St. Cloud State Men's Hockey Opens 2025-26 with Exhibition against Augstana, Season-Opener against St. Thomas

THE MATCHUP

St. Cloud State Men's Hockey will open the 2025-26 season this weekend with an exhibition game against Augustana on Friday, Oct. 3 before its season-opening game against St. Thomas on Saturday, Oct. 4. Both games from the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center are slated to start at 6:00 p.m. CT on The CW and on NCHC.tv (subscription required) 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, Huskies coverage returns to KNSI (99.3 FM / 1450 AM) with Nick Maxson and former Husky captain Dave Reichel on the call.
Another former captain and former assistant coach, Garrett Raboin will return to the Brooks Center as the head coach of Augustana. Raboin, the first-ever head coach at Augustana, is in his third year at Augustana and has the Vikings knocking on the door of the NCAA Tournament after a 18-13-4 season and second-place finish in the CCHA last season. As for the Tommies, they enter the Brooks Center with their first-ever ranking in program history and appear to be ready for NCAA Tournament competition after posting a 19-14-5 record and a runner-up finish in the CCHA Championship last season.

NATIONAL POLLS:

A new season brings new outlook for all 63 Division-I men's hockey programs, and that reigns true for all three teams this weekend. SCSU begins the season receiving votes in both the USCHO and USA Hockey Top-20 polls, while St. Thomas ranks 19th in the USCHO poll and No. 20 in the USA Hockey poll. The top-20 ranking for the Tommies is its first in their D-I era. Coming off an 18-win season, the Vikings will be seeking their first-ever ranking in their third season as a D-I program.

SERIES HISTORY

SCSU can pull even with the Tommies in the all-time series between the two schools this season with a season-sweep, as UST holds a slight advantage at 25-23-0. This will be the fifth consecutive season the two programs opened the season against each other. St. Cloud State has a convincing 7-1-0 mark since the Tommies moved to Division-I ahead of the 2021-22 season. Prior to the D-I era for both programs, all matchups between the two schools happened prior to 1980. The Huskies opened the 2024-25 season with a 1-0 win over the Tommies at the St. Thomas Ice Arena on Oct. 6, 2024 behind a 34-save shutout from Isak Posch and a tip-in goal from redshirt senior forward Ryan Rosborough.
In the return game to the Brooks Center, junior forward Barrett Hall and senior forward Adam Ingram found the back of the net to lead the Huskies to a 2-1 victory. Ingram scored 71 seconds into the game and Hall scored in the final five minutes of the game to clinch the victory. The two teams will play again on Tuesday, Nov. 11 in one of the first games in the newly opened Lee & Penny Anderson Arena on the campus of St. Thomas. This will be the final nonconference series between the two programs with St. Thomas slated to join the NCHC in 2026-27.

TRIO OF HUSKIES NAMED CAPTAINS, TWO SELECTED AS ALTERNATES FOR 2025-26 SEASON:

For the first time since 2011-12 and just the third time in the D-I era, three Huskies will wear a "C" as captain. Senior forward Grant Ahcan, junior forward Tyson Gross and senior defenseman Cooper Wylie will serve as captains, while junior forward Barrett Hall and senior defenseman Mason Reiners will be alternate captains. The five-man leadership group will be largest group to wear a letter in program history.
Ahcan follows his brother, Jack, who served as a captain for the 2019-20 season. The Ahcan's are the first set of brothers in the Division-I era to serve as captains for SCSU, and just the second pair overall, following Steve (1985-86) and Mike (1986-87) Brodzinski. Ahcan scored five goals and six assists for 11 points with two shorthanded goals, all career-highs, in 2024-25. He scored twice in SCSU's overtime win over Miami on Nov. 8, netting a shorthanded tally before the OT winner. Ahcan also skated to a +1 mark in seven contests and had a career-high 21 blocks last season. In the classroom, he earned NCHC Academic All-Conference recognition. In 78 career games, Ahcan has scored 10 goals and 14 assists for 24 points with three shorthanded goals and two game-winning goals.
Gross has begun his collegiate career with back-to-back 20-point seasons, scoring 20 points (7-13-20) as a freshman before a 25-point (9-16-25) campaign last season for the black and red. The junior forward led the Huskies in assists (16) and ranked second in goals (nine), points (25), shots on goal (81) and power play goals (four). He earned NCHC Forward of the Week honors after a four-goal, five-point performance against Omaha (Dec. 6-7), becoming the first Husky to score four goals in a series since 2020-21 (Nolan Walker – Jan. 22-23, 2021) and the first to score two goals in back-to-back games since 2015-16 (Kale Kossila – Dec. 11-12, 2015). In 70 career games, Gross has scored 16 goals and 29 assists for 45 points with six power play goals.
Wylie produced two goals and six assists for eight points with 25 blocks in 26 games in his 2024-25 junior campaign. He also added one power play goal and one game-winning goal, scoring the game-winner in overtime to beat Minnesota Duluth (March 7). In 94 career games, Wylie has scored seven goals and 14 assists for 21 points.
Hall has consistently produced a high level in his first two seasons as a Husky, scoring seven goals and 15 assists for 22 points with one power play goal and one game-winning goal while being named a Hobey Baker candidate in his 2024-25 junior campaign. Among team ranks, he ranked second in assists (15), third in points (22), fourth in goals (seven) and fourth in shots on goal (67). He recorded the first two-goal game of his career and added an assist for three points and a +2 mark in the ice in a 4-2 win over Colorado College (Feb. 22). In 67 career games, Hall has scored 15 goals and 23 assists for 38 points.
Reiners appeared in all 36 games for the Huskies a season ago, as he was a stalwart on the blue line with three assists, 37 blocks and a +2 mark on the ice. In the classroom, Reiners graduated with a bachelor's degree in accounting in three years with a 4.0 GPA. He has earned three NCHC Academic All-Conference and Distinguished Scholar-Athlete honors, three AHCA All-America Scholar honors and was named to the 2024-25 CSC Academic All-District team. In 90 career games, Reiners has scored six assists for six points with 77 blocks.

