
No. 8 St. Cloud State Men's Hockey and No. 2 Minnesota State Set for Homecoming Showdown
10/20/2022 5:06:00 PM | Men's Hockey
Huskies and Mavericks to play Friday and Saturday at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center
NO. 8 ST. CLOUD STATE VS. NO. 2 MINNESOTA STATE |
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OPPONENT |
LOCATION |
DAY |
TIME (CT) |
TV |
RADIO |
STATS |
GAME NOTES |
No. 2 Minnesota State | St. Cloud, Minn. | Friday, Oct. 21 | 7:30 p.m. | Fox 9 + | KNSI | Stats | SCSU Notes |
No. 2 Minnesota State | St. Cloud, Minn. | Saturday, Oct. 22 | 6:00 p.m. | Fox 9 + | KNSI | Stats | MSU Notes |
THE MATCHUP
- No. 8 St. Cloud State Men's Hockey will come home to host No. 2 Minnesota State Mankato for its annual homecoming weekend, Oct. 21-22 at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center. Friday's game is slated to start at 7:30 p.m. CT, while Saturday's game will start at 6:00 p.m. CT. Both games will be televised on Fox 9 + and streamed on NCHC.tv with Jim Rich and Geno Parrish on the call, while Jim Erickson and Dave Reichel will have the radio call on KNSI (1450 AM / 99.3 FM). The Huskies swept Wisconsin and moved up two spots to No. 8i n both the DCU/USCHO and USA Today/USA Hockey Coaches Polls, while Minnesota State swept No. 4 Minnesota Duluth at home and moved up from No. 5 to No. 2 in both polls.
SERIES HISTORY
- One of the longest rivalries in program history, the Huskies and Mavericks will meet for the 133rd and 134th times this weekend. The Mavericks hold a slight advantage, 61-58-13, in the all-time series, but the Huskies have won seven of the last eight games dating back to November 2011 and a 30-19-6 mark since the two programs transitioned to Division-I competition. Last season, the two teams split a series in Mankato, as the Mavericks won 1-0 on Oct. 8 before St. Cloud State came back to win 3-1 on Oct. 9. Junior forward Veeti Miettinen and sophomore forward Mason Salquist each scored goals to led the Huskies to victory in that game.
A LOOK BACK AT LAST SERIES
- Last weekend, the Huskies went on the road and swept former WCHA foe Wisconsin in their first trip to the Kohl Center since March 2013. Senior forward Grant Cruikshank and a pair of freshmen, Grant Ahcan and Cooper Wylie, led the way for the Huskies in the first game of the series, as St. Cloud State utilized three second period goals to cruise to a 5-1 win on Friday. Ahcan and Wylie scored their first collegiate goals, while Cruikshank had a goal and an assist in the victory. On Saturday, the Badgers scored eight minutes into the third period to tie the score at 1-1, but the Huskies responded quickly, as senior forward Kyler Kupka scored five minutes later to give St. Cloud State the 2-1 edge in the final game.
SPECIAL TEAMS LEADS THE WAY
- St. Cloud State's special teams has led the charge in the early stages of the 2022-23 season, as both the power play and penalty kill teams rank top-five nationally. With a man advantage, the Huskies have converted on 33.3 percent (6-of-18) of its chances, ranking second in the NCHC and fourth nationally. St. Cloud State's six power play goals this season ranks forth nationally, trailing only Michigan, North Dakota and Northern Michigan (seven).
- On the penalty kill, the Huskies have started the season perfect, killing off all 13 of its opponents power play chances to start the season, its longest streak to start a season since 2018-19 when it stopped the first 16 power play chances of the season.
- Last season, the Huskies led the nation in power play percentage, a mark they lead by a wide margin. The Huskies PP unit finished at 31.3 percent (45-of-144), with the next closest team sitting at 27.4 percent (Minnesota State, 45-of-164). The team set a program record with its mark, besting its previous mark of 31.1 percent (73-of-235) in 2001-02, and set an NCHC record, besting Western Michigan's 2020-21 mark of 30.3 percent (23-of-76). Since the start of last season, St. Cloud State is 20-7-2 when scoring on the power play, including a 4-0-0 mark this season.
4-0 TO START
- With the sweep over Wisconsin last weekend, the Huskies improve to 4-0-0 for just the fifth time in its Division-I history (since 1987-88) and for the first time since the 2018-19 season, when St. Cloud State began the season 5-0-0. The Huskies also began its season with four consecutive victories in 2001-02 (9-0-0), 2015-16 (4-0-0), 2017-18 (7-0-0) and 2018-19 (5-0-0).
A RARITY FROM AHCAN
- When he scored his first collegiate goal last Friday, freshman forward Grant Ahcan accomplished something that hadn't happened in nearly 20 years.
- Ahcan's tally was a shorthanded goal, as he became the first Husky since 2005 (Michael Olson, Oct. 21, 2005 vs. Wisconsin) to have his first collegiate goal be a shorthanded goal.
Players Mentioned
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Postgame Press Conference | SCSU vs. St. Thomas (10/4/2025)
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Postgame Press Conference | SCSU vs. Augustana (10/3/2025)
Saturday, October 04
Men's Hockey Postgame Press Conference 3-8-25
Sunday, March 09