SCSU vs QU 10/24/2015 (Photo Prout)
Allentown, PA- It’s been a while since the Huskies last faced the Bobcats of Quinnipiac University. However, they have a significant history with them having been defeated by QU 4-1 in the Frozen Four semi-finals at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, PA nine years ago on April 11, 2013.
It’ll be another rematch, this time in Allentown, PA at the PPL Center in the NCAA Regional Tournament on Friday (Mar. 25) at 7:00 PM CT. They’ll be joined by #1 seed the University of Michigan and #16 overall seed American International as they battle for a berth in the Frozen Four April 7-9.
#10 (PWR) St. Cloud State University Huskies (18-14-4 | 10-10-4 NCHC) vs #8 (PWR) Quinnipiac University (31-6-3 | 18-5-1 ECAC)
TV: ESPNNews
Live Stream: ESPN+
Live Audio Stream: KNSI | Varsity Network
Radio: KNSI 1450 AM / 99.3 FM (St. Cloud)
Tickets: SCSU Athletics
Where: PPL Center – Allentown, PA
When: Fri. 7:00 PM CT | Sun (if necessary) Time TBA
Last Time Out | Head to Head
Both teams are coming off losses in their respective league tournaments.
The Huskies last played on March 12 in the quarterfinals of the NCHC playoffs losing in overtime to the UMD Bulldogs by a 4-3 score. For a while, it appeared the Huskies had things under control methodically grabbing a two-goal lead after two periods while outshooting the Bulldogs by a 31-21 margin. But, penalties reared their ugly head and two consecutive power-play goals tied the contest ultimately sending the contest to overtime with the Bulldogs prevailing by a 4-3 score.
The Bobcats suffered the same fate in the ECAC Championship battling the Harvard Crimson to a 2-2 tie in regulation but being upended in the overtime session by a 3-2 score. However, it was an unlikely result with Quinnipiac outshooting the Crimson 49-17 in the contest and by an 18-1 margin in period three. This was only the second time all season that goaltender Yaniv Perets allowed more than two goals.
Head to Head
The teams have a limited history, having only played five times with Quinnipiac winning four of the five contests. The most significant game was a Bobcats 4-1 win vs the Huskies in the 2013 Frozen Four. Otherwise, the Bobcats swept the Huskies on home ice on October 23/24, 2015 by 4-1, 5-2 scores, and the teams split a series in St. Cloud 3-2 (SCSU) and 4-1 (QU) on January 2/3, 2015.
Quinnipiac University Notes
Bobcats head coach Rand Pecknold is leading his squad to the program’s 8th appearance in the NCAA tournament.
The Bobcats enter the tournament after winning the ECAC league title with an 18-5-1 record. They have a 17-5-0 record since Christmas, are 4-3-1 against teams in the 2022 NCAA tournament, and are 6-4-0 in their last 10 games.
A seasoned team with 12 seniors (including graduate students), they have the top-scoring senior class in the tournament with 250 points. They are also tied for second with the top-scoring defensive corps with 118 points.
On paper, the Bobcats are the top defensive team by far in college hockey and this includes five on five and on the penalty kill. They play a 1-3-1 defensive style that can be challenging to the opponent. However, with the 38th ranked strength of schedule in college hockey, the question is just how good is this team?
Yaniv Perets
Sophomore goaltender Yaniv Perets, a Quebec native has posted unheard-of stats including a 0.96 GAA and .948 SV% this season. He did not allow more than two goals per game until March 12th when he allowed three goals vs St. Lawrence and 3 goals on 17 shots in the ECAC tournament championship game vs Harvard.
Senior defenseman, Zach Metsa leads the team in points with 9-25-34 and senior forward Wyatt Bongiovanni leads the squad in goal scoring with 15-18-33. Entering the tournament, Bongiovanni is 10th in career goals by an active player with 49 and 3rd with 13 game-winning goals.
With college hockey’s top defensive statistics it’s not a surprise their defensive corps plus/minus is off the charts at plus 169.
Team Statistics
| Record | 31-6-3 | |
| Pairwise Record | 28-4-3 (2-1) .776 | |
| Head-to-Head | 0-0-0 | |
| Goals | 130 / 3.25 | |
| Goals Against | 42 / 1.05 | |
| Power Play | 145% | |
| Penalty Kill | 91.8% | |
| Avg. Height / Weight | 6′ 0.18″ / 183.7 lbs. | |
| Avg. Age | 22y 3m |
(Photo Prout)
St. Cloud State University Huskies Notes
SCSU head coach Brett Larson is making his 3rd appearance in the NCAA tournament and this is the Huskies 16th overall appearance. SCSU has the 3rd most active NCAA appearances of the 16 teams and a current streak of 4 appearances.
