St. Cloud State Men's Hockey and Vermont to Meet for First Time since 2006

Friday, October 17

St. Cloud, Minn.

7:00 P.M. CT

St. Cloud State

Vermont

Tickets

Photo by: Kayden Kircher

St. Cloud State Men's Hockey and Vermont to Meet for First Time since 2006

10/16/2025 12:35:00 PM | Men's Hockey

Game Notes

Huskies and Catamounts to play Friday and Saturday at the Brooks Center

THE MATCHUP

St. Cloud State Men's Hockey will host its first two-game home series of the season this weekend when the Huskies host Vermont for the first time since 1998 this weekend at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center. The series will begin on Friday, Oct. 17 at 7:00 p.m. CT on The CW and will finish on Saturday, Oct. 18 at 6:00 p.m. CT on NCHC.tv (subscription required) and The CW (tape delay) with the voice of the Huskies Jim Erickson and former Husky captain Geno Parrish will be on the TV call with Husky Productions providing broadcast support. On the radio on KNSI (99.3 FM / 1450 AM), Nick Maxson will join for the home contest with former Husky captain Dave Reichel on color commentary.
The Huskies are coming off a home-and-home series sweep over Bemidji State in its last series, winning 3-2 up in Bemidji behind a three-goal, two power-play goal first period on Friday before a 4-2 win back at home on Saturday. Vermont opened its season last weekend with a home-and-home series against St. Lawrence, winning its season-opener on Friday, 2-1, at home before falling 5-2 on the road on Saturday.

SERIES HISTORY

The Huskies and Catamounts will play for the sixth and seventh times this weekend, and for the first time in nearly 20 years when Vermont makes the cross-country trek out to the Midwest. The two teams last met in the Catamount Cup championship game on Dec. 30, 2006 where the Huskies captured the Catamount Cup title with a 4-2 win behind two goals from Nate Dey and 22 saves in net from Bobby Goepfert.
Prior to that meeting, the two teams played a two game series at each other's venues over the 1998-99 and 1999-00 seasons. First, the Catamounts came to St. Cloud on Oct. 30-31, 1998 with Vermont winning the first-ever meeting between the two schools, 4-3 before a 4-2 SCSU win in the series finale. The Huskies then traveled out to Burlington for the first time for a Oct. 29-30, 1999 series where the Huskies swept the Catamounts, 7-2 and 4-1. After dropping the first-ever game, SCSU is currently on a four-game win streak against Vermont.

BOTH GOALIES GET FIRST WIN

SCSU started two different goaltenders in its series sweep over Bemidji State with freshman goaltender Yan Shostak and sophomore goaltender Patriks Berzins each getting their first victories in a Huskies sweater. Shostak, the 2024-25 USHL Goaltender of the Year, got the start on Friday and earned the first star of the game following a 25-save performance while stopping 2-of-3 Beaver power play chances. Then, the Huskies turned to Berzins on Saturday where the Maine transfer posted a career-best 32 saves and turned away 4-of-5 chances on the power play for Bemidji State. It remains to be seen whether the Huskies pick a go-to starter or continue with the rotation, but both have shown potential in their first action in the black and red.

RUN IT BACK

SCSU returns its top-eight goal scorers and its top-eight point producers with 85 percent of its overall goals and 82.7 percent of its overall scoring back from last season. Nationwide, the Huskies have the third-highest percentage of returning goals and returning points. Included in the group of returners is rising sophomore Austin Burnevik, who earned All-NCHC Rookie Team honors and became the first freshman in program history to lead the Huskies in both goals and points in 2024-25. Joining Burnevik is the junior trio of Tyson Gross (9-16-25), Barrett Hall (7-15-22) and Verner Miettinen (8-13-21) who each scored 20+ points last season. Junior forward Daimon Gardner (8-13-21) and senior forward Grant Ahcan (5-6-11) each produced career-highs in points in last season's campaign, while sophomore forward Gavyn Thoreson (6-4-10) scored 10 points in his first collegiate season as well as senior defensemen Josh Zinger (4-4-8) and Cooper Wylie (2-6-8), who were the top point producers from the blue line.

