Feb 28, 2023
Larson Captures 100th Win, Huskies Split at Omaha, Close out Season with Battle of the Bone
By Alexander Fern / @AlexInTheBooth
The 6th Ranked SCSU Men’s Hockey Team ended their road schedule with a split against the Omaha Mavericks this past weekend in Nebraska. And a win on the weekend captured an ever-elusive milestone for Huskies Head Coach Brett Larson.
With the 6-2 win on Friday, Larson; who is in his fifth year at SCSU, captured his 100th career win as the Head Coach of the Huskies.
“I couldn’t do it without any of the guys in that room.” Larson said. “I never blocked a shot, or made a pass, or scored a goal. This is their accomplishment.”
The team had a joke to play on Larson after the game though, giving him the cold shoulder before celebrating with the Bench Boss.
Also on the weekend, Freshman Forward Adam Ingram garnered his first career NCHC Honors when he was awarded NCHC Rookie of the Week after his 5 point (2-3-5) night on Friday.
“I keep saying that he’s close to breaking through, and I feel as if this is the best he has ever played.” Head Coach Brett Larson said of Ingram, who has been skating on the 4th line with Junior Veeti Miettinen and Sophomore Mason Salquist.
“Ingy (Ingram) was just feeling it, he really was,” Larson said. “He was walking down the wall on his forehand. He just looked confident with the puck and used some good deception I think tonight he really showed what lies ahead.”
Ingram is on the Left Wing of the line Centered by Salquist, and Veeti Miettinen is the Right Winger. Miettinen had a 4 point night on Friday (1-3-4) and it appears that Miettinen and Ingram might be a problem for teams going forward with both of their shooting talent.
WEEKEND IN REVIEW
The Huskies played fantastic on Friday.
Clean zone entries, crisp passing, and solid board-work along with good shooting gave the Huskies the 6-2 victory, Their first win since January 21st.
“I’d say that is one of our best efforts of the season.” Brett Larson said. “I thought everyone was really hungry, and tired of just playing “OK”.”
Saturday was a bit of a different story.
SCSU came out a bit flat from the previous night, and Omaha capitalized early with a Brock Bremer goal that beat Husky Goaltender Dominic Basse. 3 minutes later, another Omaha goal forced Coach Larson to use his timeout, and make a change in goaltender for the first time this season when Jaxon Castor went in for the remainder of the game.
“I didn’t like our start, obviously, and we wanted to try and calm things down,” Larson said. “I thought we were really good the rest of the first period and I really liked our game. Especially our push and we had a lot of offensive zone time.
3 minutes later, another Omaha goal forced Coach Larson to use his timeout, and make a change in goaltender for the first time this season when Jaxon Castor went in for the remainder of the game.
“I didn’t pull Basse because it was his fault and sometimes, as a coach, you’re just trying to change the dynamic and the feel on the bench and in the rink.”
The Huskies cut the deficit in half with a Grant Cruikshank goal, but Omaha seized momentum from there and came away with the 6-2 win and jumped to 2nd in the NCHC.
BATTLE OF THE BONE PART II
The Huskies return to the HBNHC for the last time this regular season and play host to a familiar foe in the UMD Bulldogs to finish off this regular season.
The last time these two teams met, SCSU was swept by UMD in Duluth (5-3, 6-3) and sent the Huskies on a bit of a winless streak.
Duluth is coming off of a weekend split vs Miami (OH) where they split with a win on Friday (4-3) and a loss on Saturday (4-1). Miami Goaltender Ludvig Persson made 50 saves on Saturday and was named NCHC co-Goaltender of the week.
SENIOR SPOTLIGHTS
The Huskies will celebrate their seniors on Saturday and there are 12 of them.
Dylan Anhorn, Ondrej Trejbal, Kyler Kupka, Zach Okabe, Chase Brand, Grant Cruikshank, and Jaxon Castor as well as captains Jami Krannila, Micah Miller, Aidan Spellacy, and Captain Spencer Meier will be highlighted on Saturday.
HOW TO TUNE IN
This weekends games will be broadcast live on 88.1 FM KVSC with Brian Moos on Play-by-Play and Alexander Fern on Color Commentary. Max “Stiggy” Steigauf will be in studio providing pre/post-game shows as well as the intermission reports.
Puck Drop is slated for 7:30 P.M. on Friday and 6:00 P.M. on Saturday.
