No. 11 St. Cloud State Women’s Hockey Travels to No. 2 Ohio State for First Road WCHA Series

Friday, October 24

OSU Ice Rink • Columbus, Ohio

5 p.m.

St. Cloud State

#2 Ohio State

Laura Zimmermann vs. St. Thomas 10-17-25

Photo by: Jason Soria

No. 11 St. Cloud State Women’s Hockey Travels to No. 2 Ohio State for First Road WCHA Series

10/22/2025 3:17:00 PM | Women's Hockey

Series Notes

Huskies ready for second out-of-state road trip of the season

ST. CLOUD, Minn. – No. 11 St. Cloud State Women's Hockey (4-4-0, 1-3-0 Western Collegiate Hockey Association) heads to Columbus, Ohio for its first road WCHA series of the season against No. 2 Ohio State. Puck drops from the OSU Ice Rink are scheduled for 5 p.m. CT/6 p.m. ET on Friday and 2 p.m. CT/3 p.m. ET on Saturday.

SERIES NOTES

FOLLOW THE HUSKIES
Both games will be broadcast on Big Ten Plus (note – a paid subscription is required) with radio coverage on 97.5 FM RadioX. KVSC talent Brian Moos will be on the radio broadcast. Live stats will be provided by Ohio State.

Game 9 – @ #2 Ohio State (OSU Ice Rink // Columbus, Ohio) – Friday, Oct. 24 / 5 p.m. CT/6 p.m. ET / Watch ($ - B1G+) / Live stats / Listen (97.5 FM RadioX)
Game 10 – @ #2 Ohio State (OSU Ice Rink // Columbus, Ohio) – Saturday, Oct. 25 / 2 p.m. CT/3 p.m. ET / Watch ($ - B1G+) / Live stats / Listen (97.5 FM RadioX)

Links to each coverage option are available on the SCSU Women's Hockey schedule page.

SERIES HISTORY
SCSU trails the all-time series against the Buckeyes, 32-64-12 including a 1-8-1 mark in the team's last 10 matchups. The Huskies are 15-29-8 all-time when playing Ohio State in Columbus. Last season, SCSU went 0-3-1 with a shootout win on home ice against the Buckeyes.

LET'S GO POLLING
The Huskies dropped one spot in both polls and are now ranked No. 11 in both the U.S. College Hockey Online (USCHO) Poll and the USA Hockey Poll. St. Cloud State is one of six WCHA programs featured in the rankings, with one additional club receiving votes. Ohio State enters the series ranked No. 2 in both polls.

WCHA WEEKLY HONORS
Junior forward Alice Sauriol (Sherbrooke, Quebec) was named Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) Forward of the Week by the league on Oct. 20. Sauriol led the way offensively for the Huskies with a five-point weekend in a series split with then-(RV) St. Thomas, scoring three goals and two assists with a +3 mark on the ice. It is her first WCHA weekly award of the season and second of her career after being named Rookie of the Week on 10/16/23.

Sauriol is the third Husky to win WCHA weekly honors this season, following freshman forward Maria Mikaelyan (Moscow, Russia) who earned Rookie of the Week honors on Oct. 13 and sophomore defender Siiri Yrjölä (Vantaa, Finland), who was named Defender of the Week on Sept. 22. She is the first Husky to be named conference Forward of the Week since Sofianna Sundelin (Ulvila, Finland) earned the honor last February.

The third year forward opened the weekend with a three-point performance (2 goals/1 assist) in Friday's 4-3 win over (RV) St. Thomas, including the game-winning goal in overtime and was named the game's first star. It was the first two-goal game of her career and her third career three-point game. In Saturday's overtime loss, she recorded two more points (1 goal/1 assist) and was named the game's third star, finishing the weekend with five points (3 goals/2 assists) and a +3 mark.

The Sherbrooke, Quebec native was one of three WCHA skaters with two multiple point games along with her linemate, Sundelin. Among WCHA skaters, Sauriol ranked tied for No. 1 in goals (three), tied for No. 1 in points (five), tied for No. 1 in game-winning goals (one) and tied for No. 2 in power play goals (one). She is now tied for the team lead in goals this season (four) and points (seven).

2025-26 WCHA WEEKLY HONORS
Defender of the Week

Siiri Yrjölä (Sept. 22)

Forward of the Week

Alice Sauriol (Oct. 20)

Rookie of the Week

Maria Mikaelyan (Oct. 13)

LAST TIME OUT
SCSU split its home series against then-(RV) St. Thomas at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center, winning 4-3 in overtime on Friday before falling 4-3 in overtime on Saturday.

