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Friday, December 29
Bemidji, Minn.
7:00 P.M. CT
St. Cloud State
at
Bemidji State
Second Half for No. 14 St. Cloud State Men's Hockey Begins with Bemidji State
12/28/2023 11:51:00 AM | Men's Hockey
Huskies to play home-and-home with in-state foe on Friday and Sunday
No. 14 ST. CLOUD STATE vs. BEMIDJI STATE |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
OPPONENT |
LOCATION |
DAY |
TIME (CT) |
TV / STREAM |
RADIO |
STATS |
GAME NOTES |
| Bemidji State | Sanford Center | Friday, Dec. 29 | 7:00 p.m. | FloHockey | KNSI | Stats | SCSU Notes |
| Bemidji State | Herb Brooks National Hockey Center | Sunday, Dec. 31 | 4:00 p.m. | Fox 9 + /Â NCHC.tv | KNSI | Stats | BSU Notes |
THE MATCHUP
- The second half of the season gets underway this weekend for No. 14 St. Cloud State Men's Hockey when the Huskies play a home-and-home series with Bemidji State. The series begins up in Bemidji with a 7:00 p.m. CT puck drop on Friday, Dec. 29 and finishes up at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center with a 4:00 p.m. CT puck drop on Sunday, Dec. 31. The New Year's Eve game at the Brooks Center will feature the first Skate with the Huskies of the season following the game.
- Friday's game will be streamed on FloHockey for a fee, while the Huskies are back on Fox 9 + and NCHC.tv on Sunday with Jim Rich, Geno Parrish and Anna Behning on the call. On the radio, Husky Hockey veteran Jim Erickson and former Husky captain Dave Reichel will have the call over the airwaves on KNSI (1450 AM / 99.3 FM). St. Cloud State enters the weekend ranked No. 14 in both the USCHO Top-20 Poll and USA Today / The Rink Live top-20 polls.
SERIES HISTORY
- Long time in-state foes, the Huskies and the Beavers will meet for the third straight season as non-conference opponents. The two teams have met 105 times before with SCSU leading the all-time series 52-46-7, including a 7-1-2 mark in the last 10 matchups and a 25-5-4 mark record since 2008.
- Last season, Bemidji State was able to break SCSU's perfect 6-0-0 start to the 2022-23 campaign with a 3-1 win on Oct. 28 before the Huskies got their revenge back at the Brooks Center with a 4-1 win on Oct. 29. Four different and three current Huskies scored in last season's series finale, including Adam Ingram with the game-winning goal in the second period.
A LOOK BACK AT THE LAST SERIES
- SCSU is back in action after a two-week break following a four-point conference weekend on the road at Omaha Dec. 8-9 to close out the first half of the season. In a 4-1 win on Friday to open the series, freshman forward Barrett Hall and fifth-year forward Zach Okabe each registered two assist to power the offense to victory with four different Huskies finding the back of the net. Senior goaltender Dominic Basse made 27 saves with a .964 save percentage to earn the victory in net. On Saturday, freshman goaltender Isak Posch made his first collegiate start in net, making 31 saves in a 2-2 tie and shootout loss for the Huskies.Â
LARSON WITH TEAM USA
- SCSU will be without its head coach for this series only, as Brett Larson is overseas with the 2024 United States World Junior Team at the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship. Larson is an assistant coach for the team that is led by Denver head coach David Carle, and is competing Dec. 26 - Jan. 5 in Sweden. It will be the fourth time Larson has represented Team USA, after previously serving an assistant coach for Team USA at the 2022 Olympics and 2020 World Junior Championship. Larson also manned the bench as head coach for the U.S. Junior Select Team that won the 2012 World Junior A Challenge.
BEST CONFERENCE START IN PROGRAM HISTORY
- St. Cloud State has jumped out to an early lead in the chase for the NCHC Spencer Penrose Cup, as the Huskies have remained unbeaten through eight conference games with a 7-0-1 mark. The Huskies start to conference play is its best start to conference season in program history, surpassing its mark of 7-1-0 in the 2001-02 WCHA season.
- SCSU's 22 points is four points ahead of second-place No. 4 North Dakota's 18 points (5-3-0), eight points clear of No. 12 Western Michigan's 14 points (4-4-0) and nine ahead of No. 5 Denver's 13 points (5-3-0). In the 10-year history of the NCHC, the average point total of the regular season conference champion has been 55 points. To reach that mark, SCSU would need to average 2.06 points per game in its final 16 conference games. SCSU has captured the Penrose three times as a member of the NCHC, winning the title in 2013-14 (48 points), 2017-18 (53 points) and 2018-19 (62 points). SCSU's 62 points and 19 victories in 2018-19 still stands as a league-record point and victory total for a regular season conference champion.
GAME NOTES FROM LAST SERIES:Â
- GAME 1 - 4-1 win at Omaha (12-8-23 in Omaha, Neb.)
- The Huskies improved to 7-0-0 in NCHC play with the victory, matching the best conference start in program history with SCSU's 2001-02 team. In the D-I era (1987-88), no SCSU team has started conference play with eight consecutive wins.
- The Huskies improve to 7-0-0 when leading after two periods, 6-2-1 when scoring on the power play and 7-2-0 when its opponent fails to score of the power play.
- SCSU turned away each of Omaha's five chances on the man advantage, improving its penalty kill conversion rate to 85.7 percent (48-of-56).
- Senior goaltender Dominic Basse allowed one or fewer goals for the sixth time this season and made 27 saves, marking the sixth time this season he has made at least 25 saves.
