Oct 24, 2011
Archived: Men’s Hockey Earns Win, Tie over UNH
In front of a large crowd and a loud Dogg Pound, the St. Cloud State Men’s Hockey team did not disappoint this weekend in its home opening series at National Hockey Center. The Huskies topped New Hampshire 7-5 on Friday night, and the two teams skated to a 3-3 tie on Saturday.
FRIDAY
Coming off a three game losing streak, St. Cloud was looking for a bit of home cooking and the Wildcats provided just that. After UNH jumped out to a 1-0 lead early Friday with a Scott Pavelski goal, the Huskies roared back. After revising the powerplay during the week, the new tactics worked to perfection when Nic Dowd redirected a Ben Hanowski shot to tie the game in the first period. The powerplay went 4-for-5 for SCSU in the game. St. Cloud lead 5-2 heading into the third period, but the Wildcats scratched and clawed back, eventually only trailing 6-5 before Hanowski scored on the empty net late to seal the deal for SCSU. The Huskies got points from ten different players in the win. Both Hanowski and Drew LeBlanc had four points.
SATURDAY
Saturday’s rematch saw a lower scoring game at National Hockey Center. This time it was the Huskies who jumped out to an early lead. Cam Reid notched his third goal of the season on a pass out from behind the goal from LeBlanc. Reid wasn’t done, as later in the first period he set up Jared Festler, who blasted a one-timer to give the Huskies a 2-0 lead. The Wildcats would tie the score with a goal late in the first and then one early in the second. In the third period, on a major powerplay, the Huskies faltered, giving up a shorthanded goal to Nick Sorkin. For Sorkin, it was his third goal of the weekend and put UNH up 3-2. The Huskies would respond at the 7:53 mark of the third period when after being denied of a goal, David Eddy sent a pass to Dowd who fired a slapshot to the top of the net to tie the game.
The two teams headed to OT, and Mike Lee was brilliant between the pipes kicking aside 44 shots, including four in the extra frame. Unable to decide the score, the teams skated to a draw.
St. Cloud heads back on the road this weekend and opens up WCHA play with a series against North Dakota from The Ralph Engelstad Arena. Our broadcast crew of Zack Fisch, Dave Overlund and Matt Bishop will have the call of those games, with a 7:37 puck drop Friday, and a 7:07 start Saturday. For updates heading into this big series, log onto Twitter and follow @KVSCHockey.
