Home Series with No. 20 Colorado College Up Next for St. Cloud State Men's Hockey

Friday, February 21

St. Cloud, Minn.

7:30 P.M. CT

St. Cloud State

Colorado College

Tickets

Photo by: Jason Soria

Home Series with No. 20 Colorado College Up Next for St. Cloud State Men's Hockey

2/20/2025 9:09:00 PM | Men's Hockey

Huskies and Tigers to play Friday and Saturday at the Herb

THE MATCHUP

St. Cloud State Men's Hockey will look to get back in the win column this weekend when the Huskies host No. 20/RV Colorado College this weekend at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud, Minn. The series begins on Friday with a 7:30 p.m. CT puck drop and will conclude on Saturday at 6:00 p.m. CT on NCHC.tv (subscription required) and Fox 9 + (tape delay) with Jim Erickson, Geno Parrish and Olivia Stephes on the call. On the radio, Nick Maxson and Dave Reichel will grace the airwaves on KNSI (99.3 FM / 1450 AM) for the series.
The Huskies are winless in their last 10 games and will look to record its first win since Dec. 29 (2-1 vs. St. Thomas) and its first NCHC win since Dec. 7 (5-2 vs. Omaha). Colorado College has also struggled since the last time these two teams met in late November, going 5-11-0 in its last 16 games, but enter the series winning four of its last five.

NATIONAL POLLS / POST-SEASON OUTLOOK

In an up-and-down season, SCSU is no longer receiving votes in either top-20 poll and ranks 34th in the Pairwise rankings. Colorado College currently ranks No. 20 in the UCHO poll, is receiving votes in the USA Hockey / The Rink Live top-20 poll and checks in at 32nd in the Pairwise.

SERIES HISTORY

Old WCHA foes, St. Cloud State and Colorado College will meet for the 129^th and 130^th times this weekend at the Brooks Center. The Huskies lead the all-time series between the two programs with a mark of 67-53-9 and have controlled the series over the last decade-plus, posting a 34-8-3 mark against the Tigers since the 2012-13 season.
Earlier this season, SCSU took four out of six points from CC in a series played Nov. 22-23 in Colorado Springs. In the first game, the Huskies tallied two power play goals, including the game winner from freshman forward Austin Burnevik in the second period of a 3-2 win. The two teams then played in a goaltenders duel in the second game, as CC scored the game's lone goal in overtime for a 1-0 win. Sophomore goaltender Isak Posch made a season-high 34 saves in the contest.

A LOOK BACK AT LAST SERIES

SCSU is coming off its final bye week of the season and most recently dropped both games of a road series at then-No. 4 Western Michigan, 4-0 and 6-1 on Feb. 7-8. Freshman forward Austin Burnevik scored the Huskies lone goal of the weekend with his team-leading 12th score of the season, while sophomore goaltender Isak Posch returned from injury for the first time in two months in Saturday's game.

FRESHMAN PHENOM

Freshman forward Austin Burnevik is off to a scorching hot start to his collegiate career, recording a team-best 12 goals and 10 assists for a team-high 22 points in 27 games. The Ham Lake native has twice been named the NCHC Rookie of the Week and leads all NCHC freshmen in goals (12) while ranking second in points (22). Among NCAA freshmen, Burnevik's 12 goals rank fourth and are just four off of the NCAA lead at 16, while his 22 points rank 15th. On SCSU's all-time freshmen scoring list, Burnevik's 12 goals rank 20th and are the most since Easton Brodzinski had 14 in 2017-18, while his 22 points are six away from entering the top-20.