Notes from the games
GAME 7 - 4-3 win (OT) vs. (RV) St. Thomas (10-17-25)

SCSU improved to 12-4-2 all-time against St. Thomas and 8-1-1 all-time against the Tommies at home.
The Huskies moved to 2-3-0 this season against teams ranked/receiving votes, 3-1-0 in home games and 1-0-0 in overtime games.
SCSU went 0-for-1 on the penalty kill and 1-for-3 on the power play. For the season, SCSU is 18-for-22 (81.8%) on the penalty kill and 4-for-18 on the power play (22.2%).
The Huskies outshot UST, 44-16. UST out blocked the Huskies 14-8 and won 64.6% of the game's faceoffs.
SCSU earned its first overtime win since November 16, 2024.
Mira Jalosuo earned her first WCHA win as the Huskies head coach.
Junior forward Alice Sauriol (Sherbrooke, Quebec) tallied three points (2 goals/1 assist) including the game-winner in overtime and was named the game's first star. She recorded the first two-goal game of her career and her third career three-point game. It was her first power play goal of the season, and she surpassed 15 career goals and 40 career points. Sauriol is second on the team in goals, with three and in a four-way tie for second on the team in points (five).
Graduate defender Grace Wolfe (Owatonna, Minn.) recorded three points (1 goal/2 assists) including the goal that sent the game to overtime and an assist on the game-winning goal. She was named the game's second star and skated to a +3 mark. Wolfe recorded the second three-point game of her career and tied her career best mark for +/-, +3. She now has 35 career assists and surpassed 40 career points and is tied for second on the team in assists this season with four and in a four-way tie for second on the team in points (five).
Junior forward Sofianna Sundelin (Ulvila, Finland) and sophomore defender Siiri Yrjölä(Vantaa, Finland) each posted two assists and skated to a +2 mark. Sundelin was named the game's third star.
Sundelin recorded the first two-assist game of her career and now has 20 for her career. She went 21-and-16 (56.8) on the faceoff dot and is now 91-and-70 (56.5%) on the season. Sundelin is tied for second on the team in assists this season with four and in a four-way tie for second on the team in points (five).
Yrjölä posted the third two-assist game of her career which have all come this season. She also tied her career best +/- mark (+2) and recorded a career-high four shots. She leads the team in assists (six) and points (eight), each by two.
Redshirt junior forward Laura Zimmermann (Ringgenberg, Switzerland) scored the Huskies second goal.
Redshirt sophomore defender Sydney Bryant (Traverse City, Mich.) tied her career-high with five shots on goal.
Freshman defender Maélie Pion (Sherbrooke, Quebec) recorded a career-high six shots.
Senior forward Svenja Voigt (Cologne, Germany) skated in her 95^th career game.

GAME 8 - 4-3 loss (OT) vs. (RV) St. Thomas (10-18-25)

SCSU moved to 12-5-2 all-time against St. Thomas and 8-2-1 all-time against the Tommies at home.
The Huskies moved to 2-4-0 this season against teams ranked/receiving votes, 3-2-0 in home games and 1-1-0 in overtime games.
SCSU went 2-for-4 on the penalty kill and 0-for-4 on the power play. For the season, SCSU is 20-for-26 (76.9%) on the penalty kill and 4-for-22 on the power play (18.2%).
The Huskies outshot UST, 31-21. UST out blocked the Huskies 12-8 and won 66.1% of the game's faceoffs.
Junior forward Alice Sauriol (Sherbrooke, Quebec) recorded two points (1 goal/1 assist) and was named the game's third star. She finished the weekend with five points (3 goals/2 assists) and is now tied for the team lead in goals this season, with four and points, with seven. It was her 80^th career game.
Junior forward Sofianna Sundelin (Ulvila, Finland) posted two points (1 goal/1 assist). She recorded four points in the series (1 goal/3 assists) and is now tied for the team lead in points, with seven and is second in assists, with five. She tied her career high in shots (seven). Sundelin now has 35 career points, and it was her 80^th career game.
Freshman forward Julianne Labbé (Wendake, Quebec) scored the Huskies third goal. Labbé scored her first goal in five games and now has five points this season. Her three goals are third most on the team.
Redshirt sophomore goaltender Paige Hoogendam (Ajax, Ontario) made 17 saves in her first collegiate start.
Graduate defender Grace Wolfe (Owatonna, Minn.) recorded her fifth assist of the season and the 35^th of her career. She is now tied for second on the team in assists this season and her six points rank fourth on the team. It was her 125^th game.
Junior forward Sidney Jackel (Ann Arbor, Mich.) tallied her 15^th career assist and 25^th career point.
Junior forward Payton Holloway (Tomah, Wis.) assist was the fifth of her career.

