No. 13 St. Cloud State Wins Shootout, Skates to Tie with No. 6 North Dakota

Saturday, January 20

St. Cloud, Minn.

6:00 P.M. CT

St. Cloud State

11-7-4, 7-2-3

North Dakota

16-6-2, 7-4-1

OT 1

OT 2

North Dakota

St. Cloud St.

No. 13 St. Cloud State Wins Shootout, Skates to Tie with No. 6 North Dakota

1/21/2024 1:18:00 AM | Men's Hockey

Box Score

Huskies earn two points in series finale after goals from Kupka, Ahcan and Miettinen

ST. CLOUD, Minn. – No. 13/12 St. Cloud State Men's Hockey (11-7-4, 7-2-3 NCHC) earned two crucial points with a shootout win in a 3-3 tie with No. 6/7 North Dakota (16-6-2, 7-4-1 NCHC) on Saturday night at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud. In a reverse of the night before, the Huskies had three leads in the game but the Fighting Hawks were able to tie the game with each score, forcing the game into overtime and eventually a shootout. With the tie, both teams end the weekend atop the NCHC standings with 26 points.

In a first period which saw the Huskies outshoot UND 17-4, fifth-year forward Kyler Kupka (Camrose, Alberta) lit the lamp first for SCSU. The play started when junior defenseman Josh Luedtke (Minnetonka, Minn.) created a turnover in UND's own zone and made a pass to Kupka on the weak side for the score at the 7:31 mark. However, the Fighting Hawks didn't want long to respond, as Jackson Blake took a loose puck in the neutral zone off the ensuing faceoff and raced all the way to the slot, where he beat the Husky goaltender for a score eight seconds later.

An evenly-played second period appeared as it were to end scoreless, but fifth-year forward Zach Okabe (Okotoks, Alberta) and sophomore forward Grant Ahcan (Savage, Minn.) had other ideas. With just over three minutes remaining, Okabe caught the Fighting Hawks in a change, as his stretch outlet pass up the ice got past three UND skaters to Ahcan's tape, leaving him all alone with the Fighting Hawks goaltender where he beat him to the nearside to give SCSU a 2-1 lead.

UND got a little puck luck early in the third period to tie the score, as a centering pass from Jake Livanavage hit a Husky stick and ricocheted into the back of the net after SCSU goaltender senior Dominic Basse (Alexandria, Va.) was moving left to right to stop the upcoming shot attempt on the backside. St. Cloud State would take the lead back just 2:34 later, as the Miettinen brothers teamed up for the Huskies' third goal. In a 3-on-3 rush, Okabe played the puck up freshman forward Verner Miettinen (Espoo, Finland), who split the defense and created enough open space in the high slot for his brother senior forward Veeti Miettinen (Espoo, Finland) to fired away a rocket to the back of the net. More puck luck for North Dakota tied the score for a third time, as a melee in front of the net resulted in a shot from behind the net from UND's Cameron Berg that hit off of Basse and into the back of the net.

The flukiness caused overtime, where North Dakota controlled possession for much of the five-minutes session, but Basse stayed strong and made six crucial saves to send the game to a shootout. Veeti Miettinen and sophomore forward Adam Ingram (West St. Paul, Manitoba) scored in the shootout for SCSU, while Basse made two stops to clinch the extra point for the Huskies.

TOP HUSKIES

Miettinen scored for the second straight game and increased his team-leading total to 13 goals this season.
Okabe recorded a pair of assists in the game and earned the second star.
Kupka scored his ninth goal of the season while Ahcan scored his third goal.

NOTES

With the tie, SCSU moves to 49-81-18 all-time against North Dakota and 26-31-1 against the Fighting Hawks in St. Cloud.
The Huskies did not commit a penalty in the game, doing so for the first time since a 7-0 win over Arizona State on Jan. 2, 2016.
St. Cloud State outshot North Dakota 35-27 in the game, marking the 14^th time in 22 games SCSU has outshot its opponent.
Veeti Miettinen scored his 13^th goal of the season and 46^th of his career while setting a new career-high for goals in a season.
Kupka scored the Huskies first goal of the game, his ninth score of the season and 20^th point, giving him back-to-back 20 point seasons after 25 points in 2022-23 (10g/15a).
Ahcan scored his third goal and fourth point of the season, surpassing his freshman campaign marks of two goals and five assists.
Okabe matched a career-best with two assists, marking the third time this season and 11^th time in his career he has register a pair of assists.
Basse recorded 24 saves, marking the 14^th time this season and 56^th time in his career he has record 20 or more saves.
Basse had an assist on Ahcan's goal, marking his second career assist.
Luedtke and Verner Miettinen each recorded single assists, each recording their seventh helper of the season.

HIGHLIGHTS

PRESS CONFERENCE

UP NEXT

St. Cloud State continues its four-game homestand next weekend when the Huskies host Omaha Jan. 26-27 at the Brooks Center. Friday's game will start at 7:30 p.m. CT with Saturday's puck drop scheduled at 6:00 p.m. CT. Both games will be broadcast on Fox 9 + and NCHC.tv with radio coverage 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 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.