Huskies Earn Road Win over #1/2 Minnesota State to Record Split

Saturday, October 9

Mankato, Minn.

6:00 P.M. CT

St. Cloud State

3-1-0

Minnesota State Mankato

3-1-0

St. Cloud St.

Minnesota St.

Huskies Earn Road Win over #1/2 Minnesota State to Record Split

10/9/2021 10:20:00 PM | Men's Hockey

Box Score

Walker, Salquist & Miettinen score for the Huskies, Hrenak makes 22 saves

MANKATO, Minn. – No. 2/1 St. Cloud State Men's Hockey (3-1-0, 0-0-0 NCHC) beat No. 1/2 Minnesota State (3-1-0, 0-0-0 CCHA), 3-1 on Saturday evening to earn a weekend split on the road in Mankato, Minn. The Huskies scored two goals in the first period and one in the second to upend the Mavericks, while senior goalie David Hrenak (Povazska Bystrica, Slovakia) once again played phenomenal, stopping 22 of 23 shots.

Special teams played a vital role in the game, as the Huskies were able to score on the power play once in four chances, while stopping all four of the Mavericks power play chances.

TURNING POINT

Senior forward Nolan Walker (Anchorage, Alaska) got the scoring started early, as he took the puck from the midline all the way to the net and beat the Maverick netminder just 3:20 into the first period. It was the spark the Huskies needed, as they were able to find the net again just three minutes later when freshman forward Mason Salquist (Grand Forks, N.D.) scored his first career goal off a rebound from sophomore forward Joe Molenaar (Minnetonka, Minn.).

TOP HUSKIES

Hrenak was outstanding in the net for the Huskies, stopping 22 of 23 shots from the Mavericks. In the two-game series, Hrenak stopped 50 of 52 shots to raise his save percentage to .961 on the season. Hrenak's record now stands at 69-34-9.
Walker led the team in points with two as scored a first period goal and assisted on a third period score.
Salquist recorded the game-winning goal with his first collegiate goal and led the team with three shots.

NOTES

After the weekend split, the all-time series between the two schools 58-61-13, while the Huskies improve to 11-7-3 in Mankato since moving to D-I prior to 1987-88.
The Huskies were successful on 1-of-4 power plays in the game and have now converted 47.4 percent (9-of-19) of power plays this season, the third-best mark in the nation.
Walker improved his career point mark to 66 with his 22^nd goal and 44^th assist.
Walker entered the game leading the nation in faceoffs won and recorded nine more faceoff victories to improve his mark to 47.
Hrenak's mark of 0.84 goals against average ranks in the top-10 nationally.
Salquist recorded his first career goal and second career goal.
Sophomore forward Veeti Miettinen (Espoo, Finland) scored his first goal of the season and his third point of the season.
Senior defenseman Nick Perbix (Elk River, Minn.) and senior forward Aidan Spellacy (Lakewood, Ohio) each recorded an assist in the game. Perbix's assist was his 60^th career point, while Spellacy's assist was his first as a Husky and 34^th career point.

QUOTABLES

St. Cloud State Men's Hockey Head Coach Brett Larson

On being able to score early…

"After last night, we didn't know what else we could do to score a goal. It was awesome to get that first one early and build some confidence. For us, our plan was getting our players to the net and it didn't matter if it went off a skate or something else, just get pucks to the net."

On the team's special teams play…

"Special teams was huge for us tonight. We were able to kill off some big penalties and was able to get some traffic to the net and get a goal on the power play which was the difference tonight."

UP NEXT

The Huskies will next play a home-and-home series with No. 4/4 Minnesota next weekend. St. Cloud State will first visit the Gophers on Friday, Oct. 15 with a 7 p.m. CT start time at Mariucci Arena on Big Ten Network +. The Huskies will then host Minnesota on Saturday, Oct. 16 at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center with a 5 p.m. CT start on Fox 9 +. The game will be part of St. Cloud State's homecoming week, with a full list of events available at scsuhuskies.com/SCSU2021HC.

For all the latest on St. Cloud State Men's Hockey, stay tuned to SCSUHuskies.com and follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Tickets for the 2021-22 season are available for purchase at www.scsutickets.com, downloading the St. Cloud State Huskies app or by calling 1-877-SCSUTIX / 320-308-2137.