Mason Salquist (Photo Prout)
St. Cloud, MN – The 6-0-0 Huskies continue their schedule this weekend with a trip to Bemidji to face another CCHA opponent to round out their early season non-conference schedule. It’ll be a home-and-home series with Friday’s contest at the Sanford Center in Bemidji and the series finale at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center on Saturday.
This will be the third Minnesota-based opponent the Huskies will have faced including an opening weekend sweep of St. Thomas and last weekend’s sweep of Minnesota State University Mankato. The Huskies look to accomplish a clean sweep of CCHA opponents in 2022-23. However, it’ll be another difficult series facing a highly disciplined and defensive Bemidji State University squad coached by former SCSU assistant coach Tom Serratore, one of the most respected and nicest guys in all of college hockey.
#2 SCSU Huskies (6-0-0) vs BSU Beavers (2-1-1)
TV: TBD
Live Broadcast Stream: Fri., FLOHOCKEY.TV | Sat., NCHC.TV
Radio/Stream: KNSI 1450 AM/99.3 FM (St. Cloud) KVSC 88.1 FM (St. Cloud)
Where: Fri., Sanford Center, Bemidji, MN | Sat., Herb Brooks National Hockey Center, St. Cloud, MN
When: Fri., Oct. 28, 7:00 PM CT /Sat., Oct. 29, 6:00 PM CT
Last Time Out
Last weekend, the Beavers faced league opponent Michigan Tech University in Houghton, MI, and had a highly successful road trip defeating MTU 5-2 on Friday and skating to a 2-2 overtime tie on Saturday. On Friday, BSU overwhelmed the Huskies outshooting them 42-19 rallying for five consecutive goals after falling behind by a 2-0 score early in period two. Multiple goals by Lleyton Roed and Eric Martin lifted the Beavers to the win.
On Saturday, the Beavers forged an early 2-0 lead after goals by Mitchell Marten and Lleyton Roed only to see the Huskies rally for two third-period goals to tie the contest. The teams skated to a draw in the overtime session. Shots on goal were 26-25 BSU.
The SCSU Huskies faced in-state rival and then #2 ranked Minnesota State Mankato and earned two hard-fought wins over a talented Mavericks squad. On Friday, the Huskies edged the Mavericks 3-2 behind goals by Zach Okabe, Grant Cruikshank, and Kyler Kupka (GWG). SCSU was outshot 32-28 with an excellent outing by Jaxon Castor turning aside 30 of 32 shots on goal.
On Saturday, it was another heated battle with the Huskies carrying a 3-2 lead heading into period three. A goal by MSU’s Sam Morton knotted the game at 3-3 requiring a late third-period goal by Grant Cruikshank, his second of the game to secure the win. Micah Miller and Chase Brand also netted goals for the Huskies. Dominic Basse was solid in goal stopping 34/37 shots to improve his record to 3-0-0.
Head to Head
The two squads last met on December 31/January 1 last season in a home-and-home series with the Huskies sweeping by scores of 4-1 and 5-2.
The Huskies are 26-3-5 all-time vs Bemidji at the Division I level. They are 3-0-2 in the last five games, 7-1-2 in the last 10 games, and 14-2-4 in the last 20 games. The Huskies carry a 6-1-2 advantage at the Sanford Center.
Will Zmolek (Photo Prout)
Bemidji State University Beavers Notes
Head Coach: Tom Serratore (22nd Season; 358-328-93 .518)
2021-22: 19-20-0 (3rd CCHA)
CCHA Preseason Ranking: 4th
“It’s going to be a fun season,” said coach Tom Serratore. “We lost 10 players and have 11 new faces coming in. Players will be in different roles. If you want success you have to be hard to play against and have a good defense.” Always a proponent of strong defense, it’s the hallmark of Serratore’s coaching style and it wasn’t more evident than in their 6-3 win over a high-powered Wisconsin offense in the 2020 NCAA Regional. “We were 81% on our penalty kill last season and if we were 86% it probably would have given us 3-4 more wins”, said Serratore.
The team is in good shape defensively led by seniors Elias Rosen, Will Zmolek, and Kyle Looft (3-5-8). They’ll also be counting on former Lincoln Stars captain Tony Follmer who saw 26 games last season as a freshman and 6′ 0″, 194-pound sophomore Will Magnuson.
The team lost a lot of forwards after last season including five of their top seven scorers. So, they’ll need players to expand their roles and become offensive catalysts. The loss of Owen Sillinger, Lukas Sillinger (transfer to ASU), Alex Ierullo, and Ethan Somoza, all familiar names, combined to make up 61% of the goal-scoring and 55% of their points. That places more pressure on players like Ross Armour and Colorado College transfer Jackson Jutting. Transfer, Mitchell Martan from Canisius is a find currently leading the team in points with 4-2-6. Junior Eric Martin has had an impressive start with 2-3-5.
Freshman Adam Flammang who posted 46 points in 62 games for Cedar Rapids of the USHL and Lleyton Roed who produced 41 points in 60 games for Sioux City of the USHL have good resumes. In particular, Roed whose brother Nolan recently committed to SCSU notched three goals last weekend vs MTU and was named CCHA Rookie of the Week.
In goal, sophomore and Californian Mattias Sholl has had a good start to the season with a 1.99 GAA and .905 SV%. He was named Goaltender of the Week in the CCHA after his performance vs Michigan Tech. He’s backed up by junior Gavin Enright.
“We’ve had a couple of good weekends,” commented head coach Tom Serratore in his weekly press conference. “But, it’s only two weekends. We have fifteen more weekends left. The challenge each year is to keep getting better. We want to make sure we are sharp and hard to play against.”
