by Noah Grant/Sports Director/@noahgrant_23

ST. CLOUD, Minn. – The St. Cloud State men’s hockey team opened conference play with a 3-2 loss to the Arizona State Sun Devils on Friday. Jack Beck scored the game-winner just under four minutes into the third period to give ASU the victory.

Noah Urness had a goal and an assist, while Nolan Roed tallied two assists for the Huskies in the loss.

Arizona State opened the scoring on the power play in the first period. Jonas Woo entered the offensive zone and found Kyle Smolen with a cross-ice pass, who buried a one-timer at 6:14. It was the fourth goal of the season for Smolen.

Gavyn Thoreson answered back for SCSU at 8:26. Urness spun and fired a puck from the boards towards the ASU net, and Thoreson was able to deflect it past the Sun Devil goaltender for his third goal of the season.

St. Cloud State grabbed the lead later in the frame at 11:37. Urness got a quick feed to the middle from Roed and snapped a shot into the net for his first goal of the season.

The first-period scoring continued with another power-play goal for the Sun Devils at 18:48. Ben Muthersbaugh scored his fourth goal of the season off assists from Beck and Woo.

Neither side could find the scoresheet in the second period, despite the Sun Devils outshooting the Huskies 14-8.

In the third, Beck tallied the game-winner, tipping a point shot from Rylan Brown at 3:45. The Huskies put together a late push and pulled the goaltender in the final two minutes but couldn’t find the equalizer.

St. Cloud State moves to 2-4-0 on the season, while the Sun Devils improve to 5-2-0. The teams will close out the series on Saturday at 6 p.m. from the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center.

Photo credit: SCSU Athletics