No. 10 State Cloud State Men's Hockey and No. 5 Western Michigan Meet at the Brooks Center

Friday, February 11

St. Cloud, Minn.

7:30 P.M. CT

St. Cloud State

Western Michigan

2/10/2022 5:55:00 PM | Men's Hockey

Huskies and Broncos play Feb. 11-12 at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center

GAME NOTES

BATTLE OF THE DOGS

After its first mid-week contest in more than 30 seasons, No. 10 St. Cloud State Men's Hockey will host No. 5 Western Michigan for a weekend series on Friday, Feb. 11 and Saturday, Feb. 12 at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:37 p.m. CT on Friday and 6:07 p.m. CT on Saturday on Fox 9 + (stream through NCHC.tv) with Jim Rich, Pat Micheletti and Rachel Herzog on the call. On the radio, Tuesday's contest will be available on KNSI (1450 AM / 99.3 FM) with Jim Erickson on the call. The Huskies enter the weekend ranked No. 10 in both the DCU/USCHO Poll the USA Today / USA Hockey Coaches Poll, while the Broncos rank No. 5 both polls.

SCHEDULE CHANGES

This weekend's matchup is a reschedule from the originally scheduled series between the two teams on Feb. 4-5 at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center. Instead, the Huskies traveled out to Denver, Colo., last weekend to face Denver after that original series was postponed ahead of its originally scheduled series on Jan. 14-15. St. Cloud State will have to play one more rescheduled game, as Minnesota Duluth will come back to the Brooks Center for a Tuesday contest on Feb. 22. Puck drop for that contest is scheduled for 6:07 p.m. CT.

SERIES HISTORY

The Huskies and Broncos will meet for the 35^th and 36^th times this weekend, with the Huskies holding a 18-12-4 advantage in the all-time series between the two programs. Western Michigan holds a significant advantage in the last 10 games in the series however, winning eight, including four out of six matchups in 2020-21. The Broncos swept the Huskies in St. Cloud State's trip out to Kalamazoo earlier this season, winning 6-2 and 4-0 on Nov. 19-20.

A LOOK BACK AT LAST TIME OUT

In its last time out, St. Cloud State completed a two-goal comeback to earn a tie and a shooutout win on Tuesday, Feb. 8 against No. 6 Minnesota Duluth. The Huskies trailed, 2-0, entering the third period before getting goals from graduate defenseman Seamus Donohue and senior defenseman Spencer Meier to force overtime. After a scoreless overtime period, the Huskies outlasted the Bulldogs, 3-2, in a four-round shootout to earn the extra point in the conference standings.

POWER PLAY FUELS THE HUSKIES

One of the many factors to St. Cloud State's success to this point of the season has been their nation-leading efforts on the power play. The Huskies currently lead the nation in power-play percentage at 35.0 percent (35-of-100) and power play goals with 35. St. Cloud State will have the single-season school record in its sights in the second half of the season, as the current records stand at 31.1 percent (73-of-235) on the power play in 2001-02 and 52 power play goals in 1990-91.
Individually, 11 Huskies have scored on the power play this season, led by senior forward Kevin Fitzgerald and junior forward Zach Okabe's six power play goals, marks which ranks fifth in the NCHC and 13th in the nation. Junior forward Jami Krannila ranks 17th in the nation with five power play goals, while senior forward Easton Brodzinski and sophomore forward Veeti Miettinen have each scored four power play goals this season. St. Cloud State is 13-4-1 when scoring on the power play this season.

GREAT WITH A MAN-DOWN

The Huskies have been superb on the penalty kill this season, ranking second in the NCHC and 16th nationally at 84.0 percent (79-of-94). St. Cloud State leads the nation with nine short-handed goals on this season, while senior forward Micah Miller is the only player in the nation to score four goals with a man-down. No one else has more than two.
Miller's four short-handed goals are the third-most in a single-season in program history, trailing only Mark Hartigan (six, 2001-02) and Brett Lievers (five, 1993-94).
The Huskies scored two short-handed goals against Miami on Jan. 21, including a second period goal from Kupka while down two men. Dating back to at least the 2001-02 season (first season of readily available game-by-game box scores), St. Cloud State has never scored a 5-on-3 shorthanded goal.
It marks the second time this season St. Cloud State has scored two short-handed goals, after also doing so against St. Thomas in its season-opening 12-2 victory on Oct. 2.
The Huskies nine short-handed goals are the most they have scored in a season since 2009-10 when they have 10.
The single-season program records will be in sight on the penalty kill as well, as the current records stand at 87.3 percent (124-of-142) in 2007-08 and 14 short-handed goals in 1993-94.

FITZY'S CAREER YEAR

Graduate forward Kevin Fitzgerald is making the most of his final collegiate season of hockey, as he currently leads the team in goals (13) and points (29), while ranking second in assists (16) and power play goals (six). The alternate captain has also posted an impressive mark of +12 on the season.
Just 25 games into the season, Fitzgerald has recorded career-highs in points (29), goals (13), assists (16) and power play goals (six). Fitzgerald is four points away from becoming 38^th member of SCSU's 100-point club (36^th with D-I stats only).
Fitzgerald was named a nominee for both the Hobey Baker Award, given annually to the nation's top collegiate hockey player, and the Hockey Humanitarian Award, given annually to the top citizen in collegiate hockey.