Posch’s Shutout, Miettinen’s Game-Winner Leads Huskies over No. 13/12 Western Michigan

Saturday, February 24

St. Cloud, Minn.

6:00 P.M. CT

St. Cloud State

15-10-5, 11-5-4

Western Michigan

18-11-1, 9-11-0

Western Mich.

St. Cloud St.

Photo by: Jason Soria

Posch’s Shutout, Miettinen’s Game-Winner Leads Huskies over No. 13/12 Western Michigan

2/24/2024 10:43:00 PM | Men's Hockey

Box Score

Posch records first career shutout, Miettinen logs 12th career game-winning goal

ST. CLOUD, Minn. – No. 15 St. Cloud State Men's Hockey (15-10-5, 10-5-4 NCHC) broke a scoreless tie just seconds into the third period and added two empty net goals late in the final period to beat No. 13/12 Western Michigan (18-11-1, 9-11-0 NCHC), 3-0, on Saturday night at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud, Minn. Senior forward Veeti Miettinen (Espoo, Finland) had two points and the game-winning goal while freshman goaltender Isak Posch (Umea Sweden) notched his first career shutout in the victory.

Both teams went scoreless for 40 minutes as each goaltender kept the opposing team off the scoresheet with SCSU leading shots on goal 21-11 heading into the third and final period. Just 17 seconds into the third period, Miettinen grabbed the puck right in front of the blue off an offensive zone faceoff and fired a shot past Bronco goaltender Cameron Rowe for a 1-0 lead. Fifth-year forward Kyler Kupka (Camrose, Alberta) and senior forward Joe Molenaar (Minnetonka, Minn.) added empty net goals in the final three minutes of the game to seal the game for the Huskies.

Posch stopped all 19 shots he saw in the game, including eight third period shots from WMU to record the shutout.

TOP HUSKIES

Miettinen scored the game-winning goal and an assist for two points.
Posch had 19 saves and recorded his third win in his sixth start of the season.
Molenaar had the primary assist on the game-winning goal and added an empty net goal for two points.

NOTES

With the win, St. Cloud State improved to 23-14-5 all-time against Western Michigan and 13-7-2 against the Broncos in St. Cloud.
The Huskies improved to 13-6-3 when scoring first and 11-2-1 when its opponent fails to score on the power play.
Miettinen recorded his 14^th goal and 12^th assist of the season for his 26^th point, the second-best mark of his career, trailing only his 36 points in 2022-23. His 109 career points rank 31^st all-time in SCSU history.
Miettinen's game-winning goal was the 12^th of his career, moving him to fifth all-time in program history as he pulls even with Joe Motzko (1999-03) and Nic Dowd (2010-14). One more game-winning score would put Miettinen in a five-way tie for first place all-time.
Posch recorded his first career shutout and now boasts a 1.79 goals-against-average and .936 save percentage in 402.79 minutes played.
Posch is the first Husky freshman goaltender to record a shutout since David Hrenak blanked Miami on Feb. 10, 2018.
Molenaar scored for the first time since Nov. 17 (16 games) with his eighth goal of the season.
Kupka added his 13^th goal of the season, 31^st career goal and 80^th career point.
Freshman forward Verner Miettinen (Espoo, Finland) had two assists in the game, marking the third time this season he has recorded two or more assists and his fourth multi-point game.
Fifth-year defenseman Dylan Anhorn (Clagary, Alberta) and junior forward Mason Salquist (Grand Forks, N.D.) added single assists in the game.

HIGHLIGHTS

PRESS CONFERENCE

UP NEXT

St. Cloud State will next host Denver for its final home regular season series of the season. The series will take place March 1-2 at the Brooks Center. Friday's game will start at 7:30 p.m. CT with Saturday's contest at 6:00 p.m. CT on Fox 9 + and NCHC.tv.

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.