NOTES FROM LAST SERIES:

GAME 1 - 4-0 loss at Western Michigan (2-7-25)
- With the loss, St. Cloud State moves to 25-16-5 all-time against Western Michigan and 9-7-3 against the Broncos in Kalamazoo.
- On the season, SCSU moves to 2-12-0 when its opponent scores first, 1-5-1 when trailing after the first period, 0-8-1 when trailing after the second period and 5-8-1 when its opponents outshoot SCSU.
- Senior forward Mason Salquist won 10+ faceoffs for the team-leading 17th time this season to improve to 57.7 percent (274-201) in the dot this season.
- Fifth-year goaltender Gavin Enright made 30 saves in the game, the third time this season and ninth time in his career he has made 30+ saves.
GAME 2 - 6-1 loss at Western Michigan (2-8-25)
- With the loss, St. Cloud State moves to 25-17-5 all-time against Western Michigan and 9-8-3 against the Broncos in Kalamazoo.
- On the season, SCSU moves to 2-13-0 when its opponent scores first, 1-6-1 when trailing after the first period, 0-9-1 when trailing after the second period and 5-9-1 when its opponents outshoot SCSU.
- SCSU won the faceoff battle, 28-22.
- Freshman forward Austin Burnevik scored his 12th goal of the season and now ranks 20th all-time among SCSU freshman in goals scored. His 12 scores are the most by a Husky freshman since Eastern Brodzinski had 14 in 2017-18.
- Sophomore forward Tyson Gross recorded his 10th assist of the season while freshman defenseman Thor Byfuglien had his second.
- After missing 14 games due to a lower-body injury, sophomore goaltender Isak Posch returned to the ice, making 21 saves in 40:00.

FACEOFF SUCCESS

St. Cloud State's centers have produced at an elite level in the faceoff dot this season, helping the Huskies gain possession of the puck and control play. As a team, SCSU has produced a 54.6 percent mark (ranked eighth in NCAA) in the dot (914-761), with each of its top-three faceoff specialist's marks above 57 percent.
SCSU has won the faceoff battle in eight of its last 11 games and in 19 of 28 games overall.
Senior forward Mason Salquist has won 10 or more faceoffs in a team-leading 17 games this season and has 10+ wins in 11 of the last 15 games. He is currently 57.9 percent (283-206) in the circle and a season-best 15 faceoff wins vs. Augustana (Oct. 26) and vs. Omaha (Dec. 7).
Sophomore forward Verner Miettinen has produced a 57.3 percent mark in the circle (242-180). Miettinen set a career-best with 20 wins in the circle against Bemidji State (20-6, Oct. 12), shattering his previous career high mark of 12 set twice, last on March 8, 2024, against Minnesota Duluth.
Sophomore forward Tyson Gross checks in at 57.2 percent in the circle this season (267-200). Gross has won 10 or more faceoffs in 13 games this season, including a season-best 19 wins (19-4) against St. Thomas on Dec. 29.

ACADEMIC HUSKIES

St. Cloud State Men's Hockey had 16 student-athletes earn National Collegiate Hockey Conference Academic All-Conference Honors. In addition, nine SCSU student athletes earned the mark of Distinguished Scholar Athlete.
St. Cloud State's recipients for Distinguished Scholar-Athlete recognition was redshirt sophomore goaltender James Gray, senior defenseman Josh Luedtke, sophomore forward Verner Miettinen, senior forward Nick Portz, sophomore goaltender Isak Posch, sophomore forward Jack Reimann, junior defenseman Mason Reiners, junior forward Jack Rogers and redshirt junior forward Ryan Rosborough. Earning Academic All-Conference honors for the Huskies was junior forward Grant Ahcan, junior forward Ethan AuCoin, sophomore defenseman Warren Clark, senior defenseman Karl Falk, sophomore forward Tyson Gross, sophomore defenseman Kaleb Tiessen and junior defenseman Cooper Wylie.
Luedtke, Portz and Rosborough earned academic all-conference honors for the fourth consecutive season, while Gray, Reiners and Wylie earned the honor for the third straight season. Earning their second career honor was Gross, Miettinen, Posch, Reimann, Rogers and Tiessen.
To be eligible for the NCHC Academic All-Conference Team, a student-athlete must compile a 3.0 cumulative grade-point average or better, while having completed at least one full academic year at his current institution or have transferred intra-conference and previously been on the NCHC Academic All-Conference Team. Student-athletes that have achieved a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or better are honored as NCHC Distinguished Scholar-Athletes, in addition to Academic All-Conference.