No. 6 St. Cloud State Men's Hockey Heads to Omaha for Final Road Trip of Regular Season

*No. 6 ST. CLOUD STATE at No. 14/15 OMAHA*
*OPPONENT*	*LOCATION*	*DAY*	*TIME (CT)*	*TV / STREAM*	*RADIO*	*STATS*	*GAME NOTES*
Omaha	Omaha, Neb.	Friday, Feb. 24	7:00 p.m.	NCHC.tv	KNSI	Stats	SCSU Notes
Omaha	Omaha, Neb.	Saturday, Feb. 25	7:00 p.m.	NCHC.tv	KNSI	Stats	UNO Notes

THE MATCHUP

No. 6 St. Cloud State Men's Hockey looks to get back in the win column this weekend as the Huskies travel to Omaha, Neb., to face No. 14/15 Omaha on Feb. 24-25 at Baxter Arena. Both games of the series are scheduled to start at 7:00 p.m. CT and will be streamed on NCHC.tv. On the radio, Husky Hockey veteran Jim Erickson will have the call on KNSI (1450 AM / 99.3 FM). The Huskies currently check in at the No. 6 position in both the DCU / USCHO Poll and USA Hockey / USA Today Coaches Polls, while Omaha is No. 14 in the DCU / USCHO Poll and No. 15 in the USA Hockey / USA Today Coaches Poll. The Mavericks enter the series as one of the hottest teams in the country, as they have gone 8-1-1 over their past 10 games, a stretch that includes a road win over No. 5 Western Michigan and a series sweep of Minnesota Duluth.

SERIES HISTORY

The Huskies and Mavericks will take the ice for the 45^th and 46^th times this weekend, with the Huskies holding a 27-15-2 advantage in the all-time series between the two programs. SCSU will be looking to turn its luck around against Omaha, as the Mavericks have beaten the Huskies in five of the last seven games, including a 5-2 and 5-1 sweep at Baxter Arena last season (Feb. 18-19, 2022). In Omaha, the Huskies are 9-8-1 all-time.

A LOOK BACK AT LAST SERIES

It won't show up as a split on paper, but for all intensive purposes, St. Cloud State and North Dakota split last weekend, with each team gaining three points in the NCHC standings. The Huskies let a two-goal third period lead fall away in game one, falling 4-3 in overtime, before earning a 2-2 tie and shootout win for two points in Saturday's contest. Senior forward Jami Krannila remained hot in the series, as he scored three goals, including two power play tallies in Friday's game.

COACH LARSON NEARS CENTURY MARK

Head Coach Brett Larson enters the weekend series one win away from career win No. 100, as he currently sits at 99-56-16. Just 171 games into his tenure with the Huskies, Larson is tracking to be the fastest to 100 wins in program history. In Division-I history, Bob Motzko (276-192-49, 2005-18) reached win 100 in his 191st game, while Craig Dahl (338-309-52, 1987-2005) reached the milestone in game 241. Only one Husky coach reached 100 wins prior to becoming a D-I program, as Charlie Basch (181-193-7, 1968-84) reached his 100th win in his 215th game.
Larson has continued to elevate the SCSU program while at the helm, as he has guided the Huskies to three NCAA Tournament appearances, a NCAA Frozen Four appearance in 2021 and an NCHC Penrose championship in 2019. He is the only SCSU coach to lead the program to NCAA Tournaments in the first three seasons a tournament has been played (no tournament in 2020 due to pandemic).

SEEKING HOME ICE

The race for home ice in the first round of the NCHC Tournament is close to cementing itself, as the Huskies just need three points to clinch another series at the Brooks Center.
Right now, St. Cloud State sits in fourth place with 36 points, trailing conference leader Denver (44 points), Western Michigan (39 points) and Omaha (38 points).
The Huskies have a 10-point advantage on Minnesota Duluth with just four games remaining on the regular season schedule, who enters the weekend with 26 points.

