No. 11 St. Cloud State Men's Hockey Hosts Colorado College for Home Regular Season Finale

Friday, February 25

St. Cloud, Minn.

7:30 P.M. CT

St. Cloud State

Colorado College

Tickets

No. 11 St. Cloud State Men's Hockey Hosts Colorado College for Home Regular Season Finale

2/24/2022 11:07:00 PM | Men's Hockey

Huskies will honor seven seniors on Saturday

GAME NOTES

THE MATCHUP

No. 11 St. Cloud State Men's Hockey will host Colorado College for its finale home weekend series of the 2021-22 season on Friday, Feb. 25 and Saturday, Feb. 26. The Huskies will look for a turnaround to begin this weekend, as St. Cloud State is 1-4-5 in its last 10 games, a stretch of 10 consecutive games against teams ranked or receiving votes in the DCU/USCHO Poll Top-20 Poll. Puck drop from the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center is scheduled for 7:37 p.m. CT on Friday and 6:07 p.m. CT on Saturday on Fox 9 + and NCHC.tv with Jim Rich, Pat Micheletti and Rachel Herzog on the call. On the radio, this weekend's series will be available on KNSI (1450 AM / 99.3 FM) with Jim Erickson and Dave Reichel on the call. The Huskies enter the weekend ranked No. 11 in both the DCU/USCHO Poll the USA Today / USA Hockey Coaches Poll.

SERIES HISTORY

St. Cloud State leads the current series between the two schools, 59-50-9, and has dominated the series over the last decade, posting a 26-5-3 mark since the 2012-13 season. However, the Huskies have a losing mark, 21-23-6, against the Tigers at the Brooks Center, and can even that mark in the 119th and 120th all-time matchups this weekend. St. Cloud State swept the series in Colorado Springs earlier this season, as junior forward Jami Krannila scored an overtime goal in a 3-2 overtime win on Nov. 5 before a 4-1 at newly christened Ed Robson Arena on Nov. 6.

A LOOK BACK AT LAST TIME OUT

In its last time out, St. Cloud State skated to its fourth tie of the season in a 1-1 result against No. 8 Minnesota Duluth on Tuesday, Feb. 22, as the Bulldogs earned a shootout victory and the extra point in the NCHC standings. Graduate forward Kevin Fitzgerald scored the lone goal for the Huskies, while senior goalie David Hrenak made 25 saves in the tie.

THE RACE FOR HOME ICE

St. Cloud State is on the outside looking in when it comes to home ice in the quarterfinals of the NCHC Tournament. The Huskies currently sit in fifth place with 26 points, five points behind Minnesota Duluth (31 points), who St. Cloud State will end the regular season with on March 4-5 at Amsoil Arena in Duluth. After playing each other seven times in the 2020-21 season, these teams seemed destined to matchup once again in the NCHC quarterfinals, which would be the fifth, six and possibly seventh matchups between the two teams this season. Both games this season have resulted in ties, as the Huskies won a shootout in a 2-2 tie on Feb. 8 before the Bulldogs 1-1 tie and shootout win on Feb. 22.

SENIOR NIGHT ON SATURDAY

With the regular season home finale upon us, St. Cloud State will honor its four seniors on Saturday night following the game against Colorado College. Fans are welcome to stay after the game as Huskies will honor Brendan Bushy, Sam Hentges, Spencer Meier, Micah Miller, Nick Perbix, Aidan Spellacy and Nolan Walker. Back by popular demand, the Husky seniors will get to take one more "victory lap" around the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center, as they will skate around the ice while giving thanks to the fans who have supported them throughout their careers. This group of seven Huskies has seen much success over the last four seasons in St. Cloud, as the group has helped St. Cloud State win one NCHC regular season championship (2018-19), claim two NCAA tournament bids (2019, 2021), so far, and advance to its first-ever National Championship appearance in 2021. The Huskies have been consistently ranked among the nation's top collegiate programs over the past four years and this year's seniors have helped SCSU win over 78 games since 2018-19.
Saturday will also be the final home game (regular season) for returning fifth-year seniors who returned for an extra season of eligibility due to COVID-19: Easton Brodzinski, Seamus Donohue, Kevin Fitzgerald, David Hrenak and Luke Jaycox.

HONORING CHUCK

Before senior night, the Huskies will honor another long standing servant within its program, Chuck Clausen, the public address announcer for the St. Cloud State Men's Hockey for more than 35 seasons. This will be Chuck's last season behind the mic for the Huskies, who will honor Clausen with a special recognition during Friday's game. St. Cloud State can't thank him enough for his many years of service and dedication to the Huskies. He will truly be missed. Go Huskies! WOOOOO!!!

POWER PLAY FUELS THE HUSKIES

For the majority of the 2021-22 season, St. Cloud State has led the nation in power play percentage, a mark they lead by a wide margin. The Huskies current marks sits at 32.5 percent (38-of-117), with the next closest team sitting at 28.6 percent (Michigan Tech, 30-of-105). St. Cloud State also ranks third in power play goals with 38, trailing only NCHC foes Denver (41) and Omaha (40). 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. The Huskies can also set an NCHC record with their power play success if they stay above Western Michigan's 2020-21 mark of 30.3 percent (23-of-76).
Individually, 11 Huskies have scored on the power play this season, led by senior forward Kevin Fitzgerald with seven, which ranks 10th in the nation. Junior forward Zach Okabe's six power play goals rank 15th in the nation, while junior forward Jami Krannila ranks 23rd in the nation with five power play goals. St. Cloud State is 14-5-2 when scoring on the power play this season.

OLYMPIC HUSKIES RETURN

St. Cloud State's trio of Olympians, head coach Brett Larson, senior Sam Hentges and senior Nick Perbix returned this past weekend against Omaha, with Larson manning the bench on Friday and Hentges and Perbix back in the lineup on Saturday. At the Olympics, the U.S. team won its pool play with three victories, but came up short in a shootout loss to Slovakia in the quarterfinals. Perbix played in all for four games for the US, while Hentges played in the final two, scoring in the quarterfinals off a pass from his Husky teammate Perbix. The goal gave the United States a 2-1 lead in the game before Slovakia scored late in regulation to force overtime.

GREAT WITH A MAN-DOWN

St. Cloud State has been superb on both sides of special teams this season, as the Huskies rank third in the NCHC and 23rd nationally at 82.9 percent (92-of-111). St. Cloud State leads the nation with 10 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. Only one other player, Lake Superior State's Louis Boudon, has three.
Miller's four short-handed goals are the third-most in a single-season in Husky 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.
The Huskies 10 short-handed goals are the most in a season since 2009-10 when they had 10.
The single-season program records will be in sight on the penalty kill, 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 (15), points (31) and power play goals (seven), while ranking second in assists (16). The alternate captain has also posted an impressive mark of +11 on the season.
Fitzgerald has already recorded career-highs in points (31), goals (15), assists (16) and power play goals (seven) and is two 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.