By Alexander Fern / Sports Director / @AlexInTheBooth

The Saint Cloud State Men’s Hockey team has finished the second half as one of the hottest teams in the country, and are first place in arguably the best conference in college hockey. The start of 7-0-1 is the record for the best conference start in program history.

However, they also have secured a losing record in non-conference play for the first time since the 2013-14 season. There are several things that have contributed to the early falter of the Huskies, and there are equal contributions that have led to the Huskies success as of late.

In this article, we will look at a few areas that have correlated with the success of the Huskies, and how those same things led to the early stumbling in non-conference play.

STEP “PUP”

There is no question that the Huskies are a younger team this season than they were last year. Losing players such as Grant Cruikshank (25 years old), Jaxon Castor (26 years old), and Spencer Meier (24 years old) is bound to take your average team age down a bit. Last year the Huskies average age was 22 years and 3 months. This season, their age has been tilted to a month down of 22 years and 2 months, making them the 25th youngest team in college hockey. The youngest team in College hockey is actually the best team, Boston College’s average age is 20 years and 9 months.

Youth had to step up for the Huskies, and for a bit it did. You’ll recall that Freshman Barrett Hall scored the first goal of the season for SCSU against St. Thomas in the first game of the season. Other than him, the youth was a bit absent early in the season, which meant that the elders on the team had to step up massively, which they tried to, but it led to some risky turnovers and ended up hurting the Huskies more than anything.

Since conference play started, the mesh of youth and age has mixed very well for SCSU. Players like Tyson Gross, Verner Miettinen, Jack Reimann, Adam Ingram have stepped up their play as underclassmen, and the leadership has stepped up as well. Veeti Miettinen, Kyler Kupka, Dylan Anhorn and more have been a solid foundation for the team to build upon, and the pillars of youth have stood well since the conference season started.

OKABE…

There’s no question that Zach Okabe has played miles better than the stat sheet says right now. In fact, I’d argue he’s been one of the best players on the team the past few weeks.

But, he NEEDS to start scoring. Zach Okabe has one goal this season, and it was in the first game of the year. Okabe had 18 goals last year and 36 points. Right now he has one goal and nine points. He has definitely played miles better of late, and when he gets one in the back of the net, I’m sure the goals will flow. But for now, we just have to wait.

DEFENDING THE PACK

The Huskies Defense has been a pretty solid force for the most part this season, however on the chance that they’re off, the team pretty much feels the effects everywhere.

The return of Dylan Anhorn injected a brand new hope into the team that was previously not there before his return was announced this offseason. But when he came back, it was clear something was off.

Anhorn scored a goal in his first game back against St. Thomas, but he didn’t look as fast, or as sure footed as he was before he broke three bones in his foot. Anhorn already has 4 times as many penalty minutes this season as he did all of last year (24 this year, 6 last year). The speed has came back progressively as the season has gone on, but you could tell that he wasn’t there quite yet.

The usual suspects of Jack Peart, Josh Luedtke, and Cooper Wylie have been good, and the addition of Karl Falk out of the transfer portal has proven to be a good addition, but with an injury to Mason Reiners, some freshman have been thrust into play, much like Wylie and Reiners were last season.

Tynan Ewart, Kaleb Tiessen, and Lightning Draft-Pick Warren Clark have had to split time on the defensive core and have played mostly solid for freshman. But the keyword in that sentence is freshman. There have been mistakes that are to be expected by freshman, and the Huskies will have to live with that.

HERE FISHY FISHY FISHY

With the departure of Jaxon Castor, it was expected that Dominic Basse would have to be the guy this season for SCSU. And so far, that has been the case.

Basse has started all but one game this season and has played well. But the season did not start well for him. Basse surrendered five goals against St. Thomas in an Overtime Loss in the first game of the season, a game that Basse himself would say was not like him. He then turned around and had a 33 save shutout against the Tommies the next day.

Basse has been on a different level since the conference season started. Basse is 29th in the country in save percentage this year and is tied for the lead in the NCAA lead in shutouts with three. He didn’t play the last game of the first half against Omaha since he tweaked an injury in the first game of the series. But Coach Brett Larson says that he should be “full speed ahead” for the second half of the season.

IN REVIEW

The Huskies have had some ups and downs of this roller coaster ride known as NCAA hockey, but they have shown that they are one of the national contenders in this sport and look to make a move into the Xcel Energy center twice this season, once for the NCHC playoffs, and hopefully the second time to secure a national championship for the first time in program history.

NEXT TIME UP

The Huskies are back in action after the holiday break with a home and home on December 29th, and 31st against the Bemidji State Beavers.

Game one will be broadcast live on KVSC from Bemidji Minnesota at 7:00 p.m. with former Beaver, and now Husky Zac Chapman on the play-by-play pedestal with Alexander Fern joining him in the booth, as well as Brian Moos being the ice side reporter.

The game will then move south as the Sunday Matinee at 4:00 p.m. will have the same broadcast crew and positions. Pregame begins 30 minutes before each contest with Gavin Nelson, live on the web, or on the furthest left of your radio dial.