Offense Explodes in No. 6 St. Cloud State Men’s Hockey’s 6-2 Road Win over No. 14 Omaha

Friday, February 24

Omaha, Neb.

7:00 P.M. CT

St. Cloud State

Omaha

Photo by: Bill Prout

Offense Explodes in No. 6 St. Cloud State Men’s Hockey’s 6-2 Road Win over No. 14 Omaha

2/24/2023 11:19:00 PM | Men's Hockey

Box Score

St. Cloud State clinches home ice for NCHC Quarterfinals, Head Coach Brett Larson gets 100th career victory

OMAHA, Neb. – No. 6 St. Cloud State Men's Hockey's (19-9-3, 11-7-3 NCHC) offense broke out when it needed it the most, earning a 6-2 victory over No. 14/15 Omaha (17-11-3, 12-7-2 NCHC) on Friday evening at Baxter Arena in Omaha, Neb. The Huskies had four players score multiple points in the game, led by a career-night five-point performance from freshman forward Adam Ingram (West St. Paul, Manitoba) and a career-high four points from junior forward Veeti Miettinen (Espoo, Finland).

With the win, head coach Brett Larson earned his 100^th career victory as he became the fastest Husky coach to 100 wins, surpassing Bob Motzko.

TURNING POINT

After a strong first period where the Huskies jumped out to a 2-0 lead following a power play goal from senior forward Grant Cruikshank (Delafield, Wis.) and an even-strength tally from freshman forward Grant Ahcan (Savage, Minn.), the Huskies kept the onslaught going in the second period. SCSU's 2-0 lead quickly grew to 4-0 following two goals in an 86 second span from Miettinen and Ingram, as the pair scored at the 3:10 and 4:36 marks of the second frame.

The large lead sucked the life out of Baxter Arena and gave the Huskies the momentum it needed to cruise to a 6-2 victory, its 19^th of the season.

TOP HUSKIES

Ingram had his best game of the season, scoring five points with two goals and three assists to earn the first star of the game.
Miettinen logged a goal and three assists for four points while being named the second star of the game.
Cruiskhank added another power play goal in the third period to record his score of the night while being named the third star.

NOTES

Following the win, the Huskies are now 28-15-2 all-time against Omaha, 10-8-1 on the road against the Mavericks and 7-3-0 against Omaha in Baxter Arena.
Larson captured his 100^th career victory as a head coach, as he became the fastest to 100 wins in program history, doing so in just 172 games. He reached the mark 19 games quicker than Bob Motzko (276-192-49, 2005-18), who reached the milestone in his 191^st game.
With the win, St. Cloud State improves to 16-2-1 when scoring first, 16-1-2 when leading after two periods, 13-6-2 when it scores on the power play and 13-1-1 when its opponent fails to score with the man advantage.
Ingram had a breakout game, setting season-highs in goals (two), assists (three), points (five) and plus/minus (+2). His five-point game set a season-high for the Huskies, surpassing Jami Krannila's four-point performance at Miami, Dec. 3), and is the second five-plus points game from a freshman in program history, as he joins Sandy Gasseau, who scored six points in a 12-3 victory over Western Ontario on Jan. 19, 1992.
The Husky freshman joins an exclusive club of SCSU skaters to record five or more points in the game, as he is just the 14^th player to do so in program history, and the first since Nick Perbix had six points (1g/5a) against Miami on Jan. 22, 2022.
Miettinen had a goal and three assists for a season- and career-best three assists and four points, surpassing his previously best marks of two assists and three points that he set seven and six times, respectively, most recently at Miami on Dec. 9, 2022.
Cruikshank recorded his 18^th and 19^th goals of the season with power play tallies in the first and third period, as SCSU improved to 15-4-0 when he finds the back of the net. His multiple power play scores marked the third time a Husky has scored two goals with the man advantage this season, as he joins senior forward Jami Krannila (Nokia, Finland) who did so at Minnesota Duluth on Jan. 28 and at North Dakota on Feb. 17.
Ahcan scored his second goal of the season with a first period score, the first even-strength goal of his career.
Senior defenseman Ondrej Trejbal (Hamry nad Sazavou, Czech Republic) posted a season-best and matched a career-best with two assists in the game, marking the sixth time in his career he has recorded two assists.
Senior goalie Jaxon Castor (Phoenix, Ariz.) made 23 saves in the game and allowed only two goals in the game to improve to 10-5-1 on the season.

UP NEXT

St. Cloud State and Omaha will finish off the series on Saturday, as puck drop is slated for 7:00 p.m. CT at Baxter Arena. The game will be streamed on NCHC.tv and on the radio on KNSI.

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 2022-23 season are available at www.scsutickets.com, downloading the St. Cloud State Huskies app or by calling 1-877-SCSUTIX / 320-308-2137.