By Alexander Fern / @AlexInTheBooth

The No. 10 St. Cloud State Husky Men’s Hockey team travels down I-94 this weekend to face a Badger team that is still trying to find that past dominance that has been elusive since the turn of the century.

Previewing The Badgers

The Men from Madison come into this series after being swept by their division foe in the Ohio State Buckeyes (3-1) (4-3) and were outshot 73-50 by the Buckeyes. Carolina Hurricanes prospect Cruz Lucius (Brother of former Gopher Chaz Lucius) scored the first goal of his young career over the weekend.

Wisconsin finished their 2021-22 campaign at 10-24-3 which is not where what used to be one of the most consistent college hockey programs throughout the country. Since 2016, the gophers have a record of 92-108-16 which is a .425 winning percentage.

The Badgers are trying to rebound after a bad year however, there are 10 NHL draft picks on this roster, six forwards, three defenseman, and one goalie headline this badger pack.

Previewing The Huskies

St. Cloud state comes into this series after completing a sweep of St. Thomas. However the Huskies are coming off of a bye week. So they will be well rested after playing what Head Coach Brett Larson would tell you was not the team’s best series. But Larson has said that he was going to use the bye week as an opportunity to iron out some wrinkles in the team heading into Wisconsin.

St. Cloud is coming off of a disappointing season to say the least where they finished with a record of 19-18-4 and lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament. But they bring in some young faces and some new faces as well.

The Freshman forward Adam Ingram scored his first career goal against St. Thomas two weeks ago and the newcomers in Dylan Anhorn, Grant Cruikshank, and Dominic Basse looked really solid as well.

What to Look For

This series is going to come down to who plays the better 2nd period, and who wins the faceoff dot. St. Cloud State had a great day at the dot in game one against St. Thomas, but game two proved that there still was a lot of work to do for the players.

Expect the Badgers to come out to the ice looking hungry, and throwing the body around a bit. Captain Dominick Mersch led the USHL in hits in the 2017-18 season and in total, as a team they are not afraid to play the body.

Goalie Matchup

Expect Senior Goaltender Jared Moe to get both starts for the Badgers. Since the departure of Cameron Rowe to Western Michigan, Moe has been looked upon to be the guy for the Badgers. Last season he put up a .917 save percentage and a 2.97 goals against average. So he has been consistent for the Badgers in his career.

For the Huskies it is a different story. Jaxon Castor started game one against St. Thomas and he looked really good. Castor looked like a man possessed and he played really well, while trying to prove that last year in the tournament against Quinnipiac was just a sham. Dominic Basse got the start in game two against the Tommies and he looked very comfortable while posting a shutout in his Huskies debut. So don’t be surprised if both Goalies play this weekend for St. Cloud State.

Players to Watch

The Badgers scored four goals last weekend against the Buckeyes, but the Huskies should be on the lookout for Mathieu De St. Phalle and Dominick Mersch this weekend. De St. Phalle leads his team in points after the first series with 2 assists. Mersch scored against the Huskies last season and played a very good series. So those two will be players that will be circled on the Huskies bench.

For the Huskies, the players anticipated to play well this series are Dylan Anhorn, and Micah Miller. Anhorn leads the Huskies in points in the early part of this season with five (1-4-5). And Micah Miller has had no shortage of opportunities. He already has had 3 breakaway opportunities and one point blank shot that was swallowed up. So he is itching to get on the scoresheet, and I would expect it to happen this weekend.

How to Listen

Puck Drop for SCSU vs Wisconsin is slated for 7:00 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday with pregame coverage starting at 6:30. All St. Cloud State Men’s Hockey games will be on 88.1 FM KVSC with Brian Moos and Alexander Fern on the call.