No. 5/6 St. Cloud State Men's Hockey Set to Host No. 7 North Dakota at HBNHC

GAME NOTES

THE MATCHUP

St. Cloud State Men's Hockey returns home after a week off looking to stop a three-game halt when the Huskies host No. 7 North Dakota in a National Collegiate Hockey Conference series on Friday, Dec. 3 and Saturday, Dec. 4. Friday's series opener is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. CT, while Saturday's game is slated to start at 6:00 p.m. CT at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center. Both games will be televised on Fox 9 + and MidCo Sports (stream available on NCHC.tv) with Jim Rich and Pat Micheletti on the call.
On the radio, both games will be available on KNSI (1450 AM / 99.3 FM) with Jim Erickson on and Dave Reichel on the call. The Huskies enter the weekend ranked No. 5 in both the USCHO Poll and No. 6 in the USA Today / USA Hockey Coaches Poll, while the Fighting Hawks rank No. 7 in both polls.

THE SERIES

The Huskies and Fighting Hawks continue its rivalry this weekend in St. Cloud, meeting for the 138th and 139th times this weekend. North Dakota holds a 77-45-15 lead in the series, however, the Huskies have a slight edge, 5-4-1, in the last 10 games dating back to March 2018. Last season, the SCSU and UND split two games in the NCHC pod (5-3 SCSU win on Dec. 12, 4-3 OT UND win on Dec 16) before the Fighting Hawks won the NCHC Frozen Four Championship in a 5-3 win on March 16.

A LOOK BACK AT LAST SERIES

St. Cloud State suffered its first series sweep of the season in its last time out, falling to No. 13 Western Michigan 6-2 (Nov. 19) and 4-0 (Nov. 20) on the road. The Huskies scored twice in the third period of Friday's game to cut the Broncos lead to 5-2, but it was too little too late, as Western Michigan added an empty net to put the game out of reach, 6-2, with just over two minutes to play. On Saturday, the Huskies outshot the Broncos, 36-24, but failed to find the back of the net in a 4-0 setback. It marked the first three-game losing streak for the Huskies since dropping the final three games of the 2019-20 season (Feb. 29 - March 7, 2020).

STARTING OFF STRONG

St. Cloud State has made it a point to start off strong this season, as the Huskies have outscored their opponents, 16-1, in the first period. Defense has been vital as well, as the Huskies have allowed two or less goals in 10 of 14 games this season. Nationally, the Huskies rank eighth in scoring defense, allowing just 2.00 goals per game.

SPECIAL TEAMS FUELS HUSKIES

One of the many factors to St. Cloud State's early success this season has been their play on special teams, as the Huskies currently lead the nation in power-play percentage with a 33.9 percent (20-of-59) success rate rank second the nation with 20 power play goals. Individually, 10 Huskies have scored on the power play this season, led by senior forward Kevin Fitzgerald and junior forward Zach Okabe's four power play goals, a mark which ranks ninth in the nation. Senior forward Easton Brodzinski and junior forward Jami Krannila have each scored three goals this season with a man-advantage, checking in at 20^th nationally.
The Huskies have been superb on the penalty kill as well, ranking fourth in the NCHC and 22^nd nationally at 84.0 percent (42-of-50). St. Cloud State has scored five short-handed goals this season, and senior forward Micah Miller is the one of five players in the nation to score two goals being a man-down, as he netted his second "shorty" of the season on Nov. 6 at Colorado College.