No. 18 St. Cloud State Men’s Hockey Advances to NCHC Frozen Faceoff with Win over No. 14/12 Western Michigan

Sunday, March 17

St. Cloud, Minn.

6:00 P.M. CT

St. Cloud State

17-15-5

Western Michigan

21-15-1

Western Mich.

St. Cloud St.

No. 18 St. Cloud State Men’s Hockey Advances to NCHC Frozen Faceoff with Win over No. 14/12 Western Michigan

3/17/2024 11:01:00 PM | Men's Hockey

Box Score

Huskies dominate Broncos 5-1, advance to seventh Frozen Faceoff appearance

ST. CLOUD, Minn. – No. 18 St. Cloud State Men's Hockey (17-15-5, 11-9-4 NCHC) scored three first period goals to grab momentum and defeat No. 14/12 Western Michigan (21-15-1, 11-13-0 NCHC), 5-1, on Sunday night at the Herb Brooks National Hockey in St. Cloud, Minn. With the win, the Huskies advance to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff for the seventh time in 11 seasons.

Five Huskies scored two points in the game, led by senior forward Veeti Miettinen (Espoo, Finland)'s two goals. Freshman Isak Posch (Umea, Sweden) was solid between the pipes, making 32 saves to help SCSU advance to the NCHC semifinals. Posch turned away 14 of 15 shots in the first period and then blanked the Broncos with 12 saves and six saves in the second and third period, respectively.

SCSU got the scoring started early with Miettinen potting his first goal of the night just 3:27 into the game. The play started when the puck found fifth-year defenseman Dylan Anhorn's (Calgary, Alberta) stick near his own blue line following a deflection. Anhorn quickly moved the puck up ice to freshman forward Tyson Gross (Calgary, Alberta), who started a three-on-two break for the Huskies. After Gross and fifth-year forward Kyler Kupka (Camrose, Alberta) executed a give-and-go pass to draw both Bronco defenders near, Gross passed to a streaking Miettinen on the weak side, leaving a wide open net for Miettinen to bury the puck.

SCSU's next two goals came on rocket slap shots from underclassmen. First up was sophomore forward Jack Rogers (East Northport, N.Y.), who was fed a beautiful cross-ice pass by freshman forward Barrett Hall (Apple Valley, Minn.) as he was streaking towards the goal. Left all alone, Rogers fired a slap shot from the right dot to beat the Bronco netminder far-side. Next up was Hall's turn in a nearly identical play, as the freshman Husky received a cross-ice pass from junior forward Mason Salquist (Grand Forks, N.D.) and found himself behind the defense. Hall let his slap shot go from the left dot and beat the Bronco goalie top-shelf on the far-side.

Western Michigan got on the scoreboard shortly after SCSU's third goal, but SCSU would extend its lead with two goals in the second period. Miettinen scored his second goal of the night on the power play at the 2:41 mark as he was once again assisted by Gross and Kupka. Junior defenseman Josh Luedtke (Minnetonka, Minn.) scored the Huskies last goal at the 16:49 mark of the period when sophomore forward Ethan AuCoin (Calgary, Alberta) was able to get a puck away from a scrum on the boards and fed Luedtke in the high slot, leaving him with enough room to hammer a one-timer past WMU's goalie.

TOP HUSKIES

Miettinen scored two goals and earned the first star in the game.
Freshman forward Barrett Hall (Apple Valley, Minn.) scored a goal and had an assist for two points and the second star.
Posch made 32 saves in the game to earn the third star, his second consecutive night with 30 or more saves.
Rogers scored the game-winning goal in the first period.

NOTES

With the win, St. Cloud State improves to 25-15-5 all-time against Western Michigan and 15-8-2 against the Broncos in St. Cloud.
The Huskies move to 4-1 against Western Michigan in the NCHC Tournament, 13-9 in the quarterfinals round and 21-13 in the NCHC Tournament overall.
SCSU advances to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff for the seventh time in the 11-year history of the league. In each of previous six trips to the NCHC semifinals, the Huskies have advanced to the championship game. The Huskies have won NCHC Frozen Faceoff championships in 2016 and 2023.
SCSU went 1-of-4 on the power play to improve to 23.6 percent (30-of-127) on the man advantage this season.
The Huskies improve to 15-8-3 when scoring first, 13-3-1 when leading after two periods, 13-9-1 when scoring on the power play and 13-3-1 when its opponent fails to score on the power play.
Miettinen scored twice, marking the third time this season and eighth time in his career he has scored two goals in a game. The Husky senior recorded his 20^th goal of the season as he becomes the 31^st player in program history to reach the 20-goal mark in a single season.
Miettinen moves to 16^th in program history in career goals with 53 and 22^nd on the all-time scoring list with 118 points.
Gross continued his hot stretch of play over the last seven games with two assists. Over his last seven games, Gross has scored five goals and five assists for 10 points.
Gross' two assists give him 13 on the season, a mark which ranks 10^th among SCSU freshmen all-time, and 20 points, as he becomes the 14^th Husky freshman to reach 20 points. Gross and freshman forward Verner Miettinen (Espoo, Finland) become the first pair of Husky freshmen to score 20 points in the same season.
Kupka recorded his 16^th and 17^th assists on the season to move to 31 points, the first 30-point season of his career.
Miettinen (35 points), Anhorn (32 points) and Kupka (31 points) gives SCSU three 30-point scorers for the third consecutive season.
Posch reached 30+ saves for the second consecutive game and fifth time this season while lowering his GAA to 2.79 and raising his S% to .970.
Hall recorded his second two-point game of the season with his seventh goal and eighth assist of the season.
Luedtke had his second two-point game of the series after not recording two points in any game before this weekend. The Husky assistant captain recorded his fourth goal and 13^th assist of the season.

HIGHLIGHTS

PRESS CONFERENCE

UP NEXT

St. Cloud State will square off against the No. 2-seeded Denver Pioneers on Friday, March 22 at the 2024 NCHC Frozen Faceoff. The game will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network with game time being either 4:00 p.m. CT or 7:30 p.m. CT (will be announced on Monday, March 18).

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.