St. Cloud State Men's Hockey Travels to No. 6 Denver for Final Road Trip of Regular Season

THE MATCHUP

St. Cloud State Men's Hockey hits the road for its final road trip of the regular season this weekend when the Huskies face off against No. 6 Denver at Magness Arena in Denver. The series begins with a 8:00 p.m. CT / 7:00 p.m. MT puck drop on Friday and will conclude on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. CT / 6:00 p.m. MT on NCHC.tv (subscription required) with Brad Thompson on the call. On the radio, voice of the Huskies Jim Erickson will be taking it to the airwaves on KNSI (99.3 FM / 1450 AM) for the series.
The Huskies snapped an 11-game winless streak last weekend with a series split against No. 20 Colorado College, dropping the first game 4-3 before a 4-2 win on Saturday behind a two-goal, three-point performance from sophomore forward Barrett Hall. Denver is coming off a sweep on the road over Miami, winning 5-1 and 5-2 in Oxford. Although ranked in the top-10 in the nation, the Pioneers are still fighting for home ice for the NCHC Quarterfinals and currently sit in fifth place with 36 points, just one back of North Dakota at 37 points.

NATIONAL POLLS / POST-SEASON OUTLOOK

In an up-and-down season, SCSU is no longer receiving votes in either top-20 poll and ranks 39th in the Pairwise rankings. Denver currently ranks sixth in both the USCHO poll and USA Hockey / The Rink Live top-20 polls, and checks in at ninth in the Pairwise.

SERIES HISTORY

Ever since St. Cloud State moved to Division-I ahead of the 1987-88 season, the Huskies and Pioneers have had a long-standing rivalry, meeting 120 times since November 1988. The all-time series is a close one between the two programs, as Denver holds a slight advantage at 60-53-7. In Denver, SCSU is 25-34-3 against the Pioneers.
The two teams met five times last season, with Denver holding a decisive 4-0-1 advantage. In a Jan. 12-13 series in Denver, the Pios earned a 5-1 victory on Friday before a 4-4 tie and shootout win for the Huskies on Saturday. Then, the Pioneers swept SCSU, 6-2 and 7-2 on March 1-2 at the Brooks Center. Lastly, SCSU pushed the eventual national champions to overtime of the Frozen Faceoff semifinals at the Xcel Energy Center, but ended up falling 5-4 on March 22.
SCSU's last win against Denver came on Jan. 21, 2023, a 2-0 win that capped a series sweep (7-3 win on Jan. 20) at the Brooks Center.

A LOOK BACK AT LAST SERIES

SCSU is coming off a series split with No. 20 Colorado College, falling 4-3 on Friday before a 4-2 win on Saturday. On Friday, the Huskies posted a season-high 45 shots on goal while outshooting the Tigers 45-30, produced 11 shots on goal in two power plays and turned away CC's only power play chance, but a 3:07 stretch in the second period where CC scored three times was the difference as the Huskies came up one goal short. Sophomore forward Tyson Gross led the way offensively, recording the primary goal on all three of SCSU's goals. On Satruday, sophomore forward Barrett Hall's career-best performance of two goals and three points led the way offensively while sophomore goaltender Isak Posch made a career-best 42 saves in a 4-2 win.
NOTES FROM LAST SERIES:
GAME 1 - 4-3 loss vs. Colorado College (2-21-25)
- The Huskies recorded a season-high 45 shots on goal, surpassing its previous best mark of 43 against Omaha on Dec. 7.
- On the season, SCSU moves to 2-14-0 when its opponent scores first, 2-9-0 when tied after the first period, 0-10-1 when trailing after the second period and 5-8-0 when outshooting its opponent.
- Sophomore forward Tyson Gross recorded a career-best three assists and matched his career-high for points with three as he posted the primary assist on all three goals. He now has an assist in four of the last five games and now moves into a tie for the team lead at 13.
- After scoring just five points in SCSU's first 13 games, Gross now has 16 points (6g/10a) in the last 16 games. His 21 points on the season are now a new career high after scoring 20 points (7g/13a) in his freshman campaign.
- Gross is the first Husky to record three assists since sophomore forward Verner Miettinen had three against Omaha on Jan. 26, 2024.
- After missing 10 games due to an injury, junior defenseman Cooper Wylie scored his first goal of the season and sixth of his career with his first period score. It is just the ninth goal of the season by a Husky defenseman.
- Miettinen scored his fourth goal of the season to match his mark from his freshman campaign.
- Freshman forward Gavyn Thoreson netted his fourth goal of the season with his second period score.
- Freshman forward Austin Burnevik and sophomore forward Daimon Gardner recorded their 11th and fifth assists of the season, respectively.
GAME 2 - 4-2 win vs. Colorado College (2-22-25)
- With the win, St. Cloud State moves to 68-54-9 all-time against Colorado College and 25-25-6 against the Tigers in St. Cloud.
- The Huskies won despite being outshot 44-20 and losing the faceoff battle 45-25.
- SCSU turned away CC's lone chance on the power play to improve to 82.4 percent (70-of-85) on the penalty kill this season.
- On the season, SCSU improves to 10-3-1 when scoring first, 9-2-0 when leading after the first period, 10-1-0 when leading after the second period and 8-7-1 when its opponent fails to score on the power play.
- Sophomore forward Barrett Hall recorded his first career two-goal game with the Huskies' first two goals and added an assist for a three-point period in the first. His three points also set a new career-high, eclipsing the two points he scored six other times, most recently on Dec. 14, 2014, at North Dakota.
- On the season, Hall now has 21 points (7g/14a) for the first 20-point season of his career.
- Freshman forward Austin Burnevik extended his team-lead in goals with his 13th score in the second period while also recording his second career game-winning goal. He added an assist for two points, his sixth game this season with two or more points.
- Burnevik's 13 goals rank 17th on the SCSU freshman single-season list.
- Sophomore forward Gavyn Thoreson scored for the second consecutive game and for the fifth time overall this season with a second period score.
- Sophomore goaltender Isak Posch recorded a career-high 42 saves in the game, stopping 42 of 44 saves while lowering his goals-against average to 2.10 and raising his save percentage to .928.
- Posch reached double digit wins for the first time in his career with his 10th win of the season, while his 15 career wins rank 18th all-time for Husky netminders.
- Sophomore forward Verner Miettinen logged two assists in the game, his 11th and 12th of the season. It marked the second time this season and sixth time in his career he has recorded two or more assists.
- Sophomore forward Daimon Gardner recorded a career-high two assists and two points in the game.
- Freshman defenseman Colin Ralph notched his sixth assist of the season with the secondary assist on Hall's second goal.

