St. Cloud State Men’s Hockey Falls to Minnesota Duluth 3-2 in Regular Season Finale

Saturday, March 8

St. Cloud, Minn.

6:00 P.M. CT

St. Cloud State

14-19-1, 7-16-1

Minnesota Duluth

13-18-3, 9-13-2

Minn. Duluth

St. Cloud St.

St. Cloud State Men’s Hockey Falls to Minnesota Duluth 3-2 in Regular Season Finale

3/8/2025 11:37:00 PM | Men's Hockey

Box Score

Huskies honor six seniors Enright, Falk, Luedtke, Portz, Rosborough & Salquist following the game

ST. CLOUD, Minn. – St. Cloud State Men's Hockey (14-19-1, 7-16-1 NCHC) fell behind and couldn't quite muster a two-goal comeback for the second straight game, falling 3-2 to Minnesota Duluth (13-18-3, 9-13-2 NCHC) on Saturday in St. Cloud. Following the game, SCSU honored its six seniors for senior night.

UMD jumped out to a 2-0 lead for the second straight game, first scoring just 58 seconds into the game on a stretch pass to Anthony Menghini that got past the Husky defense for a breakaway. Menghini was able to beat the goalie blocker side for the score and 1-0 lead. The Bulldogs then doubled their lead to 2-0 with Menghini's second goal of the game at the 10:30 mark.

SCSU cut the lead in half just 49 seconds later when freshman forward Gavyn Thoreson (Andover, Minn.) netted his sixth goal of the season. Thoreson grabbed the puck off a faceoff win from sophomore forward Tyson Gross (Calgary, Alberta), moved to the slot and fired a wrist shot for the score.

Neither team scored in the second period, but then Minnesota Duluth increased its lead back to two goals at 3-1 when Jack Smith's shot deflected numerous times and then found its way to the back of the net. Following a timeout with around six minutes remaining, SCSU pulled its goalie for an offensive zone draw and the move immediately paid off, as sophomore forward Verner Miettinen (Espoo, Finland) tipped in a shot from sophomore forward Adam Ingram (West St. Paul, Manitoba) to cut the lead down to 3-2. However, unlike the night before, SCSU was unable to find the equalizer and came up one goal short.

TOP HUSKIES

Thoreson and Miettinen each scored their sixth goals of the season.
Sophomore goaltender Isak Posch (Umea, Sweden) made 26 saves in the game.

NOTES

With the loss, St. Cloud State moves to 84-68-11 all-time against Minnesota Duluth and 47-30-7 against the Bulldogs in St. Cloud.
Following the game, SCSU honored its six seniors: fifth-year goaltender Gavin Enright (Farmington, Minn.), senior defenseman Karl Falk (Vasteras, Sweden), senior defenseman Josh Luedtke (Minnetonka, Minn.), senior forward Nick Portz (St. Cloud, Minn.), redshirt junior forward Ryan Rosborough (Mt. Brydges, Ontario) and senior forward Mason Salquist (Grand Forks, N.D.).
In the loss, SCSU is now 3-16-0 when its opponent scores first, 2-7-1 when trailing after the first period, 1-12-1 when trailing after two periods and 10-6-0 in one-goal games.
Miettinen's sixth goal of the season was also his 10^th career goal and 41^st career point.
Thoreson netted his sixth goal of the season in the first period.
Gross recorded his 16^th assist of the season and now leads the Huskies in assists.
Gross also had a team-high 14 wins in the faceoff dot, going 14-10.
Ingram recorded his fifth assist of the season with the primary assist on Miettinen's goal.
Wylie produced his fourth assist of the season with the secondary assist on Miettinen's goal.
Salquist went 13-7 in the faceoff dot and has now won 10 or more faceoffs in 20 of 34 games this season.

HIGHLIGHTS

PRESS CONFERENCE

UP NEXT

St. Cloud State will now be the eight-seed in the NCHC Tournament and will head to Western Michigan for a best-of-three series March 14-16 in Kalamazoo, Mich.

For all the latest on St. Cloud State Men's Hockey, stay tuned to SCSUHuskies.com and follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Tickets for the 2024-25 season are available at www.scsutickets.com, downloading the St. Cloud State Huskies app or by calling 1-877-SCSUTIX / 320-308-2137.