#6/7 SCSU Men's Hockey on the road to #5 Minnesota Duluth this weekend
1/6/2021 10:18:00 AM | Men's Hockey
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The #6/7 St. Cloud State University men's hockey team (7-4-0, 7-4-0 NCHC) will continue its 2020-21 season with a pair of games at #5 Minnesota Duluth (6-3-2, 6-3-2 NCHC) on Friday, Jan. 8 and Saturday, Jan. 9. The game on Jan. 8 is scheduled to start at 7:30 .m. and the game on Jan. 9 will start at 6:00 p.m. Both games will be played at Amsoil Arena in Duluth, Minn.
NO SPECTATORS AT AMSOIL:Â Due to current COVID 19 policies, there will be no spectators allowed at the games in Duluth on Jan. 8-9.
 FOLLOW THE HUSKIES THIS WEEKEND: 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. 8 will be televised live on CBS Sports Network, and the Jan. 9 game will be televised live on Fox9+.
 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.
 IN THE POLLS: The Huskies were ranked #6 in the USCHO.com and #7 in the 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 USCHO.com poll.
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Easton BrodzinskiLAST 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.
 OPPONENT NOTES: In play against UMD, the Huskies own a 73-55-9 series lead dating back to 1946-47. SCSU is 70-51-8 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 in Duluth, SCSU lost by a weekend series at UMD by scores of 4-1 and 6-1 on March 6-7, 2020...last weekend, SCSU posted a 4-3 OT loss on Jan. 2 and a 3-1 win on Jan. 3 at SCSU... 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 6-5-0 in games played against UMD during his career at SCSU...Easton Brodzinski has 5g/2a vs. UMD during his collegiate career...David Hrenak is 7-6-0 in play against UMD during his career...Nick Swaney leads UMD this season with 14 points (4g/10a) and Kobe Roth paces the Bulldogs withsix goals this winter...Ryan Fanti is UMD's top netminder with a 5-3-2 record (2.36 GAA and a .910 save rate).
 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.
 LAST RESULTS: SCSU opened its home schedule on Jan. 2 with a 4-3 OT loss to #4 Minnesota Duluth and replied on Jan. 3 with a 3-1 victory over the Bulldogs at the HBNHC. Easton Brodzinski scored two PPGs and Veeti Miettinen had one PPG in the game on Jan. 2, while Nick Perbix provided assists on all three goals to pace SCSU...Miettinen earned the #1 start on Jan. 3 by scoring two goals and one assist, while linemate Jami Krannila had the game winner and two assists in the contest. David Hrenak had the decision in net in both games, which included 28 saves on Jan. 3 and 27 saves on Jan. 2. Â
 HONOR ROLL: Nick Perbix was named the NCHC Defensive Player of the Week and Veeti Miettinen was named the NCHC Foward of the Week on Jan. 4. This marks the second NCHC Defenseman of the Week award for Perbix. Miettinen also won the NCHC Rookie of the Week honor on Dec. 21, 2020.
 TOP SPOT: Veeti Miettinen currently leads SCSU with seven goals and 13 points in 11 games played this season. He ranks first among NCHC forward and fourth among NCAA DI rookies with 1.18 ppg this winter and third among NCAA freshmen with seven goals scored. His 3 points vs. UMD equals a season game-high and his two goals is a new season game-high for Miettinen.
 GETTING CLOSER TO 100: Easton Brodzinski set a new season game-high with his two goals in the game vs. UMD on Jan. 2 and this marked the third time in his career that he has scored two goals in a game. Brodzinski now has 47g/42a for a total of 89 points in his career. He leads the club with 36 shots on goal this winter. Of note, Brodzinski ranks 11th in the team records with 20 power play goals during his career. He needs one more to equal his brother Jonny Brodzinski, who had 21 PPGs at SCSU from 2012-15. Jeff Saterdalen leads SCSU with 40 career PPGs (1988-92).