THE FIRST-EVER

Sophomore forward Austin Burnevik did something no other Husky freshman had done before last season, becoming the first freshmen in program history to lead the team in both goals and points with 13 goals and 28 points.
Burnevik earned All-NCHC Rookie Team honors, becoming the sixth Husky forward to earn the honor from the NCHC and 14th to earn the honor overall
He led the Huskies in goals (13), points (28), game-winning goals (two), power play goals (six) and shots on goal (110). Burnevik finished the season ranked second among NCHC freshmen in goals (13), assists (15) and points (28).
Burnevik's 13 goals rank 17th among SCSU freshmen all-time and were the most since 2017-18 (Easton Brodzinski, 14).
In SCSU's 38-year D-I history, a freshman has lead the team in goals twice and in points four times. Burnevik is the first to lead the team in both in the same season.
Freshmen to lead SCSU in goals:
- Mark Hartigan (1999-00), 22 goals
- Jonny Brodzinski (2012-13), 22 goals
- Austin Burnevik (2024-25), 13 goals
Freshmen to lead SCSU in points:
- Lenny Esau (1988-89), 39 points
- Matt Cullen (1995-96), 41 points
- Andreas Nodl (2006-07), 46 points
- Veeti Miettinen (2020-21), 24 points
- Austin Burnevik (2024-25, 28 points

ALL-USHL PAIR JOINS THE HUSKIES

A pair of Husky freshmen earned All-USHL honors for their performance in the top junior hockey league in the USA last season. Freshman goaltender Yan Shostak earned All-USHL First Team honors and was named the USHL Goaltender of the Year, while freshman forward Nolan Roed was named to the All-USHL Third Team.
Shostak earned first team honors and was named the league's top goaltender after posting a 29-12-1 mark in net with a 2.40 GAA and .911 S% with the Lincoln Stars. Shostak led the Stars to an Anderson Cup title and conference finals appearance
Roed led the Tr-City Storm in scoring with 27 goals while adding 33 assists for 60 points in 61 games while earning 2024-25 All-USHL Third Team honors. He played a key piece of Tri-City's special teams, scoring 12 power play goals and a USHL-leading seven shorthanded goals in 2024-25.

GROSS LOOKS TO BUILD OFF STRONG SECOND HALF

After scoring just five points in SCSU's first 13 games of the 2024-25 season, junior freshman Tyson Gross produced 20 points (7g/13a) for 0.87 points per game in the last 23 games last season.
Gross produced a career-best three assists, all primary helpers, against Colorado College on Feb. 21. He became the first Husky in more than a season (Verner Miettinen vs. Omaha on Jan. 26, 2024) to record three assists in a game.
Gross had a breakout performance against Omaha (Dec. 6-7), scoring four goals and one assist for five points while earning NCHC Forward of the Week honors.
Gross scored two goals in each game to record his first two career two-goal games, while becoming the first Husky to have back-to-back two-goal games since Kale Kossila on Dec. 11-12, 2015 (two goals, three goals).
The Husky captain has produced back-to-back 20-point seasons to begin his collegiate career, collecting 20 points as a freshman (7-13-20, 2023-24) and 25 points last season (9-16-25, 2024-25).

St. Cloud State Men's Hockey Opens 2025-26 with Exhibition against Augstana, Season-Opener against St. Thomas

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Grant Ahcan

Austin Burnevik

Tyson Gross

Barrett Hall

Adam Ingram

Verner Miettinen

Isak Posch

Mason Reiners

Nolan Roed

Ryan Rosborough

Yan Shostak

Cooper Wylie

Saint Cloud State University Athletics

St. Cloud State Men's Hockey Opens 2025-26 with Exhibition against Augstana, Season-Opener against St. Thomas

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Grant Ahcan

Austin Burnevik

Tyson Gross

Barrett Hall

Adam Ingram

Verner Miettinen

Isak Posch

Mason Reiners

Nolan Roed

Ryan Rosborough

Yan Shostak

Cooper Wylie

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