St. Cloud State men's hockey to finish regular season home schedule vs. Denver

Friday, February 28

St. Cloud, Minn.

7:37 p.m.

St. Cloud State

University of Denver

Buy Tickets

Nick Perbix

St. Cloud State men's hockey to finish regular season home schedule vs. Denver

2/26/2020 8:33:00 PM | Men's Hockey

The St. Cloud State men's hockey team (12-12-6, 9-9-2 NCHC) will complete its regular season home schedule on Feb. 28 and Feb. 29 with a pair of NCHC games against the #6 University of Denver (19-8-5, 9-7-4 NCHC) at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud, Minn. The game on Feb. 28 will start at 7:37 p.m. and the game on Feb. 29 will begin at 6:07 p.m.

FOLLOW THE HUSKIES:
TICKETS: scsutickets.com or call 1-877-SCSUTIX
RADIO: The River 96.7 FM or KVSC FM 88.1
TELEVISION: CBS Sports Network (Friday) and Fox Sports North Plus (Saturday)
LIVE STATS: SCSU Live Stats
NOTES: SCSU Notes

SCSU HUSKIES HOCKEY HEADLINES:

TICKET TIME:  For complete details on tickets for all 2019-20 home games at the Herb Brook National Hockey Center, please call 1-877-SCSUTIX or visit www.scsutickets.com

FLASH SALE: Specially priced FLASH SALE tickets are available for the upcoming SCSU games vs. DU on Feb. 28-29. Fans can purchase Flash Sale tickets for just $10 in sections 201, 202, 206, 213 and 214 at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center. The game on Feb. 28 will begin at 7:37 p.m. and the game on Feb. 29 is slated to start at 6:07 p.m.  To obtain these specially priced tickets, please visit scsutickets.com
To Get the deal, Click on the game you want, Click GROUP SALES tab, Select Seating Section & Number of Seats you want. For more details, please call the SCSU Athletic Ticket Office at 1-877-SCSUTIX or 320-308-2137.

CONNECT WITH THE HUSKIES:  Fans can follow their Huskies this week by listening to the live broadcast on The River 96.7 FM (www.river967.com) out of St. Cloud with Jim Erickson and Dave Reichel on the call.  Fans can also listen on KVSC FM 88.1 (www.kvsc.org).

CBS SPORTS NETWORK IN TOWN: The Herb Brooks National Hockey Center will be in the national spotlight on Feb. 28 as the CBS Sports Network will televise the Huskies' game that night vs. Denver live.  The telecast will feature the call by CBS Sports Network's Ben Holden, Dave Starman and Shireen Saski.

WATCH THE HUSKIES ONLINE: Fans can watch SCSU's home game on Feb. 29 nd NCHC road games online at NCHC.tv/scsu  -  This is a pay per view online video streaming service.

TOP 20 RESULTS:  SCSU is 6-5-2 in games played against top 20 ranked teams this season, which includes a weekend sweep over Minnesota Duluth on Jan. 17-18 and a five point weekend vs. #1 UND on Feb. 21-22.  SCSU has also gained wins this season over nationally ranked #3 Minnesota State, #11 Northeastern and #19 Northern Michigan and a 3-3 tie against NMU.  Denver enters this week ranked sixth nationally and the Pioneers scored a 6-3 and 5-3 sweep of the Huskies in Denver on Jan. 10-11.

WHERE DO WE STACK UP:  The Huskies currently sit in fifth place in the NCHC standings this week with an 9-9-2 NCHC record.  SCSU has 30 league points.  Denver is in 4th place with 34 points and Western Michigan is in 3rd place with 35 points.  UND sits atop the NCHC with 47 points and UMD currently sits in 2nd place with 41 points.  Omaha (24), CC (15) and Miami (14) round out the bottom three spots in the NCHC.  Of note, the top 4 spots in the final regular season standings gain home ice in the upcoming NCHC first round playoffs...in this week's Pairwise Ranking, SCSU is 22nd, while UND is #4.

PLAYOFF NOTE: SCSU is battling for home ice in the first round of the NCHC playoffs.  Since the league formed in 2013-14, SCSU has hosted first round games in 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2019.  SCSU has been on the road for the playoffs in 2015 and 2017.  SCSU has advanced to the Frozen Face-off in 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019.

LAST WEEK:  The Huskies charted a five-point weekend against NCHC leader North Dakota (ranked #1 at the time SCSU played it) with a 3-3 OT tie on Feb. 21 and a 2-1 win on Feb. 22 at the HBNHC...in the 3-3 tie, SCSU's Jack Poehling had two goals and one assist in the contest, including the game tying goal at 7:07 of the third period.  Jack Ahcan scored SCSU's first goal of the night at 12:54 of the second period and Jack Poehling posted his first goal at 15:07 of the second to give the Huskies a 2-1 lead.  After scoreless OT sessions, the Huskies' Easton Brodzinski scored on his first attempt in the shootout.  David Hrenank stonewalled UND's shot attempt and the Huskies earned the extra league point.  Hrenak had 32 saves in the contest for SCSU...on Feb. 22, Jack Poehling added the game winning tally at 5:54 of the third period as SCSU's first goal of the night was posted on the PP by Spencer Meier at 6:46 of the first.  Hrenak was impressive in the nets with 29 saves for SCSU.  On special teams, SCSU was 1-of-3 on the power play and 4-of-4 on the penalty kill.

