St. Cloud State Men’s Hockey Races Past Yale 6-2 at Cactus Cup

Friday, January 2

Acrisure Arena | Palm Springs, Calif.

9:00 P.M. CT

St. Cloud State

9-10-0

Yale

4-9-0

Yale

St. Cloud St.

Photo by: Bill Prout

St. Cloud State Men’s Hockey Races Past Yale 6-2 at Cactus Cup

1/3/2026 2:18:00 AM | Men's Hockey

Box Score

Burnevik and Gross each record three points to help Huskies advance to championship game

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. – St. Cloud State Men's Hockey (9-10-0, 3-7-0 NCHC) scored four third-period goals to pull away and defeat Yale (4-9-0, 3-5-0 ECAC), 6-2, on Friday night at Acrisure Arena in Palm Springs, Calif. The win advances the Huskies to the Cactus Cup championship game on Saturday against Massachusetts-Lowell. Sophomore forward Austin Burnevik (Ham Lake, Minn.) and junior forward Tyson Gross (Calgary, Alberta) each scored three points in the victory with Burnevik scoring two goals an assist while Gross matched a career-high with three assists.

Despite not playing for nearly three weeks, SCSU came out of the locker room with a jump in their step, controlling the pace and outshooting the Bulldogs, 12-8, in the first period. The Huskies cashed in the game's only power play in the opening frame when Burnevik scored his first goal of the night at the 14:16 mark off assists from senior defenseman Max Smolinski (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) and Gross.

The Huskies then doubled their lead to 2-0 early in the third period when freshman forward Noah Urness (Roseau, Minn.) tipped in junior forward Jack Reimann's (Ham Lake, Minn.) shot from just inside the blue line. Yale then cut the lead back to one goal less than a minute later on a goal from James Shannon at 3:02.

The 3-2 lead held for more than 25 minutes before SCSU was able to extend its lead to 4-1 with back-to-back goals over a 66-second stretch in the third period. First, sophomore defenseman Finn Loftus (Blaine, Minn.) finished a 3-on-2 rush play at the 9:37 mark of the final period. Gross began the rush by carrying the puck over the blue line and down the right side of the ice, moving the puck up to Burnevik, who drew his defender close before backhanding a pass to the slot where Loftus was left all alone to one-time a shot into the back of the net. Next up was Burnevik's second of the night, as the Huskies were able to break the puck out of the defensive zone with ease and get into transition with Gross and Burnevik finishing a 2-on-1 rush to make the score 4-1 with 9:14 left in the game.

Yale added their second goal of the game at 14:01, but SCSU responded with two goals in the final 90 seconds of the game on an empty net score from junior forward Verner Miettinen (Espoo, Finland) and freshman defenseman Joe Belisle's (Hugo, Minn.) first career goal.

TOP HUSKIES

Burnevik recorded his second career three-point game with two goals and an assist.
Gross extended his point streak to seven and matched a career-high with three assists.
Sophomore goaltender Patriks Berzins (Talsia, Latvia) was solid in-between the pipes for the Huskies, making 27 saves to earn the victory in net.

NOTES

With the win, SCSU moves to 2-0-0 against Yale with its first win coming on Oct. 30, 2004, in a 10-0 win in New Haven, Ct.
The game was SCSU's first-ever game played in the Pacific Time zone.
SCSU scored a season-high six goals in the game, marking its most goals scored in a game since Jan. 26, 2024, a 7-6 overtime loss to Omaha.
On the season, SCSU moves to 9-1-0 when scoring first, 6-4-0 when outshooting its opponent, 8-0-0 when leading after one period and 8-1-0 when leading after two periods.
The Huskies went 1-for-1 on the power play to improve to 28.8 percent (23-of-80) on the man advantage this season.
Burnevik extended his team lead in goals to 13 with his two-goal performance, marking the third time this season and fifth time in his career he has scored two goals in a game. The Husky sophomore added an assist for three points, matching a career-high he previously set on Oct. 12, 2024, against Bemidji State.
Through 19 games, Burnevik has already matched his season total of 13 goals from his freshman campaign.
Burnevik's first goal was his seventh power play goal of the season as he rises to second in the nation in power play tallies. The score broke a season-long six game scoreless streak for Burnevik, who last scored Nov. 11 at St. Thomas.
Gross recorded three assists with the primary marker on Burnevik's second goal and secondary assists on Burnevik's first and Loftus' score. He matches a career-high in assists and points, marking the second time he's reached three assists (Feb. 21, 2025, vs. Colorado College) and the fourth time he's reached three points.
Gross extended his point streak to seven consecutive games while raising point per game average to 1.37 points per game.
The Husky captain went 11-5 in the faceoff dot, marking the 18^th time in 19 games he has won 10 or more faceoffs.
Loftus scored a goal and assist for his first career two-point game with his third goal and fifth assist fot the season.
Berzins made 27 saves and earned his sixth win of the season, marking the seventh time this season he has made 25 or more saves.
Urness scored his fourth goal of the season and first goal since Oct. 25 against Alaska Anchorage while setting a season-high with eight shots on goal.
Belisle scored his first collegiate goal in the final minute of the game on a shot from the point.
Miettinen netted his first goal of the season with an empty net score in the third period.
Smolinski, Reimann and redshirt senior forward Ryan Rosborough (Mt. Brydges, Ontario) each recorded single assists in the game.

UP NEXT

SCSU will play UMass Lowell in the Cactus Cup championship game on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. PT / 9:00 p.m. CT.

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.