- Redshirt sophomore forward Ryan Rosborough's first career goal proved to be the game-winning goal. In 26 career games, the Husky sophomore now has one goal and three assists for four points.
- Freshman forward Verner Miettinen tallied the first goal of the night for the Huskies, marking his second goal and second power play score of the season.
- Fifth-year defenseman Dylan Anhorn scored his second goal of the season and logged his 20th career goal with a third period score.
- Fifth-year forward Kyler Kupka scored for the fourth time in as many games with his sixth goal of the season.
- Freshman forward Barrett Hall recorded the primary assist on Rosborough's goal and the secondary assist on Miettinen's goal to record his first career multi-assist and multi-point game.
- Fifth-year forward Zach Okabe recorded two assists for the second time this season and the 10th time in his career while recording his 25th career multi-point game. For his career, Okabe now has 104 points (43 goals / 61 assists) to move to 32nd-place on SCSU's all-time scoring list.
- Freshman forward Jack Reimann recorded his first career assist with the secondary marker on Rosborough's score.
- GAME 2 - 2-2 tie at Omaha (12-9-23 in Omaha, Neb.)
- With the tie, SCSU moves to 29-16-3 all-time against Omaha and 11-9-2 against the Mavericks in Omaha.
- Fifth-year forward Kyler Kupka scored for the third consecutive game and for the fifth time in the last five games. It also marked his 25th career goal.
- Sophomore forward Grant Ahcan's second goal of the season was his fourth career goal. He also set a season-high with three shots on goal.
- Freshman goaltender Isak Posch made his first career start and made a season-best 31 saves in the tie.
PENALTY KILLERS
- The Huskies have been especially strong on the penalty kill this season, killing off 50-of-58 penalties for a mark of 86.2 percent, which leads the NCHC and ninth in the NCAA. A huge key to the Huskies quick start in conference play has been its ability to kill off penalities, as the Huskies are an impressive 92 percent (23-of-25) on kills in conference play.
- SCSU is 7-2-1 and 5-0-1 in NCHC play when their opponent fails to score on the man advantage.Â
- The Huskies killed off 13 consecutive penalties between Oct. 21 against Alaska and Nov. 17 against Minnesota Duluth, helping their penalty kill percentage rise from 80 percent (12-15) on Oct. 20 to the 86.2 percent mark it stands at today.
- Senior forward Veeti Miettinen scored the Huskies first shorthanded goal of the season against Michigan (Nov. 25), helping spark a three-goal comeback to earn a tie and shootout win against the No. 14-ranked Wolverines.
MIETTINEN TAKES NEXT STEP, NEARS 100-POINT MILESTONE
- Senior forward Veeti Miettinen has taken the next step in his game, recording nine goals and 11 points with a +3 mark on the ice in 12 games since Oct. 20. Miettinen leads the Huskies in both goals (10) and points (14) while ranking seventh and 23rd in the NCHC in those categories, respectively.
- The Husky forward scored in six consecutive games between Oct. 20 and Nov. 11, the longest scoring streak by a Husky since Ryan Lasch produced the same mark in the 2007-08 season (Oct. 27 - Nov. 23, 2007).
- Miettinen scored his 10th goal against Michigan on Nov. 25 to become just the ninth Husky to record four consecutive seasons with 10 or more goals. He joins Chris Scheid (1987-91), Tim Hanus (1988-92), Jeff Saterdalen (1988-92), Dave Paradise (1993-97), Jason Goulet (1995-99), Ryan Lasch (2006-10), Garrett Roe (2007-11) and Easton Brodzinski (five seasons, 2017-22) as the only Huskies to score 10+ goals in four seasons.
- Miettinen has powered the Huskies power play unit through the first half of the season, scoring five of the team's 11 goals on the man advantage. The Husky senior's five power play goals ranks third in the NCHC and 10th nationally, while the SCSU's team mark of 19.7 percent (12-of-61) ranks fifth in the NCHC and 26th in the NCAA.Â
- Miettinen scored twice in SCSU's 6-5 win over UMD on Nov. 18, marking the sixth time in his career he has produced a multi-goal game. He recorded both game-winning goals in each of SCSU's wins over Western Michigan (Nov. 10-11), which were his 10th and 11th career game-winning goals, moving him to seventh all-time in program history in game-winning goals. He currently sits a four-way tie with Tim Hanus (1988-92), Garrett Roe (2007-11) and Joey Benik (2012-16).
- For his career, Miettinen is nearing the 100-point club as he currently has 43 goals and 54 assists for 97 points. When he reaches the 100-point mark, he would be the 39th member of SCSU's 100-point club and the second this season after fifth-year forward Zach Okabe joined the club on Nov. 18.
BASSE STRONG IN NET
- Senior goaltender Dominic Basse has solidified his spot as the mainstay in net for the Huskies through the first half of the season, as he has started 15 of 16 games this season. He has produced an 9-5-1 mark with a 2.22 goals-against average and .913 save percentage with an NCAA-leading three shutouts.Â
- Basse is one of six to produce three shutouts this season, as he joins Ryan Bischel (Notre Dame), Freddie Halyk (Denver), Kyle McClellan (Wisconsin), Ludvig Persson (North Dakota) and TJ Semptimphelter (Arizona State).Â
- The senior netminder has improved his career numbers drastically since transferring into St. Cloud. In two seasons with Colorado College, he produced a 3.21 GAA and .891 S%, but after 33 games with the Huskies, his career marks now stand at 2.80 GAA and .899 S%.Â
- In SCSU games alone, Basse has produced a mark of 20-10-3 with 2.27 GAA and .912 S%. Among career records, his 2.27 GAA ranks third in program history while his .912 S% ranks seventh.
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