When the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center was built in 1989, it was done so with the vision to elevate St. Cloud State hockey to the level of perennial college hockey powerhouses.
Saturday, No. 3 St. Cloud performed to its vision after a second consecutive weekend sweep, this time versus visiting No. 13 Boston College.
[youtube_sc url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZ4AbiAGULw] St. Cloud emerged victorious against Boston College winning 3-1 and improving its overall series record to 2-1- 0. David Hrenak made 36 saves including two key stops to end the game with Boston College’s goalie pulled.
“The defense definitely helped me out,” Hrenak said. “They blocked a lot of shots and helped me with a lot of rebounds. It was the biggest help for me. I felt much more confidant tonight after a couple easy saves to start the game.”
Unfamiliar opponents can always bring out vulnerabilities within a team’s game plan. The only other occasion these two programs met, long time NHLer Brian Boyle had an assist for BC at the Florida College Hockey Classic in 2004.
BC was one of only five programs in the nation to not allow a power-play goal leading up to this weekend.
Having said that, special teams proved to be SCSU’s strength being on the man advantage 13 times during the weekend.
“Looking at film definitely helped, but I think we were just able to get a lot of shots on net,” said Eyssimont on the team’s power play. “Obviously getting traffic in front of the net was a point of emphasis but we need to continue to work on it in practice.”
J.D. Dudek put the only mark on the board for BC at 13:54 of the third period while the puck was loose in the goal crease. This action denied Hrenak a perfect night.
For three consecutive games, St. Cloud was forced to play from behind. Saturday was distinguishable due to the Huskies’ three unanswered goals in the opening frame. Forward Mikey Eyssimont was able to snipe home a goal that beat Woll at 19:30 to close the first 3-0.
SCSU began to find its stride by breaking through the neutral zone on BC’s right hand side—effectively exposing another vulnerability that comes from unfamiliarity. Eyssimont put forth a great effort to maintain possession to the right of Woll, and dished out a cross-ice pass that met Ryan Poehling’s tape to make it 2-0 at 12:47.
Forward Jack Poehling scored for the Huskies first to take the lead at 2:17 as he tipped in Jack Ahcan’s centering pass from the right circle. With heavy net-front presence, the dirty goal set a precedent for how the game was going to be.
NCHC Roundup
North Dakota 4, Minnesota 0
North Dakota delivered a shutout blow to Minnesota thanks to goalie Cam Johnson’s 22 saves.
Defender Christian Wolanin mustered up two goals, on the power play, to lead the triumphant effort. ‘The Ralph’ did not have to wait long for their game-winning goal because it came at 4:59 of the first period courtesy of forward Nick Jones.
Minnesota was not able to convert on its man advantages having gone 0-6 the entire game and allowing 12 power plays in the night.
Minnesota-Duluth 7, Merrimack 2
Avery Peterson had two goals, and five other Bulldogs found the back of the net to steamroll Merrimack at the AMSOIL Arena.
Peter Krieger had the game-winning goal at 2:30 of the third period in a game that did not insinuate the eruption of goals that ensued. Jared Kolquist made the score 3-2 at 2:54 to put Merrimack within one.
However, UMD swiftly outshot its opponent 12-8 in the third to make four unanswered goals possible, and conclude the game. UMD outshot its opponent 41-22.
Maine 6, Miami 3
For Miami to win this game they would have had to come back from a five-goal deficit.
Eduards Tralmaks initiated the scoring frenzy for Maine at 1:01 of the first period shortly before the storm. Two five-on- three power play goals from Patrick Holway and Mitchell Fossier in the first period contributed to wide margin between scores.
Miami went three-for- six on the power play to get on the scoreboard but going 50 percent on its man advantage opportunities ultimately resulted in a loss.
Colorado College 2, New Hampshire 1
Three periods was not enough to determine the winner at Whittemore Center in New Hampshire.
Colorado College’s Trevor Gooch scored at 1:03 in overtime in what was a strong home game for the Wildcats mustering up 40 shots on goal opposed to the Tiger’s 24.
Max Gildon tied the game for the Wildcats in the second period to keep the game locked through the third period.
Western Michigan 3, Michigan State 1
Western Michigan snapped its three game losing streak after beating in-state foe Michigan State in Kalamazoo. Josh Passolt won the game for Western Michigan at 4:31 of the third period after a helper from Neal Goff.
Michigan State had the only power play goal of the night at 2:39 of the third period.
A very good defensive game for Western Michigan was apparent in holding MSU to 16
shots on the night. The Broncos were able to peal off with an empty netter at the end of the
game.
Arizona State 4, Omaha 4
Arizona State was able to stay even with Omaha in this overtime thriller, even though there was not winner.
Despite Omaha’s perfect power play night going 3-for-3, Arizona State’s Max Balinson tied the game 4-4 at 19:22 of the third period. Until this point in the game, both teams went back and forward trading scoring plays but
it was Omaha who opened the game with two unanswered tallies in the opening minutes.
In what was a high shooting percentage game, Omaha outshot Arizona State 46-36.
Denver 5, Lake Superior 1
Denver proved to be the highest shooting team tonight posting 54 shots against Lake Superior’s goaltender, Mareks Mitens.
Josh Nenadal initiated the scoring for Lake Superior at 9:04 of the first period but that was the last time the Lakers were able to celebrate in the game.
Denver responded with its five unanswered goals. Troy Terry had two consecutive goals to get the Pioneer’s rolling at 17:06 of the first period and 17:55 of the second by way of five-on-three power play — the only power play scored in the game.
Dayton Rasmussen only had to make 15 saves in the night to keep Lake Superior from scoring even more.
