St. Cloud State Men's Hockey Ready for Home and Home with Bemidji State

THE MATCHUP

St. Cloud State Men's Hockey will play its first true series of the 2025-26 season this weekend with a home-and-home series with in-state foe Bemidji State on Oct. 10-11. The series will begin in Bemidji with a 7:00 p.m. CT on Friday with a TV broadcast on MidCo Sports + before a return to the Granite City and the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center for the series finale on Saturday for a 6:00 p.m. CT puck drop on The CW and NCHC.tv (subscription required). Over the airwaves on Saturday, 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), Jim Erickson will have play-by-play duties for the road game while Nick Maxson will join for the home contest with former Husky captain Dave Reichel on color commentary for both games.
The Huskies will be looking to get into the win column for the first time this season after narrowly dropping its season opener to St. Thomas, 4-3, on Oct. 4. Bemidji State opened its season with a long road trip to Alaska Anchorage and came away with a series sweep, winning 9-2 and 5-0 on Oct. 3-4 while Adam Flammang was named CCHA Forward of the Week after a five-point weekend.

NATIONAL POLLS

A new season brings a new outlook for all 63 Division-I men's hockey programs, and both teams will be looking to make a statement this weekend to return to the top-20 polls. Both the Huskies and Beavers are currently receiving votes in the USCHO and USA Hockey Top-20 polls and could be ranked with a good showing on the ice this weekend.

SERIES HISTORY

Long time in-state foes, the Huskies and the Beavers will meet for the fifth consecutive season as non-conference opponents. The two teams have met 109 times before with SCSU leading the all-time series 56-46-7, including a 7-1-2 mark in the last 10 matchups and a 29-5-4 mark record since 2008.
Last season, the Huskies earned 4-3 and 3-2 wins over the Beavers on Oct. 11-12, 2024, with last season's freshmen stepping up in a big way in the series sweep. Sophomore forward Austin Burnevik scored three goals and had five points in the series, including two in the 4-3 Friday win at the Brooks Center with freshman defenseman Thor Byfuglien adding a highlight goal in the Friday win as well. In a 3-2 win on Saturday, junior forward Barrett Hall added a score to help lift the Huskies to a series sweep.

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 a season ago. 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 and senior defenseman Josh Zinger (4-4-8) was the top point producer from the blue line.

NOTES FROM LAST SERIES

GAME 1 - 4-3 loss vs. St. Thomas (10-4-25)
- With the loss, St. Cloud State moves to 24-25-0 all-time against St. Thomas and 7-2-0 since the two schools became Division-I programs.
- SCSU outshot UST, 30-29 in the game.
- Senior defenseman Mason Reiners and freshman forward Noah Urness both scored their first career goals in the game.
- Reiners' first career goal came shorthanded as he became the first Husky since 2022 (Grant Ahcan) and just the fourth since the 2001-02 season to record their first collegiate goal shorthanded.
- After leading the Huskies in scoring last season, sophomore forward Austin Burnevik scored his 14th career goal with his third period score.
- Freshman forward Nolan Roed and freshman defenseman Tanner Henricks recorded their first career points with assists in the game.
- Junior froward Barrett Hall's two assists marks the ninth time in his career he has recorded a multi-point game and was his 39th and 40th career points.
- Junior forward Tyson Gross, Roed and junior forward Verner Miettinen all had 10+ faceoff wins with the Huskies winning 57.7 percent of draws (41-30).

FIRST GOAL SHORTIES

In his 91st career game, senior defensman Mason Reiners scored his first collegiate goal and the first goal of the season for St. Cloud State in the season opener against St. Thomas (Oct. 4). On the penalty kill, Reiners scored 1:05 into the third period and began a stretch of three consecutive goals to erase a three-goal deficit for the Huskies against the Huskies.
Since 2001-02, only four Huskies have recorded their first collegiate goal as a shorthanded score with Reiners joining Chris Anderson (2/11/05), Michael Olson (10/21/05) and Grant Ahcan (10/14/22).
Huskies to score first career goal shorthanded:
- Chris Anderson, Feb. 11, 2005 at Colorado College
- Michael Olson, Oct. 21, 2005 vs. Wisconsin
- Grant Ahcan, Oct. 14, 2022 at Wisconsin
- Mason Reiners, Oct. 4, 2025 vs. St. Thomas

NHL HUSKIES

With a new NHL season beginning this week, 11 former Huskies have earned a spot on opening night rosters. The Huskies are one of 10 programs with 10+ alums on NHL Opening Night Rosters, with their 11 alums ranking second in the NCHC and fifth in the NCAA overall.
- Jack Ahcan, Colorado Avalanche
- Will Borgen, New York Rangers
- Jonny Brodzinski, New York Rangers
- Dennis Cholowski, New Jersey Devils
- Nic Dowd, Washington Capitals
- Mikey Eyssimont, Boston Bruins
- Nick Jensen, Ottawa Senators
- Charlie Lindgren, Washington Capitals
- Blake Lizotte, Pittsburgh Penguins
- Nick Perbix, Nashville Predators
- Ryan Poehling, Anaheim Ducks

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.
The Ham Lake native started the 2025-26 season right where he finished last season, scoring a goal in the third period to briefly tie the score at 3-3. Burnevik is currently on a three-game point scoring streak dating back to March 14, 2025.
Last season, 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).
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 for the Lincoln Stars 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 Ready for Home and Home with Bemidji State

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Grant Ahcan

Austin Burnevik

Thor Byfuglien

Daimon Gardner

Tyson Gross

Barrett Hall

Tanner Henricks

Verner Miettinen

Mason Reiners

Nolan Roed

Yan Shostak

Gavyn Thoreson

Noah Urness

Josh Zinger

Saint Cloud State University Athletics

St. Cloud State Men's Hockey Ready for Home and Home with Bemidji State

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Grant Ahcan

Austin Burnevik

Thor Byfuglien

Daimon Gardner

Tyson Gross

Barrett Hall

Tanner Henricks

Verner Miettinen

Mason Reiners

Nolan Roed

Yan Shostak

Gavyn Thoreson

Noah Urness

Josh Zinger

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