THIS WEEK IN THE WCHA
Friday, Oct. 24
(RV) Providence at No. 13 St. Thomas - 2 PM (FOX9+)
No. 11 St. Cloud State at No. 2 Ohio State - 5 PM
No. 3 Minnesota at No. 4/5 Minnesota Duluth - 6 PM

Saturday, Oct. 25
(RV) Providence at No. 13 St. Thomas - 1 PM
(RV) Minnesota State at No. 1 Wisconsin - 2 PM
No. 11 St. Cloud State at No. 2 Ohio State - 2 PM
No. 3 Minnesota at No. 4/5 Minnesota Duluth - 3 PM (FOX9+)

Sunday, Oct. 26
(RV) Minnesota State at No. 1 Wisconsin - 2 PM

*WCHA Game
** Rankings are USCHO/USA Hockey
***All times in CT

JOJO IS CHO-BA(C)K
Graduate student goaltender Jojo Chobak (Chicago, Ill.) is back for her final year of collegiate eligibility after a redshirt season in 2024-25. In her first start between the pipes in since March 2, 2024 (567 days) on Sept. 20, she picked up right where she left of in 2023-24, earning her 10^th career shutout as a Huskies to tie former teammate Sanni Ahola (2020-25) for the most career shutouts in program history.

This summer, Chobak was invited to the USA Hockey National Goaltender Camp and National Festival and was a U.S. Collegiate Select Team selection. In 2023-24, she went 7-11-1 over 17 starts and established new program records for single season save percentage (.939) and goals against average (1.64) while recording four shutouts. Chobak currently owns seven season top 10 marks and four career top 10 spots in the record book. She is a two-time WCHA All-Academic Team member and a two-time WCHA Scholar-Athlete. In her four-year career, she owns a 28-25-3 record with a 2.03 GAA, a .928 SV% and 13 shutouts over 54 starts/64 appearances.

NEW LEADER OF THE PACK
Former assistant coach, Mira Jalosuo (MEER-ah YAH-loh-SUE-oh) was named the seventh head coach of the St. Cloud State Women's Hockey team on June 27, 2025. She is just the second woman to lead the Huskies during the program's 27-year history, following in the footsteps of Kerry Brodt Wethington, who was the programs first head coach from 1998-99 to 2001-02.

Jalosuo picked up her first win as the Huskies bench boss in her first game, a 5-0 win over Lindenwood (Mo.) on September 19. She earned her first series sweep the next day after SCSU took down the Lions 5-0 for the second straight game. It was the first time in program history that a team posted back-to-back shutouts to open a season and the fourth season in a row that the Huskies opened their season with a series sweep.

A highly decorated member of Finland's National Team, the two-time Olympian and five-time World Championships Bronze medalist spent the last two seasons as an assistant coach with the Minnesota Frost (formerly PWHL Minnesota), helping the franchise win back-to-back PWHL Walter Cups in each of the first two seasons of the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL).

ALL-FEMALE COACHING STAFF
For the first time in program history, the Huskies have an all-female coaching staff. SCSU is one of two programs in the WCHA and one of six programs in all of NCAA DI Women's Hockey with an all-female staff.

WELCOME TO THE PACK
The Huskies welcomed 13 newcomers to the team this fall (10 freshmen and three transfers. Of the 10 freshmen, six are forwards – Lily Erickson (Roseau, Minn. / Roseau HS), Payton Remick (Roseau, Minn. / Roseau HS), Raili Mustonen (Kalajoki, Finland / Team Kuortane (Auroraliiga)), Reese Strauts (Brandon, Wis. / Windy City Storm (19U AAA)), Julianne Labbé (Wendake, Quebec / Cégep Limoilou Titans (QCHL)) and Maria Mikaelyan (Moscow, Russia / North York Storm (OWHL U22 AA)) and four are defenders - Hannah Arnold (Winnipeg, Manitoba / St. Mary's Academy (CSSHL U18)), Sydney Lamb (Lombard, Ill. / Windy City Storm (19U AAA)), Aruba Skiston (Bensenville, Ill. / Chicago Mission (19U AAA)) and Maélie Pion (Sherbrooke, Quebec / Stanstead College (CAHS)).

The transfers are junior forward Payton Holloway (Tomah, Wis. / Shattuck St. Mary's) from Minnesota Duluth, junior forward Sidney Jackel (Ann Arbor, Mich. / Pioneer HS), from Lindenwood and senior goaltender Hali Lawrence (Calgary, Alberta / Calgary Fire U18AAA) from Post.

