We’re not saying polls and standings lie, but it’s hard not to notice that while St. Cloud State is tied for first place in the NCHC, the Huskies are listed 15th in the latest USCHO Men’s Division I Poll, behind three teams from their own conference.
Huskies coach Brett Larson doesn’t believe his team came back from the holiday break with any rust, pointing to the fact that the Huskies won their first games back, 6-1 both nights, in a home-and-home set with Bemidji State. The level of competition has ramped up since then, but although St. Cloud couldn’t pick up a win in regulation the last two weeks against Denver and North Dakota, the Huskies showed their mettle.
After a 5-1 defeat Jan. 12 at No. 4 Denver, Larson felt St. Cloud was unlucky to see the rematch extend past 65 minutes of open play. The Huskies won a shootout, though, following a 4-4 tie.
Last week’s home set against No. 5 North Dakota ran on similar lines. The Huskies couldn’t quite dig out of an early 2-0 hole Friday and ended up losing 5-3, and then after skating to an official 3-3 tie Saturday, they won another shootout. St. Cloud is doing pretty well in those this season, going 3-1. The only shootout loss came Dec. 9 against an Omaha team the Huskies will host this Friday and Saturday.
A few more common denominators from St. Cloud’s last four games stand out. The Huskies went a combined 1-for-11 on power plays. Worse, Denver scored five power-play goals against the Huskies, and UND was 2-for-3 Friday before not getting any power plays Saturday, when for the first time in eight years, St. Cloud went through an entire game without being whistled for a penalty.
“We felt like we played pretty good hockey, and we’re generally happy with how we played but to beat teams like that, you have to have all areas of your game firing on all cylinders, and we need to get back on track with our special teams,” Larson said. “I really liked our 5-on-5 play, but we need to find a way to get our special teams back so that we can beat top teams like those two.
“We were gauging ourselves against two of the best teams in the country, and it showed us that although we played well, we have to get better if we want to make a serious push toward the top of this league and make a NCAA (tournament) run.”
And the same goes for St. Cloud’s hardware hopes in the NCHC, a conference that is collectively performing well again after a down 2022-23 season. The league wasn’t represented in the Frozen Four, and only St. Cloud reached a regional final.
“This year, it feels like it’s right back to, ‘Holy cow,’” Larson said. “North Dakota’s really good, Denver’s really good, Western Michigan’s really good, Duluth’s record isn’t where they want it but they’re really tough to play against, Miami just beat Western Michigan at home the weekend before, and Colorado College goes up to North Dakota and wins two.
“I just think of last year as a little bit of an anomaly, maybe just a little bit of an off year for the league, but I think the league this year is as strong as it has ever been. The top teams are elite, and everybody else is really good.”
And Larson doesn’t expect anything to come easily this weekend, either.
“Last weekend was the first time UNO has been swept all season, and they’re going to come in hungry and ticked off,” he said. “We need to make sure we’re ready for what they’ll bring. They’ve always been a really tough team to play against, extremely well structured, well coached and they compete really hard.
“For us, it’s similar to playing against a North Dakota: a hard, heavy team that isn’t easy to play against. Hopefully the battles from last weekend will help prepare us for what lies ahead here.”
