By Carl Goenner / Sports Director / St. Paul, Minn.

-On Tuesday night, Nov 11 the St. Cloud State men’s hockey team suffered a 1-3 loss to the St. Thomas Tommies.  Lucas Wahlin had one goal and three points for the Tommies while Austin Burnevik had the only goal for St. Cloud State.  St. Cloud State was held scoreless on the powerplay and finished with only two shots on goal on all three attempts combined. 

The Huskies controlled the game early on and Austin Burnevik gave them a 1-0 lead just six minutes and 38 seconds into the game.  St. Cloud State then killed off a Noah Urness interference penalty to retain the one goal lead.  St. Thomas’s Cole Miller was later given a two minute cross checking penalty and the Huskies headed to the powerplay.  The Tommies held St. Cloud State to only one shot on goal and successfully killed off the Husky powerplay.  22 seconds after the penalty ended, Attila Lippai found the back of the net for St. Thomas, tying the game at 1 apiece.

St. Thomas pulled the momentum from their goal into the second period and dictated the pace of play.  The Tommies pressured the Huskies and Alex Gaffney scored to take a 2-1 lead with just over 5 minutes remaining in the second period.  Shortly after, Gaffney set up Lucas Wahlin who scored another goal for the Tommies, giving them a 3-1 lead. St. Thomas then went on the powerplay due to a Barrett Hall slashing penalty but the Huskies kept them out of the net.

In the third period, the Huskies put up more shots than either of the first two, but their scoring struggles continued.  At the 17:20 mark of the third period, St. Cloud State went on the powerplay after a tripping penalty on St. Thomas’s Jake Braccini. The Huskies were unsuccessful on the powerplay, being held to just two shots with neither of them reaching the net. St. Thomas then thwarted another Husky powerplay and the Tommies defeated St. Cloud State 3-1.

Coach Larson reflected on the loss and his team’s play.

“I thought we were slow, I didn’t think we supported the puck enough,” Larson said. “I thought we made a lot of mental errors tonight and it cost us.”

Coach Larson continued to note that the off performance wasn’t confined to this game.

“I thought we mentally and physically played slow two out of the last three games.”

The Huskies are off this weekend, but will be back in action on November 21 and 22. St. Cloud State will be out in Oxford, Ohio facing off against the Miami Redhawks. You can hear those games live on KVSC with Carl Goenner on the call.

Photo credit: Bill Prout.