St. Cloud State Men's Hockey Set for Mid-Week Tilt with Minnesota Duluth

Tuesday, February 8

6:00 P.M. CT

St. Cloud State

Minnesota Duluth

St. Cloud State Men's Hockey Set for Mid-Week Tilt with Minnesota Duluth

2/8/2022 1:34:00 PM | Men's Hockey

Huskies and Bulldogs hit the ice at 6:00 p.m. CT on Tuesday at the HBNHC

GAME NOTES

BATTLE OF THE DOGS

No. 10 St. Cloud State Men's Hockey will host No. 6 Minnesota Duluth for a mid-week conference tilt on Tuesday, Feb. 8 at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center. Puck drop is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. CT at the Brooks Center with a broadcast available on Charter, UTVS and 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. It will be the Huskies first home Tuesday game since Dec. 5, 1989 when the Huskies fell, 3-2, to Denver. The Huskies enter the weekend ranked No. 10 in both the DCU/USCHO Poll the USA Today / USA Hockey Coaches Poll, while the Bulldogs rank No. 6 both polls.

SCHEDULE CHANGES

Today's matchup is a reschedule from the originally scheduled series between the two teams on Jan. 7-8 at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center. The second game of the series will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 22 at 6:00 p.m. CT. St. Cloud State's home series against Western Michigan (originally scheduled for Feb. 4-5) will now take place Feb. 11-12 at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center, with Friday scheduled for 7:30 p.m. CT and Saturday at 6:00 p.m. CT. Both games will be televised on Fox 9 + and NCHC.tv.

SERIES HISTORY

St. Cloud State leads the current series between the two schools, 78-53-9, including a 41-19-5 mark against the Bulldogs at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center. All but eight of the teams' 130 matchups have come since January 1989 when both schools became D-I programs, with those eight contests coming between the 1946-47 and 1952-53 seasons. Last season, St. Cloud State and Minnesota Duluth met a remarkable seven teams, with the Huskies claiming victory in five of those games, including a 3-2 win on March 15, 2021 in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff semifinal.

A LOOK BACK AT LAST SERIES

In its last time out, St. Cloud State was swept by No. 4/3 Denver on the road at Magness Arena. The Huskies fell to the Pioneers, 8-5, on Saturday and 2-0 on Saturday. The Huskies held a 3-0 lead at the first intermission on Friday before giving up four goals in each of the second and third periods, resulting in the 8-5 setback. The Huskies played much better on Saturday, but were unable to find the back of the net, as St. Cloud State was shutout for the third time this season.

POWER PLAY FUELS THE HUSKIES

One of the many factors to St. Cloud State's success through the first half of the season has been their nation-leading efforts on the power play. The Huskies currently lead the nation in power-play percentage at 36.1 percent (35-of-97) 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.

OLYMPIC BOUND HUSKIES

St. Cloud State will be well represented at the ongoing 2022 Winter Olympic Games, as a program-record six Huskies (current or former) will make the trip to Beijing in search for gold. Current Huskies Sam Hentges and Nick Perbix were named to the U.S. Olympic Team on Jan. 13, while head coach Brett Larson and former Husky and current Minnesota State Mankato head coach Mike Hastings (1986-88) were named Assistant Coachs for Team USA on Jan. 6. In addition to that trio, St. Cloud State alumni Patrick Russell (2014-16) and Oliver Lauridsen (2008-11) were named to the Denmark National Team on Jan. 19. Pool play for the men's tournament begins Thursday, Feb. 10.

HOBEY BAKER NOMINEES

St. Cloud State had three representatives - senior forward Easton Brodzinski, senior forward Kevin Fitzgerald and senior defenseman Nick Perbix - named nominees for the Hobey Baker Award, given annually to college hockey's top player. A fan vote to determine the finalists will take place between now and March 6, with the top-10 finalist voting slated to begin March 17. The trio will look to become the sixth Husky to be named a top-10 finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, joining Mark Hartigan (2002), Bobby Goepfert (2007), Ryan Lasch (2008), Drew LeBlanc (2013) and Nic Dowd (2014). LeBlanc is the only Husky to ever win the Hobey Baker Award, doing so in 2013.
Back for his fifth season, Brodzinski has led the charge for the Huskies offense once again in 2021-22. He ranks second team in goals (11) and has continued to etch his name all over the St. Cloud State record book. He recorded his first career hat trick against North Dakota (Dec. 4) and how ranks 20th all-time in program history with 119 points. The fifth-year senior also ranks fourth all-time in game-winning goals (12), sixth in power play goals (25) and sixth in career goals (66).
Fitzgerald is making the most of his final collegiate season, as he currently leads the Huskies in goals (13) and points (28), while ranking second in assists (15). Just 24 games into the season, Fitzgerald has recorded career-highs in points (28), goals (13), assists (15) and power play goals (six).
Perbix leads the Huskies in assists with 20 and is second in points with 23. Perbix matched single-game program records for assists (five) and points (six) in an 11-1 rout over Miami on Jan. 21. His 20 assists on the season are a career-high, while his 23 points match a career-best.

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 84.4 percent (76-of-90). 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.