St. Cloud State Men’s Hockey Falls to No. 6 Minnesota Duluth, 5-3 in Series Finale

Saturday, January 17

St. Cloud, Minn.

6:00 P.M. CT

St. Cloud State

12-12-0, 5-9-0

Minnesota Duluth

17-7-0, 8-6-0

Minn. Duluth

St. Cloud St.

Photo by: Kayden Kircher

St. Cloud State Men’s Hockey Falls to No. 6 Minnesota Duluth, 5-3 in Series Finale

1/17/2026 11:51:00 PM | Men's Hockey

Box Score

Bulldogs net three third period goals to seal victory, Miettinen records season-best three points

ST. CLOUD, Minn. – St. Cloud State Men's Hockey (12-12-0, 5-9-0 NCHC) led after two periods but then dropped its series finale with No. 6 Minnesota Duluth, 5-3, on Saturday night at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud. Junior forward Verner Miettinen (Espoo, Finland) had a three-point night in the defeat, scoring the game-tying goal while having the primary assist on the go-ahead goal in the second period.

Minnesota Duluth wasted no time scoring the game's first goal and the only goal of the first period when a bouncing puck made its way to Max Plante's stick behind the defense, allowing him to beat the SCSU goaltender for a 1-0 lead 12 seconds into the game.

In the second period, SCSU evened things up on sophomore forward Gavyn Thoreson's (Andover, Minn.) sixth goal of the season at the 5:33 mark. Thoreson dumped the puck into the offensive zone and won the race to the wall, regaining the puck and then circled his way past two defenders to the slot where he rifled home a wrist shot to the top shelf for the score. UMD would regain the lead at the 10:03 mark, but then SCSU would take its first lead of the game with back-to-back goals over a 1:25 span. First up was Miettinen, who grabbed a rebound off a shot from the point from sophomore forward Austin Burnevik (Ham Lake, Minn.) and hammered home a rebound. Then, a beautiful display of puck movement gave the Huskies the lead when senior forward Grant Ahcan (Savage, Minn.) fed Miettinen from the left dot to the slot, who then instead of putting a shot on net, passed the puck behind him to an open space where senior defenseman Max Smolinski (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) was able to backhand a shot to the back of the net for a 3-2 lead.

SCSU had to begin the third period on the penalty kill and unfortunately wasn't able to keep the nation's leading power play off the scoresheet as UMD scored to even the game at 3-3. UMD then scored with 4:20 left and then again with an empty net goal to close the scoring at 5-3.

TOP HUSKIES

Miettinen had a season-high three points with one goal and two assists.
Ahcan recorded two assists in the game.
Thoreson scored his sixth goal of the season while Smolinski netted his fourth goal.

NOTES

With the loss, SCSU moves to 85-71-11 all-time vs. Minnesota Duluth and 48-31-7 against the Bulldogs in St. Cloud.
On the season, SCSU moves to 1-10-0 when opponents score first, 1-9-0 when its opponent leads after the first period, 9-2-0 when leading after two periods, 4-2-0 in January and 3-8-0 against ranked opponents.
SCSU won the faceoff battle, 37-31, marking the 18^th time in 24 games the Huskies have won more faceoffs in a game.
Miettinen had a season-high three points with his second goal and fifth and sixth assists. It marks his second career three-point game, matching his three assists against Omaha on Jan. 26, 2024.
Ahcan had his first two-assist game of the season and second of his career while reaching two points in a game for the sixth time in his career.
Thoreson netted his sixth goal of the season, matching his mark from his freshman campaign last season.
Smolinski scored his fourth goal of the season and matched his career-high for points in a season with 15, equaling his mark from his junior campaign at RPI (5g/10a).
Burnevik extended his point streak to four games with his 13^th assist of the season. He has now recorded a point in 17 of 24 games this season.
Freshman defenseman Joe Belisle (White Bear Lake, Minn.) scored a point in back-to-back games for the first time in his career with his second assist of the season.

HIGHLIGHTS

UP NEXT

SCSU will head back out on the road for its next series, facing No. 9/10 Denver on Jan. 23-24 at Magness Arena in Denver, Colo. Friday's puck drop is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. CT and Saturday's game is slated to start at 7:00 p.m. CT on NCHC.tv and KNSI.

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.