 FIRST TIME: Jami Krannila scored his first game winning goal as a Husky on Jan. 3. In two seasons with the Huskies, Krannila now has 8g/14a and he has 3g/5a this season.
 WINNER, WINNER:- David Hrenak posted his 54th career win on Jan. 3. He now ranks second in the team records ahead of Ryan Faragher, who had 53 wins from 2011-14. Hrenak's record at SCSU is 54-26-9. He is tied for the team's all-time shutout lead with nine, along with Scott Meyer (1996-01). On the topic of career records, Hrenak ranks fourth at SCSU with 2222 career saves. Brian Leitza (3500), Faragher (2501) and Mike O'Hara (2275) own the top three spots in the SCSU recordbook currently.
 HOT HAND: Veeti Miettinen enters this week's games with a five-game goal scoring streak under his belt. Miettinen has charted goals in consecutive games vs. UND, CC, DU and UMD (2). The last five-game goal streak by a Husky was posted by David Morley from Nov. 14-Nov. 29, 2015. This fact brought to by the accounting firm of Erickson & Erickson. Miettinen has 6g/3a in the last five games combined. Miettinen's 4 PPGs this season ranks third among NCAA DI players in 2020-21.
 A FORCE AT THE BLUELINE:Nick Perbix leads all NCAA blueliners with 12 points this season (4g/8a), and he ranks 4th in the nation with a scoring average of 1.09 ppg. His three assists vs. UMD was a new career single-game high, and it was his 4th multi-point game of the year.Â
 MILESTONE MET: Coach Brett Larson claimed his 50th career win as a head coach at SCSU on Jan. 3. In three seasons at SCSU, Larson is 50-25-9. 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
 IMPROVING PP: After a slow start on the power play this season (0-of-9 in first four games), SCSU has charted impressive special team numbers in its last four games played with seven power play goals (7-of-18) and a 38.9% power play rate during that four game stretch. This included 3 PPGs in the game on Jan. 2. The last time SCSU had three PPGs in a game was on Nov. 2, 2019 vs. Princeton.
 SCSU NOTEBOOK:Â
SCSU currently sits atop the NCHC standings with 22 points, while UMD and UND both rank second with 20 points and Omaha is in third with 19 points...Veeti Miettinen ranks first on the team with a +6. He is a 2020 draft pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs...SCSU will travel to Western Michigan for games on Jan. 15-16.
SCSU has outscored its opponents 35-29 in 2020-21. SCSU has outshot its opponents 321-301 this season too.
The Huskies were 8-6-2 at home in 2019-20 and 1-1-0 in 2020-21. The Huskies are 352-181-59 since the doors opened at the Brooks Center in 1989. Â
Brett Larson is the 17th head coach in the history of the men's hockey program at SCSU. Craig Dahl is the all-time SCSU win leader with 338 from 1987-2005. Of note, Craig Dahl was inducted into the SCSU Athletic Hall of Fame in 2013.
On the penalty kill, SCSU is 39-of-45 (86.7%) with only six PP goals allowed this season. SCSU's penalty kill rate of 86.7% ranks 14th in the nation and second in the always rugged NCHC.
Nick Perbix ranks first among DI blueliners with 12 points this season. He is averaging 1.09 points per game, which ranks fourth in the nation. Perbix has 4g/8a this season.
SCSU currently ranks 16th in the nation with a 3.18 goals per game scoring rate.
Seamus Donohue leads SCSU with 20 blocked shots this season, which equals an impressive 1.7 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.
SCSU's loss at the HBNHC to UMD on Jan. 2 broke a six-game win streak for the Huskies over UMD in St. Cloud. The last time that SCSU had lost a game to UMD at the HBNHC was a 5-3 setback on Nov. 5, 2016. Since that game, SCSU had posted a 6-0-0 record vs. UMD at the HBNHC and that included a series sweep last year by scores of 2-1 and 2-0 on Jan. 17-18, 2020.
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