UNDERCLASSMEN PRODUCING IMMEDIATELY

St. Cloud State's underclassmen have paced the Huskies all season. Freshmen and sophomores have accounted for 45 of 67 goals scored (67.2 percent) and 120 of 175 points (68.6 percent) this season. SCSU's top-four leading scorers - Austin Burnevik (13-12-25), Barrett Hall (7-14-21), Tyson Gross (8-13-21) and Verner Miettinen (4-12-16) - are all first- or second-year players. Burnevik's 13 goals lead all NCHC freshmen and rank third among all freshmen nationally.
Additionally, sophomore goaltender Isak Posch was a serious contender for the Mike Richter Award before missing 14 games due to injury. In 16 games this season, Posch has produced a 10-6-0 mark with a 2.10 GAA, .928 S% and two shutouts. Posch was named to the Mike Richter Award Watch List and was named a Hobey Baker Award candidate.

FRESHMAN PHENOM

Freshman forward Austin Burnevik is off to a scorching hot start to his collegiate career, recording a team-best 13 goals and 12 assists for a team-high 25 points in 29 games.
The Ham Lake native has twice been named the NCHC Rookie of the Week and leads all NCHC freshmen in goals (13) and points (25). Among NCAA freshmen, Burnevik's 13 goals rank third and are just three off of the NCAA lead at 16, while his 25 points rank 11th.
On SCSU's all-time freshmen scoring list, Burnevik's 12 goals rank 17th and are the most since Easton Brodzinski had 14 in 2017-18, while his 25 points are four away from entering the top-20.

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 53.5 percent mark (ranked 12th in NCAA) in the dot), with each of its top-three faceoff specialist's marks above 55 percent.
SCSU has won the faceoff battle in 19 of 30 games this season.
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 17 games. He is currently 57.3 percent (298-222) in the circle and a season-best 15 faceoff wins vs. Augustana (Oct. 26) and vs. Omaha (Dec. 7).
Sophomore forward Tyson Gross checks in at 56.3 percent in the circle this season (284-220). Gross has won 10 or more faceoffs in 14 games this season, including a season-best 19 wins (19-4) against St. Thomas on Dec. 29.
Sophomore forward Verner Miettinen has produced a 55.8 percent mark in the circle (253-200). 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. The 20 wins also matches the most by an NCHC skater this season.

GROSS' BREAK OUT

After scoring just five points in SCSU's first 13 games of the season, sophomore freshman Tyson Gross has produced 16 points (6g/10a) in the last 17 games since Dec. 6. He has a point in 10 of the last 17 games and two points in five of those games.
The Husky sophomore 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).