No. 9 St. Cloud State Men's Hockey Hosts No. 10 Minnesota Duluth for NCHC Quarterfinals

Friday, March 11

7:00 P.M. CT

St. Cloud State

Minnesota Duluth

Tickets

No. 9 St. Cloud State Men's Hockey Hosts No. 10 Minnesota Duluth for NCHC Quarterfinals

3/10/2022 4:17:00 PM | Men's Hockey

Huskies and Bulldogs will play for third, fourth and maybe fifth consecutive games

GAME NOTES
THE MATCHUP

After taking four out of a possible six points on the road on the final weekend of the regular season, No. 9 St. Cloud State Men's Hockey will return home to host who else, No. 10 Minnesota Duluth, for the first round of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference quarterfinals. The quarterfinals will be a best two-out-of-three series at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center, with Friday's contest scheduled to start at 7:00 p.m. CT before 6:00 p.m. CT starts on Saturday and Sunday (if necessary).
The series will be broadcast on Charter/Spectrum UTVS-823 in the St. Cloud area, KBLR-My9 Network in Duluth, as well as streaming on NCHC.tv. On the radio, this weekend's series will be available on KNSI (1450 AM / 99.3 FM) with Sam Goetzinger and Dave Reichel on the call. The Huskies enter the weekend ranked No. 9 in both the DCU/USCHO and USA Today/USA Hockey Coaches Polls, while the Bulldogs rank No. 10 in both polls.

SERIES HISTORY

Once again, it's another matchup between the Huskies and Bulldogs. This weekend will be the fifth, sixth and possible seventh games in the last 34 days, as well as the 12th, 13th and possibly 14th times in the last 435 days dating back to Jan. 2, 2021. St. Cloud State leads the current series between the two schools, 79-54-11, including a decisive 41-19-7 mark against the Bulldogs in St. Cloud. All but eight of the teams' 131 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.
The Huskies and Bulldogs skated to a pair of ties on Tuesday's in February a part of COVID-19 rescheduled games, as the Huskies earned a shootout win on Feb. 8 before the Bulldogs took home a shootout win on Feb. 22. Last weekend, the Bulldogs won 3-2 in overtime on Friday before St. Cloud State responded with a 2-0 win on Saturday to clinch home ice advantage.

A LOOK BACK AT LAST TIME OUT

In its last time out, St. Cloud State earned four out of a possible six points against Minnesota Duluth on the final weekend of the regular season to clinch home ice in the NCHC quarterfinals. The Huskies picked up one-point in a 3-2 overtime loss on Friday before a 2-0 win on Saturday to earn a chance to play at home this weekend. Senior goalie David Hrenak made 34 saves in Saturday's contest to record his third shutout of the season and 14th career shutout, while senior forward Sam Hentges stayed hot, scoring his fifth goal in six games since returning from the Olympics.