SEASON PREVIEW
The Huskies bring back three of its four top scorers from last season's squad that went 15-15-6 and finished inside the top-five of the WCHA standings for the third consecutive season after most recently doing so in 2015-16. The three top returning point scorers, forward Sofianna Sundelin (Ulvila, Finland), forward Alice Sauriol (Sherbrooke, Quebec) and forward Laura Zimmermann (Ringgenberg, Switzerland), are all rising juniors and contributed 15+ points a season ago. The Huskies also return an elite netminder duo in All-WCHA Rookie Team selection Emilia Kyrkkö (Nokia, Finland) and graduate student Jojo Chobak (Chicago, Ill.), who redshirted last season.

O CAPTAINS! OUR CAPTAINS!
St. Cloud State named four captains ahead of the 2025-26 season on Friday. Graduate student defender Grace Wolfe (Owatonna, Minn.) with be the fifth Husky to wear the "C" as captain for two seasons, while redshirt junior defender Regan Bulger (Yellowknife, Northwest Territories), graduate student goaltender Jojo Chobak (Chicago, Ill.) and redshirt junior forward Laura Zimmermann (Ringgenberg, Switzerland) will be alternate captains and wear a letter for the first time in their career.

Wolfe, who served as a co-captain in 2024-25 and an alternate captain in 2023-24, becomes just the second Husky to wear a letter in three seasons after Katy Battis (C – 1999-2000, A – 2001-02, 2002-03).

WCHA PRESEASON COACHES POLL
St. Cloud State Women's Hockey was selected to finish fifth in the 2025-26 Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) Preseason Coaches' Poll, as announced by the league office on Sept. 8. The Huskies are coming off their third fifth place conference finish in a row and tied for the second most conference points in program history a season ago.

SCSU received 24 points overall in the coaches' poll and were selected to finish behind Wisconsin (49 points, seven first-place votes), Minnesota (40 points, one first-place vote) Ohio State (40 points), and Minnesota Duluth (31 points). Rounding out the poll was St. Thomas (17 points), Minnesota State (16 points) and Bemidji State (seven points).

2025-26 WCHA Preseason Coaches' Poll
Pl.         Team (1st Place Votes)          Points
1.          Wisconsin (7)                            49
t2.        Minnesota (1)                            40
t2.        Ohio State                                40
4.          Minnesota Duluth                   31
5.        St. Cloud State                     24
6.          St. Thomas                               17
7.          Minnesota State                      16
8.          Bemidji State                           7

*First-place votes are in parentheses (Coaches could not vote for their own team)

JOJO REPRESENTS THE STARS AND STRIPES AT THE 2025 COLLEGIATE SELECT SERIES
Graduate student goaltender Jojo Chobak (Chicago, Ill.) helped lead the U.S. Collegiate Select Team to a 1-1-1-0 record in the three-game series against Canada in the 2025 Collegiate Select Series in August at the Lake Placid Olympic Center in Lake Placid, N.Y.

The graduate student goaltender is the third active SCSU player and first netminder to be named to the Collegiate Select Team (*formerly known as the U22 Team) twice in her career. Chobak and former co-captain Emma Gentry became the fourth and fifth Huskies to make the team back in 2023 before Gentry was a back-to-back pick in 2024. Prior to that, goaltender Emma Polusny was the last Husky to make the team in 2019 and before that, defender Brittni Kuyper made back-to-back U22 squads in 2006 and 2007 while forward Holly Roberts joined Kuyper at the 2007 U22 Series.

St. Cloud State Huskies at the U.S. Collegiate Select Series
Year     Name                        Pos.
2025   JOJO CHOBAK         G
2024    Emma Gentry             F
2023    Emma Gentry             F
2023   JOJO CHOBAK         G
2019    Emma Polusny            G
2007    Holly Roberts             F
2007    Brittni Kuyper             D
2006    Brittni Kuyper             D

THANK YOU, BRIAN
Former head coach Brian Idalski was named the first-ever head coach of Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) expansion team, PWHL Vancouver on June 23.

The 2022-23 U.S. College Hockey Online (USCHO) National Coach of the Year departed St. Cloud after three seasons in which he helped turn the program around, bringing the Huskies back into national prominence. Under Idalski, SCSU went 50-50-9 and recorded three of its eight highest single season win totals in program history and set numerous other individual and team records.

In 2024-25, Idalski became just the second coach in program history to amass 50 wins and was the first to do so in three seasons or less. He also became the first coach in program history to beat Minnesota on the road (0-60-2 prior) and was just the second coach to post three consecutive 15+ win seasons.

For all the latest on St. Cloud State Women's Hockey, stay tuned to SCSUHuskies.com and follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.