KRANNILA'S STORY BOOK SENIOR SEASON

Senior forward Jami Krannila has made the most of his senior campaign, leading the Huskies offense in goals and points while being named a Hobey Baker nominee, the NCHC January Player of the Month and reaching the 100-point club.
Through 30 games in his senior campaign, Krannila has already produced career-best marks of 19 goals, 17 assists and 36 points with an outstanding +20 mark on the ice. Among national leaders, Krannila ranks fifth in goals (19), 10th in power play goals (seven), 13th in points (36) and 20th in plus/minus (+20). In the NCHC, Krannila ranks third in goals (19) and fourth in points (36) while leading the league in goals (17) and points (28) in conference only games.
The Husky senior's 19 goals this season are the most since Patrick Newell recorded 21 in 2018-19.
Krannila's 30-point season is the 129th time a Husky has record 30+ points in the D-I era (since 1987-88). His score against UND on Feb. 18 was his 50th career goal, as he became just the 23rd player in program history to reach that mark.
The Hobey Baker nominee was named the NCHC Player of the Month for the month a January. Krannila produced eight points (five goals / three assists) with a +4 mark on the ice and a .528 mark in the faceoff dot while helping the Huskies recorded three victories over top-three ranked opponents. In the month of January, the Husky senior led the NCHC in goals (five), while ranking third in points (eight) and fourth in power play goals (two). Krannila played a crucial role in the Huskies sweep of then-No. 3 Denver on Jan. 20-21, as he produced four points (two goals / two assists), a +4 mark and was .611 in the faceoff dot while winning NCHC Forward of the Week honors. He also scored a pair of goals against Minnesota Duluth on Jan. 28, marking the fifth time this season and ninth time in his career he has scored two goals in a game.
Krannila scored his 16th goal of the season against Miami (Feb. 4) to record his 100th career point, becoming the 37th member of SCSU's 100-point club (39th with D-I & D-II stats). He is the first Husky to join the 100-point club since Kevin Fitzgerald reached the century mark against Colorado College on Feb. 26, 2022.

TOUGH TO SCORE ON

Through 30 games, St. Cloud State has made its mark as one of the toughest defensive teams in the country, ranking among the nation's top-15 in numerous defensive categories. Nationally, the Huskies rank third in shorthanded goals (seven), sixth in scoring defense (2.23), eighth in scoring margin (1.10) and ninth in save percentage (.915).
A big piece to the puzzle defensively for the Huskies has been the play between the pipes, as senior goalie Jaxon Castor and junior goalie Dominic Basse have played outstanding. Both have goals-against average and save percentages that rank in the top-20 nationally.
In 16 games where St. Cloud State has allowed two or fewer games, the Huskies are 13-1-2, with its only loss coming on the road to then-No. 3/1 Minnesota in overtime (2-1, Jan. 8).
St. Cloud State opponents have failed to score on the power play in 14 of 30 games this season, and the Huskies are 12-1-1 in those contests.

ALL-ACADEMIC HUSKIES

St. Cloud State had nine student-athletes earn NCHC All-Conference Honors. In addition, four student athletes from SCSU earned the mark of Distinguished Scholar Athlete.
St. Cloud State's recipients for Academic All-Conference honors were Jami Krannila, Spencer Meier, Micah Miller, Joe Molenaar and Ondrej Trejbal, while Chase Brand, Josh Luedtke, Ryan Rosborough and Brady Ziemer earned Distinguished Scholar Athlete honors.
Meier and Miller earned Academic all-conference honors for the fifth straight season, while Brand earned the honor for the fourth time. Earning their second career honor was Luedtke, Rosborough and Ziemer while Krannila and Meier earned the honor for the first time in their career.

POWER PLAY THREAT

With a man advantage, the Huskies have converted on 25.6 percent (31-of-121) of its chances, which ranks fourth in the NCHC and eighth nationally, while its 31 power play goals ranks seventh nationally.
After an 0-for-15 stretch over five games between Dec. 10 and Jan. 14, the Huskies have scored on the power play in seven of its last eight games.
Individually, five Huskies have combined for 25 of its 31 power play goals on the season. Seniorm forward Jami Krannila leads the team with seven goals, while senior forwards Grant Cruikshank and Zach Okabe have five power play tally's, and senior forward Kyler Kupka and junior forward Veeti Miettinen have each scored four power play goals. Krannila's 12 points with a man advantage (seven goals / five assists) leads the way for the Huskies.
Last season, the Huskies led the nation in power play percentage, a mark they lead by a wide margin. The Huskies PP unit finished at 31.3 percent (45-of-144), with the next closest team sitting at 27.4 percent (Minnesota State, 45-of-164). The team set a program record with its mark, besting its previous mark of 31.1 percent (73-of-235) in 2001-02, and set an NCHC record, besting Western Michigan's 2020-21 mark of 30.3 percent (23-of-76).
Since the start of 2021-22, St. Cloud State is 28-12-4 when scoring on the power play, including a 12-5-2 mark this season.