No. 6 St. Cloud State Men’s Hockey Falls to Omaha for Series Split

Saturday, February 25

Omaha, Neb.

7:00 P.M. CT

St. Cloud State

19-10-3, 11-8-3

Omaha

18-11-3, 13-7-2

St. Cloud State

Omaha

Photo by: Bill Prout

No. 6 St. Cloud State Men’s Hockey Falls to Omaha for Series Split

2/25/2023 10:30:00 PM | Men's Hockey

Box Score

Cruikshank tallies eight power play and 20th goal overall

OMAHA, Neb. – No. 6 St. Cloud State Men's Hockey (19-10-3, 11-8-3 NCHC) fell behind early and couldn't regroup, dropping a 6-2 result to No. 14/15 Omaha (18-11-3, 13-7-2 NCHC) on Saturday night at Baxter Arena in Omaha, Neb. The Mavericks scored the first two goals of the game and added three in the second period to grab control of the game.

TURNING POINT

Omaha jumped out to a 2-0 lead early, scoring 5:40 and 8:40 into the game. The early goals caused St. Cloud State to make a change between the pipes, as senior goalie Jaxon Castor (Phoenix, Ariz.) relieved junior goalie Dominic Basse (Alexandria, Va.).

Just when SCSU thought it got back in the game with a late first period goal to make the score 2-1, Omaha came out of the locker room buzzing, grabbing all momentum with three consecutive goals in the second frame. The Mavericks controlled the pace of play for almost the entire period, as the Huskies didn't manage a shot on goal until nearly 15 minutes into the period. Cameron Berg's goal with 1:18 left in the period made the score 5-1, and the Huskies could never get closer than three goals after that point.

TOP HUSKIES

Senior forward Grant Cruikshank (Delafield, Wis.) tallied his eighth power play goal and 20^th goal of the season overall.
Senior forward Zach Okabe (Okotoks, Alberta) scored his 16^th goal of the season with a second period score.

NOTES

Following the loss, the Huskies are now 28-16-2 all-time against Omaha, 10-9-1 on the road against the Mavericks and 7-4-0 against Omaha in Baxter Arena.
St. Cloud State converted 1-of-4 chances on the power play, scoring with a man advantage for the fifth straight game and for the ninth time in the last 10 games. Over the 10 game stretch, the Huskies are 35.6 percent (16-of-45) on the power play.
Cruikshank scored his 20^th goal on the season, becoming just the 30^th Husky to score 20 goals in a season, with the last to accomplish the feat being Patrick Newell, who scored 21 in 2018-19.
Cruikshank took the team lead in goals with his 20^th score and now ranks fifth nationally.
The Husky senior's goal was a power play goal, marking the most by a Husky since Jimmy Schuldt netted eight with a man advantage in 2017-18.
Okabe scored near the end of the second period to record his 16^th goal of the season and 40^th of his career.
Senior forward Jami Krannila (Nokia Finland) added an assist on Okabe's goal to record his 37^th point of the season, the most by a Husky in a single season since 2018-19 when three Huskies scored 39+ points (Patrick Newell, 46; Blake Lizotte, 40; Robby Jackson, 39).
Senior defenseman Ondrej Trejbal (Hamry nad Sazavou, Czech Republic) recorded his 10^th assist in the game to record a new career high in a single season.
Senior forward Veeti Miettinen (Espoo, Finland) logged a career-best 20^th assist on the season, while freshman defenseman Josh Luedtke (Minnetonka, Minn.) recorded his eighth assist of the season.
Castor came on in relief and made 30 saves in the game, marking the third time this season and sixth time in his career he has made 25 or more saves.

UP NEXT

St. Cloud State will close the regular season next weekend as it hosts Minnesota Duluth March 3-4 at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. CT on Friday and 6:00 p.m. CT on Saturday on Fox 9 + and KNSI. Saturday's game will serve as SCSU's Senior Day.

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.