Late Molenaar Goal Lifts St. Cloud State Men’s Hockey Over Minnesota Duluth

Friday, November 17

St. Cloud, Minn.

7:30 P.M. CT

St. Cloud State

7-4-0, 5-0-0

Minnesota Duluth

3-6-3, 0-3-0

Minn. Duluth

St. Cloud St.

Late Molenaar Goal Lifts St. Cloud State Men’s Hockey Over Minnesota Duluth

11/18/2023 2:12:00 AM | Men's Hockey

Box Score

Molenaar and Reimann score, Basse stars in net for the Huskies

ST. CLOUD, Minn. – No. 19/17 St. Cloud State Men's Hockey (7-4-0, 5-0-0 NCHC) remained perfect in conference play after a 2-1 win over (RV) Minnesota Duluth (3-6-3, 0-3-0 NCHC) at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center on Friday evening. Senior forward Joe Molenaar (Minnetonka, Minn.) scored the game-winning goal with 2:19 left in the third period while senior goalie Dominic Basse (Alexandria, Va.) made 19 saves in net to lead the Huskies to victory.

SCSU is now 5-0-0 in NCHC play, marking its best start in conference play since 2001-02 when it began WCHA play 7-0-0.

The Huskies and Bulldogs were deadlocked for nearly 38 minutes before freshman forward Jack Reimann (Ham Lake, Minn.) broke the scoreless tie by light the lamp with 2:14 left in the second period. The play started with a dump beyond the goal line by the Huskies before UMD attempted to clear the puck out of the zone. The attempt was unsuccessful, as sophomore forward Adam Ingram (West St. Paul, Manitoba) was waiting at the blue line for the puck to fall into his lap. Ingram executed a stick-to-stick pass right to Reimann's stick, as the Husky freshman was streaking in front of the net and beat the Bulldog goaltender on the right side of the net to give SCSU a 1-0 lead.

Midway through the third period, SCSU was four minutes into a killing a five-minute major before UMD knotted the score at 1-1 with a score from Matthew Perkins. The lead wouldn't last long however, as Molenaar and junior forward Mason Salquist (Grand Forks, N.D.) teamed up to give the Huskies the lead for good at the 17:41 mark of the final period. Salquist handled the puck behind the net following a pass from Molenaar and moved to the font of the net to throw the puck across the crease and right to Molenaar, who buried the puck past the UMD goaltender for the score.

TOP HUSKIES

Molenaar's seventh goal of the season and second game-winning goal gave him the first star of the game.
Basse was superb in net with 19 saves and a .950 save percentage to earn the second star.
Reimann scored his first goal of the season and earned the third star.

NOTES

With the win, St. Cloud State improves to 82-63-11 all-time against Minnesota Duluth and 45-29-7 in St. Cloud against the Bulldogs.
St. Cloud State's 5-0-0 start in NCHC play is its best start in conference play since beginning the 2001-02 WCHA season 7-0-0.
The Huskies improved to 6-0-0 when leading after two periods and 5-2-0 when outshooting its opponent.
Molenaar netted his seventh goal of the season and matched a career-best with eight points this season.
Reimann recorded his first career goal and point with his second period score.
Basse made 19 saves in the game and improved to a 2.03 GAA and .915 S% for the season.
Ingram, Salquist and fifth-year forward Kyler Kupka (Camrose, Alberta) all made single assists in the game.
Fifth-year defenseman Dylan Anhorn (Calgary, Alberta) played in his 100^th collegiate game in the contest.

HIGHLIGHTS

PRESS CONFERENCE

UP NEXT

St. Cloud State and Minnesota Duluth will finish it series tomorrow at the Brooks Center. The game wis scheduled to start at 6:00 p.m. CT on Fox 9+ andd NCHC.tv.

For all the latest on St. Cloud State Men's Hockey, stay tuned to SCSUHuskies.com and follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Tickets for the 2023-24 season are available at www.scsutickets.com, downloading the St. Cloud State Huskies app or by calling 1-877-SCSUTIX / 320-308-2137.