POSTSEASON HONORS CANDIDATE:  Jack Ahcan, a two time NCHC Defensive Player of the Week this season, joined SCSU's elite 100-point club on Feb. 8.  Ahcan now has 101 career points (21g/80a) and is third on the Huskies' career points by a defenseman list.  SCSU's all-time leader on defense is Jimmy Schuldt, who had 118 points from 2015-19. Ahcan also ranks 11th in the team records with 80 career assists and 33rd with 101 points.  He is the 34th player (all games played at the DI level) to join the 100 point club.  He currently ranks 3rd on the team this winter with 23 points and 16 assists.  Ahcan is tied for the team record for most assists by a defenseman at 80.  Schuldt and Ethan Prow both had 80 assists during their college careers at SCSU.

WORKING OVERTIME: SCSU has played overtime hockey in three of its last four games.  The Huskies' shootout win over UND on Feb. 21 was just the second time that SCSU has won a shootout and the team is now 2-8 in NCHC shootouts.  SCSU previous shootout win was at Miami on Nov. 30, 2019 as Blake Lizotte scored the deciding goal in that game...SCSU has now played in 10 OT games this season and it has posted a 2-2-6 record in those OT games this season...the most OT games in a season for the Huskies was 12 in 2006-07.  SCSU also played in 11 OT games in 2017-18 and 10 OT games in 2005-06, 2006-07, 2010-11 and 2011-12...the most tie games in a season for the Huskies (during the DI era) is seven ties in 2006-07 (22-11-7).

ROLLING ALONG: In the last six games, SCSU owns a stellar 4-0-2 record.  The six game unbeaten stretch is the longest for the Huskies since charting a 13-game unbeaten streak from Feb. 1, 2019 to March 22, 2019.  SCSU has not lost a game on home ice since a 4-3 setback against Omaha in OT on Dec. 14, 2019, and the last time SCSU has lost on home ice in regulation time was a 5-2 loss to Colorado College on Nov. 16, 2019.  SCSU is 7-5-2 in games at the HBNHC in 2019-20.

HARDWARE STORE: Junior goalie David Hrenak received the NCHC Goalie of the Week award on Feb. 24 for his play vs. UND.  In the weekend series, Hrenak made 61 saves vs. #1 UND and allowed only four goals. He also posted the stop on UND's shootout attempt to give SCSU the extra league point on Feb. 21.  Hrenak is 11-8-6 this season with a 2.67 GAA and a .906 save rate.  He is tied for the team's career shutout record with nine ranks fourth in the team records with 48 wins and ninth with 1891 saves.  He has earned NCHC Goalie of the Week honors twice during the 2019-20 season.

THE NOTEBOOK:  Did you know that Nick Poehling brings a seven-game point streak into the UND series?  Well now you know...he has 11 points to his credit in the last seven consecutive games.  The last time he did not make the scoresheet was on Jan. 24 at WMU...Jack Achan has six multi-point games this season...Jack Poehling paces the SCSU roster this season with a +12 on the all-important plus/minus.

LEAP OF FAITH: Of note, SCSU is 0-2 in games played on Feb. 29 (Leap Day) during the DI era.  (4-1 loss to Minnesota on 2/29/92 and 2-1 loss to Wisconsin on 2/29/08). This important game note courtesy of Jim Erickson, the Voice of the Huskies.

ON DECK:  SCSU will travel to Minnesota Duluth on March 6-7.  SCSU is finishing its 2019-20 schedule with a rugged stretch of games.  On Feb. 21-22, the Huskies played North Dakota (ranked #1 at the time), on Feb. 28-29, the Huskies will host #6 Denver and then finish the regular season with a weekend set against #5 Minnesota Duluth...SCSU is looking to obtain home ice in the upcoming NCHC playoffs.  The Huskies have been at home for the first round of the NCHC playoffs in 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2019.

OPPONENT NOTES:  SCSU assistant coach Mike Gibbons was an assistant coach for the Pioneers from 1990-94... SCSU is 2-3-0 in the last five games and 3-6-1 in the last 10 games played against Denver... The Huskies are 45-53-6 in the all-time series against Denver, which dates back to an 8-4 victory by the Pioneers over SCSU on Nov. 29, 1988...David Carle is the coach at Denver in 2019-20...last weekend, DU gained a sweep at home against Miami by scores of 7-3 and 7-0...earlier this season, SCSU lost a weekend series at DU by scores of 6-3 and 5-3 on Jan. 10-11, 2020...last year, SCSU posted a pair of 4-3 wins over Dennver at the HBNHC on Nov. 9-10, 2018...SCSU did not play at Denver in 2018-19...SCSU is 21-21-4 in games played against Denver at the HBNHC...Emilio Pettersen leads DU with 10g/21a and Ian Mitchell has 8g/19a...Magnus Chrona is leading DU in the nets with a 2.25 GAA and .916 save rate. He is 14-6-3 this season...Nolan Walker has scored 2g/6a during his career vs. Denver.