St. Cloud State sophomore forward Mike Doyle was the hero Friday night, scoring the game winner at the :40 mark of overtime as the Huskies opened their home season with a thrilling 6-5 win against Minnesota State.
Doyle scored with an assist from junior defender Jeff Finger. The goal ended a roller-coaster game that saw SCSU jump to a 5-0 lead in the first period before MSU charged back with five unanswered goals in the second and third periods.
SCSU gained a 1-0 lead early with a tally at 2:52 of the first by Brian McCormack with assists from Peter Szabo and Mike Walsh. Matt Hendricks charted the second SCSU goal at 4:27 of the first period with a dish from Ryan Malone. Freshman forward Jonathan Lehun, in his SCSU debut, scored at 9:40 with a pass from Doyle. Malone scored the game’s fourth goal on the power play with assists from Doyle and Joe Motzko.
Lehun ended a wild first period for SCSU with another goal, this time assists were provided by Motzko and Tim Conboy at 18:06.
Mankato’s offense woke up in the second period as the Mavs’ scored a goal at 1:17 by Brad Thompson. Grant Stevenson and Shane Joseph closed the scoring in the second with a pair of goals. In the third period, Stevenson scored at 15:31 and Joseph tied the match at 17:26 with an even strength goal with a pass from Stevenson.
In total, SCSU posted 43 shots on MSUM’s two goalies, Jon Volp and Jason Jensen — including 25 first-period shots by the Huskies (two shy of the team record of 27). Minnesota State added 33 shots on goal as senior Jake Moreland netted 28 saves in the win for SCSU.
The victory moves SCSU’s record to 2-1, 1-0 WCHA, as Mankato falls to 0-3, 0-1 WCHA. The two teams will square off again on Saturday with a 7:05 p.m. game in Mankato at the Midwest Wireless Civic Center.