NOTES FROM LAST SERIES

GAME 1 - 3-2 win at Bemidji State (10-10-25)
- The Huskies scored three goals in a period for the first time since scoring three in the first period against Colorado College on Feb. 22, 2025.
- SCSU outshot the Beavers, 31-27, the second time in as many games this season the Huskies have outshot their opponent.
- The Huskies went 2-for-4 on the power play in the game.
- Freshman defenseman Tanner Henricks scored his first collegiate goal with a first period score.
- Hall scored his first goal of the season and the 16th of his career with a first period power play tally. The score was also his sixth career power play goal.
- Sophomore forward Austin Burnevik scored his second goal of the season with his 15th career goal in the first period. The power play score was his seventh career goal on the man advantage.
- Burnevik has scored a point in four consecutive games dating back to March 14, 2025.
- Senior defenseman Cooper Wylie registered two assists in the game, the first time in his career he has recorded two assists and the third time in his career he reached two points. In seven career games against Bemidji State, Wylie has scored six points (1-5-6) for 0.86 points per game.
- Junior forward Tyson Gross had an assist for his second point this season while junior forward Jack Reimann, senior forward Jack Ahcan and senior forward Adam Ingram each had single assists their first points of the season.
- Gross was 12-9 in the faceoff dot, marking the second time this season and 33rd time in his career he has won 10 or more faceoffs.
- Freshman forward Nolan Roed went 10-8 in the faceoff dot, the second time in as many games he won 10+ faceoffs this season.
GAME 2 - 4-2 win vs. Bemidji State (10-11-25)
- With the win, St. Cloud State improves to 58-46-7 all-time against Bemidji State and 9-1-0 over the Beavers in the last 10 games.
- The Huskies went 1-for-5 on the power play and 4-for-5 on the penalty kill and now sit at 33.3 percent (4-for-12) on the man advantage and 75.0 percent (9-for-12) on the penalty kill this season.
- Freshman forward Nolan Roed scored his first collegiate goal and added an assist for his first career two-point game.
- Senior defenseman Josh Zinger scored his first goal and recorded his first assist of the season for his seventh career two-point game.
- Freshman Austin Burnevik scored his third goal of the season with his 16th career goal in the second period. The Husky sophomore has scored a goal in three consecutive games and has scored a point in five consecutive games dating back to March 14, 2025.
- In four career games against the Beavers, Burnevik has scored five goals and two assists for seven points (1.75 ppg).
- Freshman forward Noah Urness scored his second goal of the season and first game-winning goal with his second period score.
- In his first start as a Husky and second career start, sophomore goaltender Patriks Berzins made a career-high 32 saves to earn the victory in net.
- Senior defenseman Max Smolinski and sophomore defenseman Finn Loftus each recorded an assist for their first points as a Husky.
- Junior forward Tyson Gross and Roed each won 10+ faceoffs, going 12-10 and 11-7 in the dot, respectively.

BLAZING START TO THE SEASON FOR BURNEY

Sophomore forward Austin Burnevik is off to a hot start this season, scoring in each of the Huskies first three game this season. His three-goal streak is the longest active streak in the NCAA (tied with seven others) and is also on a five-game point streak dating back to March 14, 2025.
Burnevik is the first Husky to score a goal in each of the first three games of a season since Jimmy Schuldt scored in the first three games of the 2017-18 season (Oc. 7, 13, 14).
Last season, Burnevik became the first freshmen in program history to lead the Huskies in both goals and points with 13 goals and 28 points. Burnevik's 13 goals rank 17th among SCSU freshmen all-time and were the most since 2017-18 (Easton Brodzinski, 14). He earned All-NCHC Rookie Team honors, becoming the sixth Husky forward and 14th overall to earn the honor.

ONE MORE TIME

A key emphasis for the Huskies this season was to score one more goal per game than last season when SCSU averaged 2.19 goals per game. Consider the small sample size of three games, but the Huskies are on their way to accomplishing their goal in 2025-26, scoring 3.33 goals per game in three games (10 goals overall).
The scoring has been balanced as well with seven Huskies finding the back of the net with sophomore forward Austin Burnevik and freshman forward Noah Urness being the lone Huskies to score multiple goals at three and two, respectively.
The power play has been potentially responsible for the added production through three games, with the Huskies finding the back of the net on the man advantage in each game this season and four times overall. SCSU's 33.3 percent (4-12) success rate on the power play is nearly double its success rate from last season (16.8%, 16-95).