No. 13 St. Cloud State Women’s Hockey Travels to Ice Breaker

Friday, October 20

Fairfield, Conn.

3:00 P.M. CT

St. Cloud State

Northeastern

No. 13 St. Cloud State Women’s Hockey Travels to Ice Breaker

10/19/2023 2:05:00 PM | Women's Hockey

Tournament Notes Watch Live - NEC Front Row Live Stats

Huskies open tournament in Connecticut with key tilt against No. 10 Northeastern

ST. CLOUD, Minn. – No. 13 St. Cloud State Women's Hockey (5-2-0, 2-1-0 WCHA) travels east to Fairfield, Connecticut for the Women's Ice Breaker hosted by Sacred Heart this weekend, opening the tournament with No. 10 Northeastern (5-2-0, 2-1-0 EAST) on Friday afternoon at Martire Family Arena. Puck drop is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. CT with Saturday's placement game set for 1:00 or 4:00 p.m. CT.

BROADCAST INFORMATION
The tournament will be broadcast on NEC Front Row with live stats provided by Sacred Heart. Links to each coverage option are available on the SCSU Women's Hockey schedule page.

LET'S GO POLLING
The Huskies enter week five ranked No. 13 in the country by both the USCHO and USA Hockey/The Rink Live. St. Cloud State is one of five WCHA programs featured in week five's rankings. The Huskies entered both the USCHO and USA Today National Polls in the first week of December last season, placing the team in the national rankings for the first time since 2009 and 2008 respectively. After debuting at No. 14 in both polls, SCSU proceeded to remain ranked in 10 of the next 11 weeks to close the year, closing the season ranked for the first time in program history at No. 12 by the USCHO and No. 13 by USA Today. Prior to 2022-23, SCSU had only appeared in the USA Today rankings five times while appearing in just six USCHO polls – last season, the Huskies were ranked 12 and 11 times respectively.

THIS WEEK IN THE WCHA
SCSU is the lone WCHA club to compete in nonconference action this weekend at the Ice Breaker as six other teams continue conference play. No. 6/7 Minnesota Duluth visits (RV) Minnesota State, (RV) St. Thomas hosts No. 2 Ohio State and Bemidji State travels to No. 1 Wisconsin while No. 4 Minnesota is idle.

LAST TIME OUT
No. 13 Huskies (5-2-0, 2-1-0 WCHA) fell 2-1 on the road to No. 4 Minnesota (5-0-0, 3-0-0 WCHA) at Ridder Arena on Tuesday evening in Minneapolis, battling the Gophers in an early-season classic. Senior goaltender Jojo Chobak made 29 saves on 30 shots faced while sophomore forward Avery Farrell scored the lone Huskies goal late in the third period. The Huskies penalty kill was terrific, killing off all four Gopher power plays including a 3-for-3 effort in the final 20 minutes. Chobak played a key role in anchoring the unit with nine saves on the kill as part of a phenomenal evening in goal. Seeing the puck extremely well, Chobak made plenty of strong saves in traffic and controlled the pace well with timely freezes and redirections. Following a scoreless first period in which the Huskies held Minnesota to just eight shots on Chobak, an even-strength Gopher goal eight minutes into the middle frame would lead to SCSU entering the third down a goal. Special teams were key in the final 20 minutes with five combined power plays – three for the Gophers, two for St. Cloud State. Minnesota scored an empty-netter with under a minute to go, then Farrell took advantage of a scrum up front with an extra attacker to make it a one-goal game with five seconds left. SCSU couldn't generate a chance off the ensuing draw, falling 2-1.

300 FOR IDALSKI
Huskies head coach Brian Idalski earned his 300th collegiate win on Saturday against Bemidji State as SCSU shut out the Beavers 3-0, securing a sweep while improving on the program's best start to a season at 5-1-0. Idalski is the 25th coach in NCAA Women's Hockey history to record 300 wins – earning 108 at UW-Stevens Point, 169 at North Dakota and 23 at St. Cloud State.

LET'S TALK TENDING
St. Cloud State's goaltenders have been nothing short of incredible to open the 2023-24 campaign as the tandem of seniors Sanni Ahola and Jojo Chobak continue to establish themselves as one of the best duos in the country. Ahola is on a record-breaking shutout streak with a program best three consecutive clean sheets to begin the season while Chobak boasts a .923 save percentage and a 1.53 GAA.

THE SAURIOL STORY
Freshman forward Alice Sauriol was named the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) Rookie of the Week by the league office on Monday afternoon following a terrific series against Bemidji State. The honor is Sauriol's first collegiate weekly award. Sauriol recorded her first career multi-point game on Friday with a pair of assists then followed with her first collegiate goal in Saturday's win – a terrific power move to cross the slot with a defender draped over her as she won a one-on-one rush. Her goal and two assists produced a three-point effort across the two games as Sauriol skated to a plus-three with five shots on goal. Across her first six collegiate games, Sauriol owns four points and a plus-four rating on a goal and three assists while shooting 11.11% on her nine shots. Sauriol's Rookie of the Week award marks the program's sixth such honor in 2023-24 – standing as the highest total since a program record-tying nine were received in 2019-20.

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.