Molenaar’s Hat Trick Leads St. Cloud State Men’s Hockey to Sweep over Miami

Saturday, November 4

St. Cloud, Minn.

6:00 P.M. CT

St. Cloud State

4-4-0, 2-0-0

Miami

4-3-1, 0-2-0

Miami (OH)

St. Cloud St.

Molenaar’s Hat Trick Leads St. Cloud State Men’s Hockey to Sweep over Miami

11/5/2023 12:32:00 AM | Men's Hockey

Box Score

Molenaar records 66th hat trick in program history, Basse records 15-save shutout

ST. CLOUD, Minn. – Senior forward Joe Molenaar's (Minnetonka, Minn.) career night and first collegiate hat trick led St. Cloud State Men's Hockey (4-4-0, 2-0-0 NCHC) to a 6-0 victory and series sweep over Miami (4-3-1, 0-2-0 NCHC) on Saturday night at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud. After a scoreless first period, the Huskies exploded for three goals in each of second and third periods to start conference play off with six points and a 2-0-0 record.

Molenaar broke the scoreless tie midway through the second period, as his highlight goal sent the Brooks Center crowd into a frenzy. As the Husky senior jumped on to the ice for his shift, he skated towards the center of the ice, intercepted an errant pass in the high slot, walked around a RedHawk defender and shelved the puck top shelf past the goaltender for a 1-0 lead.

Less than two minutes later, Molenaar's high school teammate junior defenseman Josh Luedtke (Minnetonka, Minn.) found the back of the net next, as he used his speed to move around two defenders and fire a shot past the Miami goalie from the right side of the net. Just over two minutes after that, senior forward Veeti Miettinen (Espoo, Finland) scored in his fourth consecutive game, as he fired a shot from just inside the blue line to score on the power play and end the second period with a 3-0 lead.

Molenaar got back on the scoresheet early in the third period, scoring 19 seconds in after quickly getting behind the RedHawk defense and score off an assist from fifth-year defenseman Dylan Anhorn (Calgary, Alberta). Junior defenseman Jack Peart (Grand Rapids, Minn.) scored his first goal of the season later on in the period before it was Molenaar's turn once again, as he scored with just over a minute remaining in the game to finish off the hat trick and close the scoring at 6-0.

TOP HUSKIES

Molenaar scored his third, fourth and fifth goals of the season to record his first collegiate hat trick and earn the first star of the game.
Anhorn notched his sixth and seventh assists of the season to earn the second star.
Senior goalie Dominic Basse (Alexandria, Va.) stopped all 15 shots he saw and recorded his second shutout of the season.

NOTES

With the win, St. Cloud State improved to 32-17-6 all-time against Miami and 21-5-3 against the RedHawks in St. Cloud.
The Huskies dominated in the faceoff dot for the second straight night, going 38-12 (76 percent) after going 42-20 (67.7 percent) on Friday.
SCSU was 1-of-3 on the power play to improve to 22.2 percent (8-of-36) on the man advantage this season. The Huskies are now 3-2-0 on the season when scoring on the power play.
St. Cloud State outshot Miami, 33-15 (+17), its second-best margin of the season behind only a _21 mark against Alaska (Oct. 20).
Molenaar's hat trick was the 66^th hat trick in program history and the first since teammate fifth-year forward Zach Okabe (Okotoks, Alberta) had a hat trick against North Dakota on Dec. 3, 2022. In addition to his first career hat trick, it was also his first career multi-goal game.
Just eight games into the season, the Husky senior matched a career-best for goals in a season with five.
Miettinen potted a goal in his fourth consecutive game and for the fifth time this season with a second period power play score. With the goal, the Husky senior extends his team-lead in points to nine.
Anhorn recorded two assists in the game, marking the first time this season and 11^th time in his career he has recorded two assists in a game.
Junior forward Mason Salquist (Grand Forks, N.D.) matched a career-high with two assists in the game.
Peart and Luedtke both scored their first goals of the season.

HIGHLIGHTS

PRESS CONFERENCE

UP NEXT

St. Cloud State will hit the road next for its next series at No. 11 Western Michigan, scheduled for Nov. 10-11 in Kalamazoo, Mich.

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.