(RV) Huskies push No. 1 Ohio State to overtime, fall 3-2

Saturday, January 21

St. Cloud, Minn.

2:00 P.M. CT

St. Cloud State

13-14-0, 7-14-0

Ohio State

22-2-2, 17-2-1

OT 1

Ohio St.

St. Cloud St.

Photo by: Kaitlyn Zuehl

1/21/2023 10:15:00 PM | Women's Hockey

Box Score

Sanni Ahola stops 47 shots as St. Cloud State earns conference point in OT loss

ST. CLOUD, Minn. – Junior goaltender Sanni Ahola made a career-high 47 saves as (RV) St. Cloud State Women's Hockey took No. 1 Ohio State to overtime on Saturday afternoon at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center before falling 3-2.

Ahola's 47 saves included a ridiculous 22-of-23 in the first as the Helsinki, Finland native gave the Huskies one of the finest performances of her career.

The Huskies blocked a season-high 33 shots including seven from Grace Wolfe and four each by Dayle Ross, Klára Hymlárová, Taytum Geier and Regan Bulger. Emma Gentry led the club with two assists while Addi Scribner and Svenja Voigt both found the back of the net.

Trailing 1-0 after one period, Voigt knotted things up with her third goal of the season just four minutes into the second. The German forward skated below the net from the left side to collect a shot by Gentry, wrapping back around to throw it in off the left pad.

St. Cloud State's defense held fast the rest of the way in the second, entering the final 20 minutes tied at one. OSU got one early in the third, but Scribner and the Huskies responded in highlight fashion two minutes later as the former Buckeye skated down from the right slot to the right side of the net then knifed around at a sharp angle to fire home an eye-catching wraparound game tying goal.

SCSU withstood the Ohio State rush for the final 14 minutes, sending the game into overtime behind a variety of highlight-reel stops by Ahola. The Buckeyes would earn the additional WCHA point with a goal on a 2-on-0 breakaway just over a minute into the OT session.

Quotables – St. Cloud State head coach Brian Idalski

"I thought we competed and gave ourselves a chance to pull out some points. I'm happy with our effort and our compete level today against a very talented and number-one ranked Ohio State team."

On key differences in the series finale… "A couple factors, I thought. First of all, Sanni was terrific in net. I guess we defended a little bit better. I also think perhaps they took their foot off the gas a little bit as well, and sometimes that's hard to turn back on at a certain point. That all adds up to attribute to the fact that we had some opportunities down the stretch."

On balancing goaltending minutes helping Sanni Ahola's big night… "Part of the reason she was able to do what she was able to do today was the fact she didn't have to play yesterday. She's not going to face 40-plus shots on back-to-back nights and be able to play at the level she played. I've said it earlier, they're both their best friends as far as helping the other one be able to perform and do what they're doing. I don't think we're built or ready for one kid to be a de facto No. 1 goaltender. We'll see how that pans out down the stretch and the next few weeks. I attribute both of their success to the fact that the burden is halved for them and one person doesn't have to carry that."

On whether the team is paying much mind to conference standings… "Number one, I don't know what the standings are. I haven't looked at them because I don't think that we're in that position. I think we're still in the position of effort, execution, culture – outcome stuff will take care of itself. We still have a ways to go, but obviously there's some intriguing signs. There's some games where we've competed. We've taken Ohio State to overtime, we've taken Wisconsin to overtime, we've beaten Minnesota. First season in, with a lot of the changes we're making, obviously that is encouraging. We still need to get some people healthy and depth is a bit of an issue for us. We're trending in the right direction, but that outcome stuff – I don't think we're ready for that yet."

"We're firmly now prepping for the stretch. Starting to cut back on some things and trying to keep everybody healthy, and I think that's the big thing now for the next month. We can't afford any more injuries. We just have to work on being mentally fresh and physically ready to go. We were hungry to play. I like that we were hungry to play this weekend – I thought last weekend that wasn't the case, and we left a lot on the table last weekend. Hopefully we can continue to match that intensity, that will, that compete the next few weekends."

On looking ahead to Bemidji State… "Stay consistent with what we're doing. Stay consistent with the message. It will be a little different because obviously we were defending in big chunks this weekend, and next weekend we'll have the puck a little bit more. How we manage that, what we do with that will go a long ways to determine how that goes. As long as we're flying to the puck, competing and defending, playing with that kind of energy and passion we had today you have to feel good about that."

Notables

Sanni Ahola made a career-high 47 saves including stopping 22-of-23 shots in the first
Addi Scribner and Svenja Voigt each scored a goal for SCSU
Emma Gentry put three shots on and had her first collegiate multi-assist game with a pair of helpers
Grace Wolfe matched her career high with seven blocks and provided an assist
Dayle Ross had an assist and blocked four shots
Taytum Geier, Klára Hymlárová and Regan Bulger each blocked four shots
Gentry, Scribner and Jenniina Nylund shared the SCSU lead with three shots on goal
Gentry and Nylund matched their career-high with three blocks each
The Huskies established a new season-high with 33 blocked shots
SCSU was outshot 50-17 on the day
The St. Cloud State penalty kill went 3-for-3

Up Next
The Huskies continue their four game homestand next weekend with a series against Bemidji State. Puck drop on Friday is set for 6:00 p.m. CT with a 1:07 p.m. CT start on Saturday's Hockey Day Minnesota tilt.

Information regarding single game and season tickets can be found at scsutickets.com. For all the latest on St. Cloud State Women's Hockey, stay tuned to SCSUHuskies.com and follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.