On playing the #2 ranked Huskies Serratore noted ” Whether St. Cloud is 2nd or 22nd in the country we embrace it anyway. It’s an in-state rivalry. It’s been a great rivalry over the years whether it’s at the Division I level or the small college level. We’ve battled a lot over the last 50-60 years.”
Zach Okabe (Photo Prout)
St. Cloud State University Huskies Notes
Head Coach: Brett Larson (5th season; 87-47-13 .636)
2021-22: 18-15-4 (4th NCHC)
NCHC Preseason Ranking: 4th
In a transitional year, the Huskies saw the departure of a number of key players including Sam Hentges, Nolan Walker, and Nick Perbix who could have opted for a fifth season, and Easton Brodzinski, Kevin Fitzgerald, Luke Jaycox, and David Hrenak who exhausted their eligibility after five seasons.
Goaltender was the biggest positional transition for the team in 2022-23. After five seasons, David Hrenak has departed and the Huskies opened up the competition to a senior (Jaxon Castor), a junior transfer (Dominic Basse), and a first-year player (James Gray). So far, so good. Castor is 3-0-0 with a 1.33 GAA and .942 SV% and Basse is 3-0-0 with a 1.34 GAA and .944 SV%.
Despite the departures of Seamus Donohue and Nick Perbix, the SCSU defense may be more balanced this season than it was last year.
The return of fifth-year senior, Spencer Meier, a three-year captain immediately ramps up the experience and leadership at the blue line as does 5th-year senior, Brendan Bushy who has appeared in 143 games. Senior Ondrej Trejbal and 22-year-old junior Brady Ziemer have only appeared in 42 games combined. Both are looking to prove they can be an everyday player in the lineup.
The sophomore tandem of Josh Luedtke (currently injured) and Jack Peart were both outstanding as freshmen. Both are mobile, puck-moving defensemen that can play in every conceivable situation for the Huskies. The addition of Calgary native and Union College transfer Dylan Anhorn bolsters the experience and mobility back at the blue line. Anhorn has an aggressive offensive game from the backside and is a dynamic, fluid skater. He’s currently second on the team in points with 2-6-8 in 6 games. Look for these players to fill the role previously occupied by outstanding defenseman Nick Perbix.
Filling out the defensive unit are two teammates from the Waterloo Blackhawks of the USHL, Cooper Wylie and Mason Reiners. Both bring a different skill set to the blue line with Wylie a puck mover and Reiners defense first. One consistency is their size with Reiners 6’1″, 195 pounds, and Wylie 6’1″ and 190 pounds. Both will be 21 years old as the season starts.
The Huskies were awfully good on offense last season finishing 4th in the country in goals per game (3.60), 1st in power play percentage (31%), 9th in shooting percentage (11.3%), and 1st in short-handed goals (10). However, they’ve lost some heavy timber on offense with the departure of five of their top ten points producers and 44% of their goal-scoring.
The line of upperclassmen including preseason all-conference forward Jami Krannila, Zach Okabe, and Veeti Miettinen has remained intact and they’ll have tremendous pressure on them to lead the team in scoring after producing 36 goals and 81 points last season. So far this line is second in points with 16.
Fifth-year senior transfer from the Gophers, Grant Cruikshank will be joining his third team in three seasons. Cruikshank possesses a strong, accurate shot and brings experience down the middle of the ice for the Huskies. He’s been placed on a line with Micah Miller and Kyler Kupka and this has been a highly effective line producing 21 points thus far. Experienced and solid defensively, they can be matched against their opponent’s top line and with the speed of Cruikshank and Miller are a breakaway threat at any time. After a five-point weekend vs MSU, Cruikshank was named NCHC Forward of the Week. Kupka has two game-winning goals in the last three games.
True first-year players, Adam Ingram, Jack Rogers, Ethan Aucoin, and Grant Ahcan will have a learning curve ahead of them in 2022-23. However, they’ve shown no signs of being intimidated by the transition to collegiate hockey. All but Ahcan are big-framed forwards who can play the physical game. Ahcan is a skilled forward who has already seen time on the penalty kill and scored a short-handed game-winning goal vs Wisconsin. Ingram has a regular spot on the power play and has a scary big-time shot.
The SCSU coaching staff has done a masterful job of rebuilding after some major roster losses from last season. They’ve plugged some key gaps with Anhorn, Cruikshank, and Basse and have a crew of interchangeable first-year players that can be confidently inserted into the lineup. This is an extremely balanced team and it’s a very difficult task for the coaching staff to decide on their lineup. Most impressive is the confidence the coaching staff has shown in first-year players Ingram, AuCoin, Ahcan, Rogers, Wylie, and Reiners. The coaching staff has not been hesitant to insert them in crucial game situations. This will pay huge dividends in the second half of the season.
Kyler Kupka (Photo Prout)
Series Prospectus
Despite the Huskies being 26-3-5 at the Division I level and 6-1-2 at the Sanford Center vs the Beavers, this is not a team to overlook. They’ve had a good start to the season and are beginning to show a resurgence in offense producing 3 goals per game. However, they are on par with their goals against in 2021-22 of 3 goals against per game and that is living on the edge defensively.
Although the Beavers have been disciplined enough to stay out of the penalty box averaging 6.5 minutes per game they’ve performed poorly thus far with a 66.7% penalty kill. They’ll be facing a SCSU power play clipping along at 28%. On the flip side, the BSU power play is only converting 16.7% and will be facing a Husky penalty kill that’s second in the country at 95.2%. This isn’t a good matchup for Bemidji State.
On paper, the Huskies have the advantage, but that’s why they play the games. The Huskies can’t look past Bemidji with a key league road series with Denver looming. They need to focus on the task at hand and have a successful weekend vs the Beavers. All of their progress thus far in the early season can be destroyed with a poor weekend vs BSU. They need momentum heading into league play the following week in Denver.
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