Much like Quinnipiac, the Huskies are one of the most seasoned teams in the tournament, and other than UMD is tied with Quinnipiac with the second most seniors (including graduate students). They are third in scoring by their senior class with 195 points. Seamus Donohue is second in games played with 182 and David Hrenak is sixth with 146.
You could say the Huskies are limping into the tournament having lost three of their last four games and having only won four times in their last 16 games (four ties). However, in their defense, twelve of these last 16 games were against teams participating in the NCAA tournament and all are ranked in the top ten of the Pairwise. The Huskies record against teams in this field is 5-11-4.
The Huskies have the fewest wins (18) of anyone in this year’s NCAA tournament but with the second-toughest strength of schedule in college hockey, it’s no surprise they finished 10th in the Pairwise. However, quality wins over Minnesota, Minnesota State-Mankato, Western Michigan, North Dakota, and UMD prove that they can compete with any team in college hockey.
This team’s strength is their offense including their power play which is ranked first in the nation. They’ve also been deadly on the penalty kill scoring 10 shorthanded goals, also tops in college hockey.
The offense is paced by fifth-year Kevin Fitzgerald (17-18-35) and Jami Krannila (15 goals) but Olympian Sam Hentges has been one of the hottest forwards in college hockey with 10 goals in the last 14 games. Micah Miller is the team’s utility knife with 10 goals and leads college hockey with 4 shorthanded goals and is plus 18.
Another Olympian and future NHLer Nick Perbix (6-25-31) can simply take over games with his offense.
Easton Brodzinski enters the tournament 4th on the active career list with 125 points, 3rd in goals with 67, 3rd in power-play goals with 25, and 4th in game-winning goals with 13.
Seamus Donohue is 4th among active career players with 71 assists and David Hrenak is 1st in saves with 3,368, 2nd in wins with 82, and 2nd in shutouts with 14.
Team Statistics
| Record | 18-14-4 | |
| Pairwise Record | 17-10-4 (1-3) .581 | |
| Head-to-Head | 0-0-0 | |
| Goals | 129 / 3.58 | |
| Goals Against | 92 / 2.56 | |
| Power Play | 31.3% | |
| Penalty Kill | 81.7% | |
| Avg. Height / Weight | 5′ 11.93″ / 183.0 lbs. | |
| Avg. Age | 22y 8m |
Micah Miller (Photo Prout)
Game Prospectus and Coaches/Player Comments
The Huskies have their work cut out for them against a very structured Quinnipiac squad that leads the nation in defensive statistics. However, the Bobcats are not deficient on offense scoring 3.25 goals per game, good for 14th in the country.
SCSU needs to find a way to get to the Bobcats goaltender Perets early and to solve the tight structure of the Quinnipiac defense. SCSU has been dominant in the first period outscoring their opponents 44-15 so a quick start for the Huskies would be a key to success. However, they’ve been outscored 40-37 in period three so they need to tighten up their defense later in the game.
It’ll be an interesting matchup pitting the nation’s top power-play vs the top-ranked penalty kill.
SCSU goaltender, David Hrenak who missed the last two games with an illness is still day to day and according to the SCSU coaching staff may be a game-day decision.
In his weekly press conference, head coach Brett Larson indicated “They (Quinnipiac) are a similar team to UMD. They are aggressive on the forecheck, they play extremely hard, defend the neutral zone very well and defend the net-front very well too.”
“The biggest thing for us is we’ve played teams like that all year (in the NCHC) and that’s what prepares you for games like this. Our biggest goal is to go out and play the best hockey we’ve played all year. Our goal this week is to fight through a few of the things that got us off track later in the season. One of those things is making sure we defend well. We can’t forget that we need to go in defend well, manage the puck and get the puck below the goal line and let the forwards go to work,” explained Larson.
If the team needs to go with Jaxon Castor, there is no lack of confidence in his play. “I thought he played well (against UMD) for a kid that hadn’t played much to be able to step in in a high-pressure situation and play the way he did. It tells me a lot about him. He’s a kid that wants the pressure, he wants to live up to that and he wants to be able to prove himself,” said Larson.
Senior Micah Miller commented “Everyone is excited to get a chance to go out and show how we can play. It’s a little intense, we haven’t played the best as of late but we know we can right the ship. It’s always exciting this time of the year to get into the dance. We won’t be nervous, playing in it last year should help us out. We know what to expect and what we need to do to get it done”
“You work all year to get to this point so there is not a lack of energy or excitement,” said Larson.
Notes: The team will fly out of Minnesota on Wednesday, have a team practice on Thursday, and then prepare for the Friday game.
A History of St. Cloud State in the NCAA Tournament
VIEW FROM CENTER ICE 