By Alexander Fern / @AlexInTheBooth

The St. Cloud State Men’s Hockey team won two close games against the number two ranked team in the country over the weekend to elevate themselves to 2nd in the country, and remain one of the final two undefeated teams in the country.

FRIDAY

The opener on Friday began on an iffy note as MSU Mankato carried the pace of play for the first 12 minutes.

But a change of tempo came as forward Zach Okabe flung a puck in the high slot past MSU goaltender Keenan Rancier to go up 1-0 at the 13th minute of period number one. Okabe, who has been coined “Maverick Killer” by many has torched the Mavericks in his career including a 4 goal game in December of 2019.

Lost in that goal though was the work that the fourth line did in the shift prior. Mason Salquist, Joe Molenaar, and Chase Brand peppered Rancier to make the shots on goal 6-6 in the snap of a finger. To make that statement even more apparent, shots on goal before that shift were 6-2 in favor of Mankato.

“A lot of credit needs to go to those guys for not shutting down after facing adversity and that line (fourth line) helped tilt momentum on our side, and thankfully Oaks (Okabe) was able to bury one.” Head coach Brett Larson said.

The period would end with a 1-0 Husky advantage, but that would change when MSU’s Sam Morton would pot a power play goal to tie the game at one and make the huskies surrender the first power play goal against them this season. 6 minutes later on a delayed penalty, Defenseman Tony Malinowski ripped a snapshot into the top corner of the net of Jaxon Castor to make the Mavericks have the lead.

But then the Huskies were given a gift, as a weak forecheck effort by MSU’s Akito Hirose left transfer Forward Grant Cruikshank wide open in front of the net to field a beautiful pass from the aforementioned Okabe to tie the game at 2.

“We as a team emphasize going to the net and crashing the crease to score goals,” Cruikshank said. “It was an amazing pass from Okabe, and I knew if he could get me the puck I would be all alone, so it worked out well.”

MSU committed a penalty late in the 2nd period as Connor Gregga went to the box for tripping and that power play time would carry over into the 3rd period when Kyler Kupka scored his 2nd of the season to put the Huskies up 3-2. And that is where the score would hold on Friday, as the Huskies would defend a late flurry by the Mavericks and hold on for the win.

SATURDAY

The “Homecoming” game got off to a rocky start for both teams as there was a total of 5 penalties committed by both teams collectively within the first 10 minutes of play.

But as teams found out last year, St. Cloud State is just as dangerous short-handed, as they are even strength. That was apparent when Grant Cruikshank scored his team leading fifth goal of the year 7 minutes into the game after Micah Miller fed him a beautiful saucer pass to put the Huskies up one to nothing.

“One of our focuses on the penalty kill is up ice pressure, and Micah made a heck of a play and found me in front of the net.” Cruikshank said. “I feel like Micah, Kupka, and I all know where each other are on the ice at all times, so that definitely helps us play.”

David Silye would tie the game on a rebound not even two minutes later and the 1-1 score would stay as the game went into the first intermission.

Period two was very hectic, with three goals scored with two of them belonging to the Huskies.

The first was a shot from the high slot by Graduate Forward Micah Miller that glanced off of the glove of Freshman Goaltender Alex Tracy and found the back of the net to make the Huskies go up 2-1.

Chase Brand would score less than two minutes later on a beautiful tip in which looked similar to the goal that Nolan Walker scored against the Mavericks two years ago in the Frozen Four to put the Huskies up 3-1.

Josh Groll would then find a puck on his stick in the slot towards the end of the second and wired it five-hole on Dominic Basse to cut the lead to 3-2.

The third period was dominated early by MSU and the Mavericks broke through when their leading goal scorer Sam Morton made a beautiful move and fired a puck to the top of the net to tie the game at 3. That score would remain the same until the final 5 minutes of the 3rd period.

Kyler Kupka pickpocketed an MSU Defenseman with about three to go and fired a pass to Cruikshank who buried it to get his 3rd of the weekend and 6th of the year to set up the win for the Huskies.

“Kupka just made a great play, I found the puck on my stick and fired it home. The atmosphere was crazy.” Cruikshank said after the game.

GOALTENDING

Jaxon Castor and Dominic Basse both played very good games. Basse made 34 saves on 37 shots on Saturday backstopping the Huskies to a win. Castor also played extremely well on Friday posting 28 saves on 30 shots.

Goaltending is what most thought would be the biggest question coming into this season and so far, the rotation of Basse and Castor has looked really good for Brett Larson and the Huskies. Expect a rotation of the two to continue until NCHC play begins in two weeks at Denver.

LOOKING FORWARD

The Huskies are back in action this weekend on Friday at 7:00 p.m. in Bemidji Minnesota to match up with the Beavers, and then the Huskies will be back at the HBNHC on Saturday 6:00 p.m. to cap off their series with the Beavers.

This weekends games can be found on 88.1 FM KVSC or streaming online at KVSC website with Alexander Fern and Brian Moos on the call.