By Carl Goenner / Sports Director / @carl_goennerpxp / Tempe, AZ.

-On Friday, Feb 7, the St. Cloud State men’s hockey team beat the Arizona State Sun Devils 4-3.  Tyson Gross played in his 100th game as a Husky and finished with two goals.  Max Smolinski had 1 goal and Noah Urness finished with two points in the win. The victory secures the third sweep of the year for SCSU and their first since Oct, 25th. 

The Sun Devils entered the game with something to prove and played aggressively early on.  SCSU’s Verner Miettinen committed the first penalty just under five minutes into the game giving ASU a powerplay.  Sean McGurn took advantage of the man advantage and found the back of the net, giving the Sun Devils a 1-0 lead.  Two minutes later, Arizona State was called for two many skaters on the ice.  St. Cloud State was not able to score on the powerplay.  At the 13:48 mark of the period, Mason Reiners passed to Max Smolinski who fired from the halfwall and scored for the Huskies.  As the first period was ending, a small scuffle broke out between the two teams resulting in penalties on both teams.  SCSU’s Gavyn Thoreson and  Arizona State’s Sean McGurn each had penalties set to begin in the second period.

The second period began with four on four play and 2 minutes and 51 minutes in, an ASU penalty gave the Huskies another powerplay.  The Sun Devils killed the penalty off and then Jack Reimen was given a penalty.  One minute into the powerplay, Samuel Alfano committed an interference penalty and the teams played four on four.  St. Cloud State then went on the powerplay and could not find the back of the net.  ASU’s Justin Kipkie was then called for tripping at the 12:14 mark of the period.  Tyson Gross capitalized and scored on the powerplay to give the Huskies a 2-1 lead at the end of the second period.

The Third period saw ASU’s Noah Powell score just 21 seconds in.  The Sun Devils pressured the Huskies but St. Cloud State fought back.  Nolan Roed found the puck at the halfwall and passed to Noah Urness in front of the net who buried the puck.  Urness’s goal extended SCSU’s lead to 3-1 just under five minutes into the third period.  At the 16:05 mark of the third period Carmello Crandell netted a goal for the Sun Devils to tie the game up.  With 1 minute and 15 seconds to go in the third period, SCSU’s Noah Urness was sent to the penalty box for hooking.  With 37 seconds two go, Barrett Hall brought the puck into the offensive zone.  ASU’s goaltender Samuel Urban came out of crease to play the puck and Hall poked it loose.  Tyson Gross found the puck and scored a short handed goal, giving the Huskies a 4-3 win.

Coach Brett Larson Quote: “It’s one of those games that was a roller coaster of emotions.” “This team hasn’t got a lot of puck luck during the year, I know we earned that last goal, but it was also nice to get some puck luck.”
Max Smolinski Quote: “I thought we did a good job weathering the storm and ya know they got their chances, we got ours and at the end of the day we ended up finishing the job and thats all that matters.”

The Huskies will return home next weekend to take on Colorado College.  You can catch those games live on 97.5 RadioX.

Photo credit: Bill Prout.