Brian Moos | Sports Director

MANKATO, Minn. – St. Cloud State women’s hockey finished 2025 with a road series in Mankato against Minnesota State. The Huskies have been clawing for higher positioning in the WCHA and national picture. A road WCHA series presented a chance for SCSU to climb in both.

Friday

The Huskies started strong in the series opener, scoring within the first two minutes of the game. A couple of transfers connected for the opening goal. Junior forward Sidney Jackel grabbed a loose puck, springing Junior forward Payton Holloway into the Maverick’s zone. Holloway glided to the goal line and banked a backhand shot into the net off Mankato’s goalie. SCSU wouldn’t need more than one goal to win the game but added more to be safe.

Senior forward Svenja Voigt trusted freshman forward Maria Mikaelyan to beat an icing on her breakout. Mikaelyan won the race for the puck and fed senior defender Regan Bulger at the point. In her first game back since the opener, Bulger sent a shot into traffic. Both Voigt and junior forward Sofianna Sundelin won a puck battle in front of the net. Sundelin found the puck with an open net and put the Huskies up 2-0. Sundelin scored her fourth goal in three games and wouldn’t stop this weekend.

With the Huskies up 2-0 in the final minute of the first, senior forward Avery Farrell pushed it to three. Mikaelyan set up another scoring play, getting junior forward Laura Zimmerman into open space. Zimmerman sauced a pass to the far side where Farrell stood, Farrell connected on the pass, burying the puck for a big lead.

Offense would die down a bit for SCSU in the second period, until about the halfway point of the frame. Sundelin found Mikaelyan behind the Maverick net, who then spread the offense to sophomore defender Sydney Bryant at the top of the o-zone. Bryant sent a slapshot toward the net, not scoring, but giving the perfect rebound to Svenja Voigt. Voigt had no Maverick marking her near the crease, easily guiding the puck into the net with her backhand. The Huskies would take a 4-0 lead and hold it to the finish, winning Friday’s game.

Saturday

St. Cloud State wouldn’t get the same start on Saturday as the Mavericks would put them on their heels early. In less than one minute in the first and second periods, MSU scored on SCSU putting the Huskies in a 2-0 hole in under 21 minutes of game time. The Huskies were stuck in this deficit for a while until earning a powerplay late in the second. 40 seconds into said powerplay, the Huskies pressed the Mavericks crease through Laura Zimmerman. After a desperate clearance was stopped by Avery Farrell, she would score her second goal of the weekend, pulling the game back to one goal.

More familiar names on the weekends’ score sheet would tie the game in the third. Sofianna Sundelin, set up by Svenja Voigt and Maria Mikaelyan, scored her fifth goal in four games putting the game back on equal footing. Mikaelyan recorded four assists on the weekend, winning WCHA rookie of the week. The 2-2 scoreline would come at the 17:23 mark of the third period and hold to overtime. OT would last less than two minutes, with the Huskies holding plenty of possession. It wasn’t enough however, with the Mavericks regaining the lead in sudden death, leaving the Huskies with 4 WCHA points and a spilt on the weekend.

When asked about the 3-2 overtime loss, head coach Mira Jalosuo said, “I liked the fight back… in the first we gave it away, second period we came to play. We were down 2-0, we never gave up and we came back, that’s definitely a positive for our team.”

I asked Jalosuo if the starts to the first and second periods are a concern for her team. Jalosuo answered, “I wasn’t concerned [in the moment] about it since we started strong Friday, it’s one of those things that’s question mark.”

Looking Ahead

Even with the spilt, St. Cloud State moved up in the NPI, which is used to determine the NCAA tournament field. SCSU entered the weekend 21st and climbed into 14th after Saturday. Their record will stay at (7-12-1) into 2026 and sit in sixth place in the WCHA. The Huskies will host St. Thomas for an exhibition on Jan. 3, not resuming the 2025-26 season until Jan. 9 at home vs Ohio State.