the third power play goal allowed by the Huskies this season. SCSU still owns an impressive ratio on the penalty kill at 89.7% (26-of-29) in 2020-21.

UND then extended its lead to 3-1 with a goal by Collin Adams at 17:34 of the second period. The Huskies stopped the rally in the closing minute of play in the second with a backhanded goal by junior defender Nick Perbix, who earned the game's third star of the night. Perbix scored at 19:02 of the second with an assist from Zach Okabe. Perbix also leads the team this winter with three goals and six points. A draft pick of Tampa Bay, Perbix now has 12g/29a in his career.

In the third period, SCSU tied the contest at 4:43 with a goal by Veeti Miettinen. He was assisted on the play by Jami Krannila that made the tally 3-3. This was Miettinen's second goal of 2020-21.

Both teams battled to a draw for the remainder of the game, thus forcing the 3-on-3 OT session to determine the final outcome. The OT was shortlived as UND's Jordan Kawaguchi scored at :08 of the extra period with a solo assist to Shane Pinto.

In the contest, SCSU outshot UND 27-21, as David Hrenak was the Huskies' goalie of record with 17 saves in the game. SCSU was 0-of-3 on the power play in the game and 3-of-4 on the penalty kill.

The Huskies will continue play at Baxter Arena in Omaha at the NCHC pod with a game against Colorado College on Friday, Dec. 18 at 7:35 p.m. Fans can watch the game at NCHC.tv/scsu and they can listen to the game on The River 96.7 FM or KVSC FM 88.1