ST. CLOUD, Minn.—The long awaited home-and-home series between No. 1 St. Cloud State and No. 10 Minnesota reignited with a 5-2 win for St. Cloud. The first meeting between the two was christened by a sold out Herb Brooks National Hockey Center of 5,714 that filled in despite the -6 degree wind chill.
Regardless of the frigid conditions, the Huskies’ red-hot offense continued to dominate and this time against the Big Ten’s all-time best. Minnesota owns the best record in the Big Ten conference at 58-27-8-1 in 92 regular-season games since the inaugural year of play on 2013-14. Mike Eyssimont and Blake Lizotte each had three points to spearhead the winning effort.
“I felt like I was a spectator tonight,” Head Coach Bob Motzko said after his return from the World Junior Championship. “I give our staff a lot of credit. Our guys were ready to play tonight. Their detail was strong, our penalty killing was excellent and we had great legs. It was as good as our team has played.”
Jack Ahcan capped the scoring at 5-2 after putting away Patrick Newell’s backhand assist who was bodying his way in front of the net mid third period. The insurance goal came as a response to a bad clear by the Huskies on a prior play that allowed Brent Gates to cut their deficit in half at 7:06 of the third.
Mike Eyssimont had the biggest impact on the game with his deft ability to rush the opposing defenders. It was on his line that all the “oohs” and “aahs” were heard, and it was his five-hole goal at 1:27 of the third period that effectively iced the game for Minnesota at 4-1. Eyssimont took the left wing on a 3-on-1 opportunity, decided not to pass and became the hero for the highlight reel.
“I had a good chance earlier in the game with Brodzinski 2-on-1 but I made a poor pass,” Eyssimont said. “This time the defenseman was kind of in the same position so I figured I was going to try and shoot this one. I have been trying to score five-hole in practice more and it worked in the game.”
A fortuitous bounce from a broken saucer pass found its way behind Minnesota’s net. A routine feed into the slot could have been the answer but Easton Brodzinski decided on using Schierhorn as a backboard and made the score 3-1 at 5:36 of the second period.
St. Cloud State kept the puck away from Minnesota so much so that the shot count read 23-9 in favor of St. Cloud with 5 minutes left in the second period. Mike Eyssimont dangled through the goal crease beating his man and opening up Schierhorn to slide the puck into the net at 0:50 for a 2-1 score. The quick tally and individual effort almost looked like Casey Mittelstadt’s goal in the World Junior Championship versus Slovakia.
“We don’t go out there and think we are going to score,” Eyssimont said. “When the puck is on our stick we know we have a chance. Coming out of the zone, both my line mates had a lot of speed. Newell did his thing with the drop pass and I picked it up and made a play.”
Minnesota found their tenth shot of the game to be promising with Rem Pitlick’s point black opportunity, about 15 minutes into the second frame, which was saved by a well-positioned Smith.
Turnovers are quite common in the game but often never cause for concern if followed by a concerted effort to recover possession. The first period was example of what happens when the turnover is the result of negligence.
Blake Winiecki notched his sixth goal of the season at 8:49 of the first period on a deflection that beat Schierhorn far side. On their first power play, the shot appeared to be deflected in the slot but the opportunity manifested itself as Schierhorn failed in an attempt to clear the puck and bounced it off a lingering Husky. With the score tied, both teams were eager to display their skill boasting effective stick handling to maintain their plays alive. The Huskies played with a slight tilt of the ice in their favor but the Gophers never faltered matching the pace and zone penetration.
Mike Szmatula swiftly snapped a shot past Jeff Smith to beat him blocker side, and mark the first goal of the night at 2:34 of the opening frame. It was a shot from the right circle that was the result of a Luke Jaycox turnover in the neutral zone. Losing the puck due to a poke check at his own blue line, the Huskies were sorely caught off guard and could not get numbers back to prevent the snipe.
St. Cloud State was playing without key center Ryan Poehling and Minnesota did not dress Casey Mittelstadt due to apparent equipment issues after the World Juniors.
“In a way it was good because we get to try different penalty killers,” Motzko said on the adjustments needed in Poehling’s absence. “This gives more players a lot more game time minutes which is the only way to get better. Fitzy (Kevin Fitzgerald) is an excellent slip to center. He’s a player you can play anywhere, a good smart hockey player.”
