Shostak and Huskies Shut out No. 6 Minnesota Duluth, 6-0

Friday, January 16

St. Cloud, Minn.

7:00 P.M. CT

St. Cloud State

12-11-0, 5-8-0

Minnesota Duluth

16-7-0, 7-6-0

Minn. Duluth

St. Cloud St.

Photo by: Jason Soria

1/17/2026 1:46:00 AM | Men's Hockey

Box Score

Shostak makes 42 saves and earns second shutout, Gross scores three points to reach 31 points

ST. CLOUD, Minn. – St. Cloud State Men's Hockey (12-11-0, 5-8-0 NCHC) started strong and kept the pedal on the floor in a 6-0 shutout victory over No. 6 Minnesota Duluth (17-6-0, 7-6-0 NCHC) on Friday night at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud. Freshman goaltender Yan Shostak (Minsk, Belarus) was a brick wall, stopping all 42 Bulldog shots on goal to earn his second shutout of the season and the most saves in a shutout for a Husky netminder since Jeff Smith made 42 against Minnesota State on Oct. 7, 2017. Junior forward Tyson Gross (Calgary, Alberta) continued his strong season offensively, scoring two goals and three points with a +3 mark of the ice.

SCSU scored the game's first goal of the 13^th time this season on freshman forward Noah Urness' (Roseau, Minn.) impossible angle shot at the 6:13 mark of the first period. Senior defenseman Josh Zinger's (Red Deer, Alberta) shot from the right wing hit the back wall and bounced straight to Urness, who flung the puck to the net from far-left side wall and found its way through traffic for the score. Later on in the period, the Huskies' top-two point scorers teamed up to double the Huskies lead. Gross won a faceoff on the right dot and the puck found the stick of sophomore forward Austin Burnevik (Ham Lake, Minn.), who shot the puck towards the net and found the back of the net for his 14^th goal of the season.

In the second period, the bounces kept coming SCSU's way on Gross' first goal of the night. Senior forward Grant Ahcan (Savage, Minn.) dumped the puck into the offensive zone and instead of ricocheting around the net, the puck jumped right back to the slot and right to Gross, who quickly shot the puck past the Bulldog netminder for the score. Shostak stopped 16 shots in the game's middle frame, including a penalty shot from the nation's point-leader Max Plante after he was called for a penalty for throwing his equipment on a shorthanded breakaway chance from Plante.

SCSU tacked on three more goals in the third period to push its lead to 6-0, its largest margin of victory against the Bulldogs since 2011. First up, senior defenseman Finn Loftus (Blaine, Minn.) scored the Huskies' only power play goal of the game at the 7:01 mark of the final period. Loftus moved the puck from the left dot to Burnevik at the right dot for a snapshot that hit off the back wall and right back to Loftus, who was able to one-time a shot to the near side for his fourth goal of the season. In the final three minutes of the game, Gross added an empty net goal from his own goal line and sophomore forward Daimon Gardner (Eagle Lake, Ontario) scored his first goal of the season to make the score 6-0.

TOP HUSKIES

Shostak earned the first star of the game with a career-high 42 saves and his second shutout.
Gross matched a career-high with three points and his fourth career two-goal game.
Burnevik, Loftus and senior defenseman Max Smolinski (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) each had two points.

NOTES

With the win, SCSU improves to 85-70-11 all-time vs. Minnesota Duluth and 48-30-7 against the Bulldogs in St. Cloud.
The 6-0 win is SCSU's first shutout win over UMD since a 2-0 win at Duluth on March 5, 2022, and its largest margin of victory against the Bulldogs since an 8-2 win in Duluth on Feb. 11, 2011.
The shutout win for SCSU is also its largest margin of victory in a shutout largest against conference opponent since Nov. 4, 2023, vs. Miami.
In the win, SCSU improves to 4-8-0 on Fridays, 11-2-0 when scoring first, 10-0-0 when leading after the first period, 10-1-0 when leading after two periods, 4-6-0 when its opponent outshoots them, 4-1-0 in January, 12-6-0 when scoring on the power play and 3-7-0 against ranked opponents.
On special teams, SCSU was a perfect 3-for3 on the penalty kill, just the sixth time this season the Huskies have produced stopped every power play attempt for its opponent. On the power play, SCSU went 1-of-5, scoring for the sixth consecutive game on the man advantage (6-for-20 in that span).
Shostak made a career-high 42 saves in the shutout, the most saves by a Husky goaltender in a shutout since Jeff Smith had 42 in a 4-0 win over Minnesota State on Oct. 7, 2017.
The Minsk, Belarus native is the first Husky freshman netminder to record multiple shutouts in a season since David Hrenak had three in 2017-18.
Gross recorded his 13^th and 14^th goals, and his 18^th assist to reach 30 points for the first time in his career. The Husky junior recorded his fourth career two-goal game and fifth three-point game.
Gross went 17-10 in the faceoff dot, marking the 12^th time this season and 16^th time in his career he has won 15+ faceoffs in a game.
Burnevik recorded his team-leading 14^th goal of the season, setting a new career-high for goals in a season after netting 13 as a freshman. The Husky sophomore added an assist to record his eighth two-point game of the season and 14^th of his career. He has scored a point in three consecutive games and in five of the last six games, scoring nine points (3g/6a) in that span.
Loftus netted his second power play goal, fourth goal overall and eighth assist for 12 points. He matched a career-best with two points, the third time he's reached that mark this season.
Urness scored his sixth goal of the season and his team-leading fourth game-winning goal of the season with his first period tally. His four game-winning scores are the most by a Husky freshman since Easton Brodzinski had five in 2017-18.
Gardner netted his first goal of the season and first since a March 1, 2025, goal at Denver.
Smolinski had two assists to bring his season total to 11, matching his career-best mark from his freshman and sophomore campaigns in 2022-23 and 2023-24.
Freshman defenseman Joe Belisle (White Bear Lake, Minn.) recorded his first career assist on Urness' goal.

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PRESS CONFERENCE

UP NEXT

SCSU and Minnesota Duluth will conclude its series on Saturday at 6:00 p.m. CT at the Brooks Center.

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 2025-26 season are available at www.scsutickets.com, downloading the St. Cloud State Huskies app or by calling 1-877-SCSUTIX / 320-308-2137.