No. 15 St. Cloud State Men’s Hockey Beats Omaha to Match Best Conference Start in Program History

Friday, December 8

Omaha, Neb.

7:00 P.M. CT

St. Cloud State

9-5-1, 7-0-0

Omaha

9-5-1, 3-4-0

St. Cloud St.

Omaha

Photo by: Bill Prout

No. 15 St. Cloud State Men’s Hockey Beats Omaha to Match Best Conference Start in Program History

12/8/2023 10:51:00 PM | Men's Hockey

Box Score

SCSU beats Omaha 4-1 to improve to 7-0-0 in NCHC play

OMAHA, Neb. – No. 15 St. Cloud State Men's Hockey (9-5-1, 7-0-0 NCHC) scored four unanswered goals to beat Omaha (9-5-1, 3-4-0 NCHC) and remain perfect in conference play on Friday night at Baxter Arena in Omaha, Neb. The Huskies' 7-0-0 start in NCHC play matches its best start in conference play, equaling the mark of the 2001-02 Huskies.

Freshman forward Barrett Hall (Apple Valley, Minn.) and fifth-year forward Zach Okabe (Okotoks, Alberta) each registered two assists to lead the offensive charge while four different Huskies found the back of the net in the victory. SCSU's defense was especially strong throughout the entire game, as senior goaltender Dominic Basse (Alexandria, Va.) made 27 saves while the Huskies penalty kill unit turned away all five power play opportunity to clinch the win in the first game of the series.

Omaha was able to find the back of the net first, as they scored at the 12:55 mark of the first period to take the first lead of the night. The lead didn't last for long, however, as the Husky power play unit struck on its first opportunity on the man advantage. Freshman forward Verner Miettinen (Espoo, Finland) was in the right place at the right time, as he cleaned up shot attempts from Okabe and Hall on the weak side for an easy score to tie the game at 1-1 with under three minutes to play in the opening period.

SCSU took its first lead of the night early in the second period when redshirt sophomore forward Ryan Rosborough (Mt. Brydges, Ontrario) found the back of the net for his first career goal. Rosborough made a smart play to poke the puck over the goal line after Hall was dumped by an Omaha player and made contact with their goalie on a rush attempt. The score gave SCSU a 2-1 lead heading into the final intermission.

Once again, the Huskies didn't wait long to score early in third period, as fifth-year defenseman Dylan Anhorn (Calgary, Alberta) teamed up with Okabe on a rush attempt to give SCSU a 3-1 lead just 56 seconds into the final period. Fifth-year forward Kyler Kupka (Camrose, Alberta) would put the finishing touch on the night, score an empty net goal in the final minute to close the scoring at 4-1.

TOP HUSKIES

Rosborough scored his first career goal with his game-winning score in the second period.
Hall and Okabe each logged two assists in the game.
Basse made 27 saves in the game, stopping eight or more saves in each period.

NOTES

With the win, SCSU improves to 29-16-2 all-time against Omaha and 11-9-1 against the Mavericks in Omaha.
The Huskies improve 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).
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.
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.
Verner Miettinen tallied the first goal of the night for the Huskies, marking his second goal and second power play score of the season.
Anhorn scored his second goal of the season and logged his 20^th career goal with a third period score.
Kupka scored for the fourth time in as many games with his sixth goal of the season.
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.
Okabe recorded two assists for the second time this season and the 10^th time in his career while recording his 25^th career multi-point game.
For his career, Okabe now has 104 points (43 goals / 61 assists) to move to 32^nd-place on SCSU's all-time scoring list.
Freshman forward Jack Reimann (Ham Lake, Minn.) recorded his first career assist with the secondary marker on Rosborough's score.
Junior defenseman Josh Luedtke (Minnetonka, Minn.) recorded his fifth assist of the season.

UP NEXT

St. Cloud State and Omaha will finish off its series on Saturday night, with puck drop from Baxter Arena scheduled for 7:00 p.m. CT on 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.