No. 7 St. Cloud State Men’s Hockey wins 2023 NCHC Frozen Faceoff Championship

Saturday, March 18

St. Paul, Minn.

7:30 p.m. CT

St. Cloud State

24-12-3

Colorado College

13-22-3

Colorado Col.

St. Cloud St.

Photo by: Jason Soria

No. 7 St. Cloud State Men’s Hockey wins 2023 NCHC Frozen Faceoff Championship

3/18/2023 11:15:00 PM | Men's Hockey

Box Score

SCSU blanks Colorado College 3-0 behind Castor’s 17 saves; Krannila named tournament’s Most Outstanding Player

ST. PAUL, Minn. – No. 7 St. Cloud State Men's Hockey (24-12-3, 12-9-3 NCHC) shut out Colorado College (13-22-3, 6-15-3 NCHC) 3-0 to earn the 2023 National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) Frozen Faceoff Championship at the Xcel Energy Center on Saturday evening. Goaltender Jaxon Castor (Phoenix, Ariz.) stopped all 17 shots he faced while 2023 NCHC Frozen Faceoff Most Outstanding Player Jami Krannila (Nokia, Finland), Grant Cruikshank (Delafield, Wis.) and Kyler Kupka (Camrose, Alberta) each scored a goal to lead the Huskies to their second NCHC tournament title in program history and an automatic bid to the 2023 NCAA Tournament.

The Huskies outshot Colorado College 27-17 on the night, leaning on their top two scoring lines to generate chances aplenty against a Tigers goaltender fresh off shutting out Denver. SCSU's offensive zone was buzzing early – putting 13 shots on goal in the opening period. It took a dirty, gritty goal to open the scoring with just over five minutes to play in the first as an O-zone draw won by Krannila pushed the puck to the near boards. A CC defender attempted to play the puck back up the wall, but senior forward Zach Okabe (Okotoks, Alberta) stepped over and held the zone, firing off a rocket from just inside the blueline above the right circle. Okabe's blast deflected off of a well-positioned Krannila deep in the slot, skipping past the goaltender to make it 1-0 in favor of St. Cloud State.

Colorado College worked hard to slow the game down with the long change in the second, trimming the SCSU lead in shots from 13-6 to 7-5 in the middle frame. SCSU came out of the second intermission red-hot, striking just over two minutes into the third on a beautifully executed effort play below the goal. Micah Miller (Grand Rapids, Minn.) stole the puck away on the forecheck after an offensive zone turnover, wrapping around to the right pad of the CC tender and dishing across the crease to a wide-open Cruikshank. The former Tiger banged in the point-blank one-timer as the goalie was late to get back over, pushing the lead to 2-0.

Phenomenal defensive work by the Kupka-Cruikshank-Miller line created another grade-A chance just four minutes later as Kupka poked the puck loose while pressuring in the neutral zone and dished left for Cruikshank. Quickly finding themselves in a 2-on-2 break, Cruikshank skated hard to his left to draw both defenders over. Cruikshank whistled a feed straight to Kupka's stick as he crashed to the slot, going forehand-backhand then tossing the puck over the sprawling netminder for the third and final Huskies goal. The Huskies took three penalties over the final 11 minutes of the game but bore down to kill off all three Colorado College power plays – including a critical 5-on-3 with just over five to go.

Castor's 17-for-17 effort in goal earned him his third shutout of the season and stands as just the second Championship Game shutout in the history of the NCHC Frozen Faceoff. The senior tender stopped six shots in the first, five in the second and another six in the third as he anchored the 3-for-3 Huskies penalty kill. Across three starts in the 2023 NCHC Tournament, Castor went 3-0 with a 0.97 goals against average and a .957 save percentage – turning away 66 of 69 shots faced while allowing just three goals.

Krannila, Okabe, Castor and Jack Peart (Grand Rapids, Minn.) were each named to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff All-Tournament Team as Krannila was selected as the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

TOP HUSKIES

Krannila was named the 2023 NCHC Frozen Faceoff Most Outstanding Player while scoring his second game-winning goal and 21^st overall of the season, pushing his point total to 40 in 2022-23 – becoming the first Husky to produce a 40-point season since Patrick Newell, Blake Lizotte and Robby Jackson did so in 2018-19.
Castor earned his third shutout and 13^th win of the season with a 17-save evening.
Cruikshank scored his 22^nd goal and provided his 13^th assist of the season while skating to a plus-two and putting four shots on goal.

NOTES

With the win, St. Cloud State improves to 65-51-9 all-time against Colorado College.
Kupka scored his 11^th goal and skated to a plus-two.
Okabe provided his 18^th assist of the season while leading all skaters with seven shots on goal.
Miller tallied his 12^th assist while blocking three shots and skating to a plus-two.
Sophomore forward Mason Salquist (Grand Forks, N.D.) won 10 of 12 draws.
Graduate defenseman Brendan Bushy (Thief River Falls, Minn.) played in his 176^th career game on Saturday evening, tying Easton Brodzinski's program record.
The 2023 NCHC Frozen Faceoff Championship is the program's second in six trips to the NCHC Championship Game, following the 2016 title won at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minn, and marks the program's third conference tournament championship alongside the 2001 WCHA Final Five title.
St. Cloud State is now 9-4 all-time at the NCHC Frozen Faceoff and 4-2 when the tournament is held at the Xcel Energy Center.

HIGHLIGHTS

UP NEXT

With their automatic bid secured, St. Cloud State awaits their seeding in the 2023 NCAA Tournament with the Selection Show scheduled for Sunday, March 19 at 6:30 p.m. ET on ESPNU and ESPN+.

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.