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St. Cloud State
University of Minnesota Duluth
#6 SCSU men's hockey to host #4 Minnesota Duluth on Jan. 2-3
12/30/2020 2:28:00 PM | Men's Hockey
The #6 St. Cloud State University men's hockey team (6-3-0, 6-3-0 NCHC) will open its 2020-21 home schedule this weekend with a pair of games at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center against #4 ranked Minnesota Duluth (5-2-2, 5-2-2 NCHC). The game on Saturday, Jan. 2 is scheduled to begin at 6:07 p.m. and the game on Sunday, Jan. 3 is scheduled to begin at 4:07 p.m.
NO SPECTATORS AT THE HBNHC:Â Due to current COVID 19 policies, there will be no spectators allowed in the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center for the games on Jan. 2-3 in St. Cloud, Minn.
FOLLOW THE HUSKIES:
TV:Â Fox9+ (Jan. 2) and Spectrum Cable Channels 426/823 (Jan. 3)
LIVE STREAM: NCHC.tv/scsu
RADIO: The River 96.7 FM and KVSC FM 88.1
LIVE STATS: SCSU Live Stats
NOTES: SCSU Weekly Notes
FOLLOW THE HUSKIES THIS WEEKEND:Â SCSU fans can watch all of the games this weekend online at NCHC.tv/scsu - this PPV online streaming service will also carry NCHC games throughout 2020-21.Â
ON THE TV: The SCSU-UMD game on Jan. 2 will be televised live on FOX9+, and the Jan. 3 game will be televised live on Spectrum Cable Channel 426/823. Jim Rich and Pat Micheletti will make the call from the HBNHC and SCSU's award winning Husky Productions will provide complete production services on these games.
LISTEN TO THE HUSKIES: All St. Cloud State games will be broadcast on The River 96.7 FM out of St. Cloud, Minn. Fans can listen online at river967.com - once again Jim Erickson will provide play-by-play of the games along with color commentary from SCSU All-American Dave Reichel...the games this weekend vs. UMD will also be broadcast live on KVSC FM 88.1 (www.kvsc.org) with Drew Steele and Blake Thiesen on the call.
IN THE POLLS: The Huskies were ranked #6 in both the USCHO.com and USA Hockey/USA Today men's hockey Division I polls this week. This marked the second consecutive week that SCSU has been ranked #6 in the polls.
LAST YEAR: The Huskies posted a 13-15-6 overall record in 2019-20 and placed fifth in the always rugged NCHC with a 10-12-2 conference record. SCSU's season was ended early before the start of the NCHC playoffs due to the COVID 19 crisis. Of note, SCSU was 7-5-2 in its last 14 games of the season that included key wins over nationally ranked Minnesota Duluth, North Dakota and Denver - all were ranked among the nation's top 10 teams at the time.
BY THE NUMBERS: SCSU lost six players from its 2019-20 roster, which includes seniors Jack Ahcan, Jack Poehling, Nick Poehling, Clark Kuster and Jake Wahlin...SCSU will return a total of 21 players from its 2019-20 roster. This list of veterans includes six returning seniors, six juniors and nine sophomores...SCSU brings back 3 goalies, 7 defense and 11 forwards...SCSU newcomers include two defenseman and four forwards
DID YOU KNOW? SCSU head coach Brett Larson owns an unbeaten record against six teams in the NCHC. He is 6-2-0 in play against Omaha, 6-2-2 in play against CC, 5-3-0 in play against Western Michigan, 8-0-2 against Miami, 6-4-0 vs. Denver and 5-4-0 vs. UMD. The lone team that he does not have a winning record against during his time at SCSU is North Dakota, and he is 3-4-1 in games vs. UND during his career.
LAST RESULTS: In the NCHC pod, SCSU completed play in Omaha with a 2-1 record during the last week of competition. On Dec. 16, SCSU lost a 4-3 overtime match against North Dakota and then followed that game with a 4-3 overtime win against Colorado College on Dec. 18. To end its run at the pod, SCSU posted a 3-1 victory over Denver on Dec. 20...of note, SCSU is now 12-3-0 in games played at Omaha's Baxter Arena since it opened in 2015.
OPPONENT NOTES: In play against UMD, the Huskies own a 72-54-9 series lead dating back to 1946-47. SCSU is 69-50-8 during the Division I era of the season. In the last five games of this series, SCSU owns a 2-3-0 edge and 6-4-0 in the last 10 games of the series...in the last meeting between these two teams, SCSU lost by a weekend series at UMD by scores of 4-1 and 6-1 on March 6-7, 2020...in the last meeting in St. Cloud, SCSU scored a 2-1 and 2-0 weekend sweep over UMD at the HBNHC on Jan. 17-18, 2020... SCSU head coach Brett Larson is a former assistant coach at UMD and also played collegiate hockey for the Bulldogs..SCSU is 10-9-2 in games played at the Amsoil Arena ....Coach Larson is 5-4-0 in games played against UMD during his career at SCSU...Easton Brodzinski has 3g/2a vs. UMD during his collegiate career...David Hrenak is 6-5-0 in play against UMD during his career...Nick Swaney leads UMD this season with 12 points (3g/9a) and Kobe Roth paces the Bulldogs with five goals this winter...Ryan Fanti is UMD's top netminder with a 4-2-2 record (2.20 GAA and a .917 save rate).
