By Carl Goenner / Sports Director / @carlgoennerpxp / Grand Forks, ND

-The St. Cloud State men’s hockey team defeated the University of North Dakota fighting hawks 5-4 in a shootout on Friday night.  Austin Burnevik finished with two goals for two points in the game.  Tyson Gross and Adam Ingram also finished with 2 points each as well.

St. Cloud State controlled the game early on, but Josh Zakreski scored the first goal of the game just 2:20 into the first period.  The Fighting Hawks held the lead until 2:06 left in the period.  A two on one attack for SCSU saw Daimon Gardner pass to Adam Ingram who tied the game up.  Just over 2:30 later, UND’s Will Zellers tied the game up.  With just over one minute remaining in the first period, Tyson Gross found Austin Burnevik who netted another goal for SCSU.

The second period was much slower and at the 5:15 mark, Tyson Gross and Austin Burnevik connected once again, leading to another Burnevik goal.  The tally gave St. Cloud a 3-2 lead and this time they prevented UND from responding.  Just over ten minutes into the period, Daimon Gardner scored a goal to extend the lead and the period ended with a score of 4-2.

Period number three saw North Dakota’s Cody Croal net a goal 1:45 into the period making it 3-4.  North Dakota’s Will Zellers then tied the game up with 97 seconds to go and the game headed to overtime.  After a scoreless overtime period, the two teams were on to a shootout.

The first shooter was North Dakota’s Cade Littler who was stopped by Yan Shostak.  Barrett Hall was St. Cloud’s first shooter and he buried the puck in the net.  Dylan James was next for the Fighting Hawks, but Shostak stood tall and kept him out of the net.  Tyson Gross then sealed the shootout win for SCSU by sneaking a puck past Jan Spooner.

The Huskies and Fighting Hawks will go to battle tomorrow night at 6:07 PM at Ralph Engelstad Arena.  You can catch that game live on 88.1 KVSC with Carl Goenner and Noah Grant on the call.

Photo credit: Bill Prout.