By Carl Goenner / Sports Director / @carl_goenner / St. Cloud Minn.

-On Monday, Dec 29, the St. Cloud Crush boys hockey team suffered a 4-6 loss to the Sauk Rapids Storm in the 2025 Granite City Showcase.  Austin Kubasek led the way for the Storm with 2 goals and 1 assist.  Storm goaltender Landon Jennings finished with 12 saves on 16 shots faced in the win.

The first period started slowly with both teams jockeying for momentum. Soon Sauk Rapids took control and Elijah Fitch netted the first goal of the game. 

Less than one minute later, Fitch found Owen Massmann who scored another goal extending the Storm lead to two.  Sauk Rapids continued to pressure and their strong defense helped them hold possession.  

With 4:45 to go in the first period, Bryden Prelvitz passed to Austin Kubasek who buried the puck, making the score 3-0 Storm.  Shortly after, St. Cloud’s Nolan Stuber was called for interference, giving the Storm a power-play.  

Sauk Rapids Dominic Stucke capitalized with a powerplay goal and Austin Kubasek picked up his second point of the night with an assist.  Crush forward Aiden Yurczyk was then sent to the box for roughing allowing the Storm another opportunity on the man advantage.  

Sauk Rapids took advantage and Austin Kubasek scored with 14 seconds left in the period, giving them a 5-0 lead.

The Storm brought their momentum into the second period, but St. Cloud stepped up their game.  Sauk Rapids defender Chase Hiltner committed a holding penalty and the Crush went on the powerplay with 9:27 remaining.

With seven seconds left on the powerplay, Jackson Stuber scored with a shot in the top corner to get St. Cloud on the board.  The momentum was stunted however when Defenseman Peter Matanich was called for tripping just nine seconds later.

St. Cloud built off the Stuber goal and had a strong start to the third period.  Defenseman Peter Matanich took the puck off the opening draw, weaved past defenders and scored just 7 seconds into the period.

The Storm then successfully killed off a Crush powerplay and the Crush followed up by killing off a Storm powerplay as well. Logan Ylinen then scored a powerplay goal for st cloud after a Branden Goebel penalty making the score 4-5 with 6:17 remaining.  

St. Cloud pulled their goaltender with two minutes remaining but Chase Hiltner scored the shorthanded goal for Sauk Rapids to earn a 6-4 win.

The Crush will continue action in the Granite City Showcase tomorrow night against Cloquet at 7:30 p.m.  You can catch that game live on 97.5 RadioX with Carl Goenner and Spike Orgal on the call.

Photo credit: Tech Activities.