AND THE AWARD GOES TO: Nick Perbix was named the NCHC Defensive Player of the Week and Veeti Miettinen was named the NCHC Rookie of the Week on Dec. 21. This marks the first two NCHC weekly awards claimed by the Huskies in 2020-21. This was Miettinen's first NCHC award and Perbix' second NCHC weekly award. Perbix also earned Rookie of the Week accolades during the 2018-19 campaign at SCSU.
COMEBACK KIDS: The Huskies' 4-3 OT decision over Colorado College saw SCSU overcome a 3-0 deficit in the contest. The last time SCSU recovered from a three-goal deficit to win a game was on Oct. 1, 2017 after trailing 3-0 vs. UAF, the Huskies won the game 6-3.
TICKETS IN 2020-21: Due to the COVID 19 crisis, there will be no ticket availability for home games at St. Cloud State University on Jan. 2-3. Please contact the SCSU Athletic Ticket Office during regular business hours on Monday-Friday at 1-877-SCSUTIX for more information regarding tickets for future home games this season. Updated information regarding game dates and times will also be available on the well liked SCSU website at scsuhuskies.com
NEW ONLINE FAN APP: The new St. Cloud State Huskies mobile fan app is now available! You can download the app at The App Store or the Google Play. The app offers complete information on SCSU athletics, fun games and great deals - all through the convenience of your mobile device from anywhere in the world (or at least where you get cell coverage).
TWICE AS NICE:- Sam Hentges lit the lamp twice during SCSU's 4-3 victory over CC. This marked the first time this season that a SCSU player has scored more than one goal in a game. The last time Hentges scored more than one goal in a game was on Oct. 25, 2018 - a hat trick vs. Boston College...Hentges' goals vs. CC were his 20th and 21st career goals at SCSU, and also his 50th and 51st career points at SCSU.
ON A ROLL: Veeti Miettinen enters this week's games with a three-game goal scoring streak under his belt. Miettinen has charted goals in consecutive games vs. UND, CC and DU. He leads the Huskies this winter with two power play goals and also notched his first career game winner vs. Denver on Dec. 20, 2020.
OFFENSE ON DEFENSE: Despite his status as a blueliner, Nick Perbix is SCSU's current offense leader with four goals, five assists and nine points this season. He also ranks second on the team with a +5 ranking, while defensive linemate Seamus Donohue leads the squad at +6. In his career, Perbix has 13g/31 in 82 games played.
MILESTONE ALERT: The Huskies' next victory will be Brett Larson's 50th career win as a head coach at SCSU. In three seasons at SCSU, Larson is 49-24-9. In comparison, Bob Motzko took 92 games to win his 50th game with the Huskies and Craig Dahl took 119 games to win his 50th at SCSU... Â
KILLING TIME: SCSU has been impressive on the PK this season. The Huskies lead the NCHC at 91.70% (33-of-36) on the PK and have only allowed PPGs vs. nationally ranked DU and UND. Of note, SCSU's current team record for best PK% in a season was 87.3% in 2007-08. Last year, SCSU's PK% was 79.1%. In 2018-19, SCSU set a team record for fewest PPGs allowed in a season with 17.
SCSU NOTES: Easton Brodzinski continues his march toward 100 career points. He currently ranks first among active SCSU players for career points with 87 (45g/42a). He also has 334 career shots on goal and that ranks 15th in the team records. Garrett Roe is SCSU's all-time shot leader with 474 from 2007-11...SCSU set a team game-low with only 15 shots allowed vs. CC. Jaxon Castor won his second game of the year in the win over CC and he now has 1.65 GAA and a .919 save rate this winter for the Huskies...SCSU is 3-0-0 this season when Kevin Fitzgerald scores a goal.
DRAFT STATUS: SCSU has four NHL draft picks on its roster this year including Nick Perbix (Tampa), Sam Hentges (Minnesota), David Hrenak (Los Angeles) and Veeti Miettinen (Toronto).
TRANSFER POWER: SCSU will welcome in two senior transfers to its roster this year (Seamus Donohue from Michigan Tech and Jared Cockrell from Colgate). Cockrell scored 23g/29a during his time at Colgate and Donohue had 7g/48a during his tenure in Houghton.
SCSU MEN'S HOCKEY QUICK HITS:
- Nick Perbix ranks 5th in the nation among NCAA DI blueliners with a scoring average of 1.00 ppg (4g/5a).The Huskies have scored 4-or-more goals in five of their nine games this season.Â
- SCSU currently ranks 17th in the nation with a 3.22 goals per game scoring rate.Nick Perbix lead the team this season on the +/- at +5
- Seamus Donohue leads SCSU with 17 blocked shots this season, which equals an impressive 1.9 blocks per game this season. Last year, Jack Ahcan and Nick Perbix shared the team's blocked shot lead with 55 apiece, which equalled 1.6 blocks per game. Of note, two-time All-American Jimmy Schuldt had a team-leading 78 blocked shots during his senior season in 2018-19, which equalled 2.0 blocked shots per game that season.
- Zach Okabe, Veeti Miettinen, Nick Perbix and Easton Brodzinski all currently own 3-game point scoring streaks headed into the series vs. UMD.
- The last time that SCSU has lost a game to UMD at the HBNHC was a 5-3 setback on Nov. 5, 2016. Since that game, SCSU has posted a 6-0-0 record vs. UMD at the HBNHC and that includes a series sweep last year by scores of 2-1 and 2-0 on Jan. 17-18, 2020. Of note, David Hrenak had 27 saves in that shutout win vs. the Bulldogs last winter in St. Cloud, Minn.
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