ALL-NCHC HUSKIES

Senior defenseman Nick Perbix and graduate forward Kevin Fitzgerald led the way for the Huskies as postseason awards began to be announced this past week. Perbix was named to the All-NCHC First and is a finalist for the Offensive Defenseman of the Year, while Fitzgerald was named to the All-NCHC Second Team and is a finalist for the Sportsmanship Award.
Since the conference's inception in 2013-14, Perbix and Fitzgerald are the 51st and 52nd All-Conference honorees for the Huskies. Perbix is the 10th Husky to be named to the First Team, and the first since 2018-19 when four Huskies earned the honor (Jimmy Schuldt, Patrick Newell, Ryan Poehling, Blake Lizotte). It is Perbix's third career all-conference honor after earning Rookie Team honors in 2018-19 and Second Team honors in 2020-21. Fitzgerald's first career all-conference honor is the 11th Second Team honor for the Huskies since 2013-14.
Perbix has had a banner year in his fourth season donning the red and black, totaling 28 points with four goals and a team-best 24 assists. His assist and point totals are both career-highs, while his 24 assists are the fourth-most in the NCHC and second-most by an NCHC defenseman this season. His 1.22 points per game in NCHC play led all defenseman as well. The Elk River native has posted a +5 mark with one power play goal and 36 blocks.
Perbix produced one of the most productive weekends in program and NCHC history against Miami (Jan. 21-22), leading the Huskies to an NCHC record 19 goals in 11-1 and 8-0 victories. Perbix contributed in a big way for the Huskies, tallying eight points on the weekend, including the first six-point game in NCHC history in Friday's win over the RedHawks. Among program records, he matched the school record marks points scored (six), assists (five), points by a defenseman (six) and assists by a defenseman (five).
A Hobey Baker Nominee, Perbix earned NCHC Defenseman of the Week honors twice (Dec. 6, Jan. 24), and was named the NCHC Player of the Month and Hockey Commissioners of America (HCA) Co-National Player of the Month for January after tallying a team-high 12 points – two goals and 10 assists – seven blocks and a +1 mark in five January games. The fourth-year Husky was also named to the 2022 U.S. Olympic Team, where he played in all four of Team USA's games in Beijing, recording an assist on a goal from teammate Sam Hentges in the Olympic quarterfinals.
In 132 career games, Perbix has totaled 86 career points, 20 goals and 66 assists with four power play goals, five game-winning goals and a +23 mark on the ice.
Fitzgerald is making the most of his final collegiate season of hockey, as he currently leads the team in goals (16), points (34) and power play goals (seven), while ranking second in assists (18). The alternate captain has also posted an impressive mark of +13 on the season with one game-winning goal and one short-handed goal. Among conference leaders, Fitzgerald ranks fifth in goals (16), fifth in power play goals (seven) and ninth in points (34).
Fitzgerald has already recorded career-highs in points (34), goals (16), assists (18) and power play goals (seven) and became 38th member of SCSU's 100-point club (36th with D-I stats only) with a goal in his final regular season home game against Colorado College on Feb. 26.
Fitzgerald was named a nominee for both the Hobey Baker Award and the Hockey Humanitarian Award, given annually to the top citizen in collegiate hockey.
In 160 career games, Fitzgerald has recorded 101 points, 45 goals and 56 assists, with 10 power play goals, seven game-winning goals and a +31 mark on the ice. Among program records, Fitzgerald ranks fourth in career games played (160) and 35th in points (101).

IRON MAN EASTON

In the Huskies regular season-ending series against Minnesota Duluth, senior forward Easton Brodzinski suited up for a program-record 173rd time this weekend, surpassing Drew LeBlanc (2008-13) for the most games played in St. Cloud State history. The fifth-year senior has suited up in 33 of 34 games for the Huskies this season, a pretty remarkable feat seeing that he broke his femur in the NCAA Regional final last season on March 28, 2021. Brodzinski was scheduled to miss the beginning of the 2021-22 season, but returned immediately and played in State Cloud State's season-opening 12-2 win over St. Thomas on Oct. 2, 2021, recording his 100th career point in the process.

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 32.6 percent (44-of-135), with the next closest team sitting at 26.7 percent (Michigan Tech, 32-of-120). St. Cloud State also ranks third in power play goals with 44, trailing only NCHC foes Denver and Omaha (45). 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, 12 Huskies have scored on the power play this season, led by senior forward Kevin Fitzgerald with seven, which ranks 11th in the nation. Senior forward Sam Hentges and junior forward Zach Okabe have each scored six power play goals to rank 16th in the nation. St. Cloud State is 16-6-2 when scoring on the power play this season.
Against Colorado College on Feb. 25, the Huskies scored 3+ power play goals in a single game for the fifth time this season. The last time St. Cloud State scored 3+ power play goals that many times in a single season was in 2008-09, when the Huskies did it six times in the same season.

EXPERIENCE GALORE

The Huskies are one of the most experience teams in the nation, as evidence by the sheer amount of games its roster has played in. St. Cloud State has 16 athletes who have suited up for 85 or more games and combined for 2,064 games. Of those 16, 12 have hit the century mark in games played, led by graduate defensman Seamus Donohue, who has played in 181 games (117 at Michigan Tech from 2017-20 and 64 at SCSU from 2020-22), and senior forward Easton Brodzinski, who has played in a program record 173 games.
The Huskies' 16 athletes with 85+ career games to their ledger have combined for 93 career points with two over 100, six over 80 and 10 over 50 points.