(Photo Prout)
St. Cloud, MN – It’s been nearly a decade since the Huskies have made a road trip to Madison, WI to face the Badgers and it was good to be back. It was parent’s weekend and having a niece and nephew attending the University of Wisconsin made it extra special. Their mom and my sister attended SCSU but no matter the kids are totally embedded in the University of Wisconsin experience and are prototypical Badger fans. The school has a way of instilling the Badger spirit in these students.
The city was buzzing with activity which made it surprising to see the lack of fans attending Friday’s game. The announced attendance was 7,030 which was nowhere near actual in-seat attendance which had to be several thousand less. Saturday was announced to be 9,894 and although much better than Friday was still an inaccurate representation of the actual attendance. One appearance in the NCAA tourney in the past 8 years, a 10-20-3 season last year, and a winless start to the 2022-23 season will dampen the enthusiasm. It certainly was not the hostile environment from a decade ago as rivals in the WCHA.
The 5-1 win on Friday was fueled by freshmen who were not the least bit intimidated by the Big Ten school five hours to the east. Friday’s lineup included five freshmen and two transfer players with 5 of the 7 of these players logging points in the game.
Grant Ahcan (Photo Prout)
Most surprising was perhaps legacy player Grant Ahcan (1-1-2) who netted his first career collegiate goal – short-handed and the game-winner and added an assist for a two-point night. In my opinion, he’s the biggest surprise of the newbies thus far. In addition to being a good skater, it’s obvious he thinks the game extremely well, has great vision, can handle physical contact, and is one of those players who is always anticipating a few seconds ahead of the play. Obviously, the coaching staff thinks highly of his play inserting him into the penalty kill unit already. He is way ahead of where I thought he’d be at this point of the season.
Freshman, Adam Ingram, and Jack Rogers both picked up a point this weekend and both along with Ethan AuCoin were all noticeable out there. It’s going to be difficult to keep these big-framed forwards out of the lineup.
First-year defenseman, Cooper Wylie (1-0-1) potted his first career goal as well and is highly impressive. He has all the attributes to be an elite player in college hockey. He has size, great skating ability, vision, and efficiently transitions the puck. I see him as a future all-league player.
Grant Cruikshank (Photo Prout)
Regardless of how you feel about the transfer portal, Grant Cruikshank and Dylan Anhorn have to be the steals of the year for their impact on this squad. Former Minnesota Gopher and centerman, Cruikshank does it all being inserted in every conceivable situation, leads the team in goal scoring (3), and has a three-game scoring streak. Following last season, the big question was who would replace utility player Kevin Fitzgerald at forward. Cruikshank has more than answered that question.
Dylan Anhorn, the transfer from Union College has been exemplary thus far replacing the offensive punch on the blue line that was supplied last year by Nick Perbix. He leads the team in points, has logged at least a point in every game thus far, and is tied for second in the country in points.
It’s very clear this is a special group of freshmen with Ahcan, Cooper, AuCoin, Ingram, Rogers, Reiners, and Gray as the foundation for an exciting future for SCSU hockey. Most impressive is the confidence coach Larson and staff show in their young players by inserting them into crucial game situations to give them experience and confidence.
Kyler Kupka (Photo Prout)
On Saturday, the Huskies were pushed hard by the Badgers and most impressive was their ability to withstand a late charge by UW and convert immediately on the power play when needed and withstand a late power play by the Badgers to preserve the one-goal win. As opposed to the Friday game, it was seniors Kyler Kupka and Grant Cruikshank that led the Huskies to the win. Kupka played a role in both goals including netting the game-winner and is clearly becoming a key leader with the maturity in his game that the coaching staff was looking for.
Not much more can be expected out of the goaltending after four games with Jaxon Castor (2-0-0) posting a 1.00 GAA and .946 SV% and Dominic Basse (2-0-0) a .050 GAA and .971 SV%. Granted, they haven’t been tested a lot in their two games but they’ve proven thus far they are up to the challenge of being a starting goaltender. However, lots of credit needs to be bestowed on the defensive unit currently ranked first in the country allowing .75 goals per game, and perfect on the penalty kill not allowing a goal in 13 opponent opportunities. This crew also blocked 28 shots over the weekend.
The Huskies are 4-0-0 and 3-0-0 on the road. As head coach Brett Larson told me following the weekend it’s a difficult task to sweep anyone on the road at this level. So far so good.
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