"A Good Rivalry" = A Great Game

GO HUSKIES!

This weekend the Huskies will face their long standing I-94 rival the University of Minnesota Gophers. If you have been following the Gophers thus far this season, to say they are doing very well is an understatement. Going into the weekend the Gophers are 7-1 WCHA, 10-2 overall and are coming off a split at Wisconsin. Meanwhile the Huskies are 3-2-1, 5-5-2 and are coming off a split at MSU-Mankato. This weekends games should be a big test for the Huskies and a great opportunity for them to prove that they are still strong despite the major losses of captains Drew LeBlanc and Mike Lee. Gophers Coach Don Lucia had this to say about the Huskies:

"We know that when we go to St. Cloud, the place is going to be packed and the students are excited. I am sure they will have a little high-fuel octane in their system when we get there. But that is what makes it fun. It is a good atmosphere. It is a good rivalry." 

The Huskies will face the Gophers at the National Hockey Center on Friday night. Fans can watch the game on Fox Sports North. Saturday night the rivalry continues down at Mariucci. Because of the Wild game, you will have to find the game on an alternate channel (check here). Fans can expect a high-energy, exciting game so be sure to watch. Go Huskies!

Links:

• Quotes going into the Minnesota/SCSU men's hockey series
• Lucia calls Huskies a good rivalry, Motzko a good friend
• Lucia expects up-tempo, skating WCHA series with St. Cloud State
• SCSU earning points every WCHA weekend despite two key injuries
• Thorson is the happiest of the Huskies
• Special teams heading in opposite directions for Minnesota, St. Cloud State
• St. Cloud Faces Challenge After Major Injuries
• Huskies' Lee had surgery on his hip

Videos:

Center Ice Club Player of the Week Cory Thorson discussing the Huskies vs Gophers game

UND Video from a few weeks ago with the MacMillian brothers

Go Huskies!!!

Split Weekend at Mankato

Huskies Get Split at Mankato

The St. Cloud State Huskies were only able to manage a split this weekend against the Mankato State Mavericks losing Friday night and winning Saturday. The Friday night loss marks the first loss for the Huskies on a Friday night this season. The Huskies powerplay was ineffective going 0-for-5. Goaile Ryan Faragher continued to look pretty good despite letting 4 goals in. Unfortunately, the Huskies took another five-minute major penalty. It was the sixth major penalty taken by the Huskies for the season, the third straight game that they have had one. The goal scorers for the Huskies were Brooks Bertsch (Sam Zabkowicz, Jared Festler) and Cory Thorson (Mitch MacMillan).

Read About the Game:

• Mavs Edge Huskies on Nov. 11, 4-2 
• MSU-Mankato beats St. Cloud State, 4-2
• Mavericks 4, Huskies 2 

The Huskies came out determined Saturday night scoring 2 goals in the first 2 minutes and getting another one in the first period. The goal scorers for the Huskies were Cory Thorson (Jarrod Rabey, Mitch MacMillan), Ben Hanowski (Andrew Prochno), and David Eddy (Kevin Gravel, Hanowski). The win on Saturday night was the first WCHA Saturday win this season for the Huskies this season. The Huskies went scoreless on the powerplay (0-for-3) again Saturday night. The lack of senior captain Drew LeBlanc was very evident on special teams this weekend. Mankato outshot the Huskies 31-19 in the contest. The Huskies will need to improve its special teams, stay out of the box, and figure out how to get more shots on goal before meeting with the Gophers next weekend.

Read About the Game:

• Huskies draw a better line, gain split
• SCSU Defeats Mankato, 3-2
• Huskies 3, Mavericks 2 

Other Good Reads:

• A few other odds and ends from Saturday night's SCSU/MSU-Mankato game
• SCSU's Lee to have arthroscopic surgery
• SCSU's Lee Out for Season
• SCSU’s Lee, MSU’s Grant to undergo surgery

Videos:

Videos from Mankato:





Interesting and Original SCSU Song



SCSU Alum Matt Cullen Continues to Impress with the Minnesota Wild





Go Huskies!!!

Down, Not Out

Huskies are now without two of their three leaders. Down, but not out.

The Huskies came back Saturday night against the Wisconsin Badgers and ended up with a 3-3 tie and 3 out of 4 points on the weekend. The Huskies were up 3-1 until about the last 5 minutes of the third period. Unfortunately, penalties (which were fairly inconsistent all night) cost the Huskies the weekend sweep. The major story of the weekend though was senior captain Drew LeBlanc breaking his leg in two places after a bad fall into the boards. Now, with both Mike Lee and Drew LeBlanc out with injuries, two of the Huskies leaders and best players are out for what looks like at least until sometime in January, if not later. The Huskies are definitely in a tight spot, but the deep talent and the strong freshmen performances by goalie Ryan Faragher and defensemen Jarrod Rabey and Andrew Prochno should help.

This weekend the Huskies will head to Mankato to face the Mankato State University Mavericks. The Mavericks vs. SCSU series has always been one I enjoy and will be one of the opponents I will miss when the great shift in conferences happen in a couple of years. The Mavericks have not been great yet this year, but they have had a lot of early injuries. Last weekend they were able to beat a very hot Michigan Teah team. It should be a good series; however, I am hoping and expecting a Husky sweep.

Links:

• Badgers rally to tie Huskies 3-3
• Huskies Earn 3-3 tie Against Wisconsin
• SCSU's LeBlanc recovering from surgery
• Teddy Bear Toss Set for Dec. 3 at SCSU
• Hanowski is becoming a bear on ice

Videos:

Go Huskies!!!

Huskies Beat Badgers

Huskies Blast 7 Goals Past Badgers

The St. Cloud State Huskies beat the Wisconsin Badgers Friday night at the National Hockey Center 7-2. Special teams were awesome scoring 2 goals on the powerplay and 1 shorthanded goal while killing all 5 Wisconsin powerplays.  Freshman defender Andrew Prochno continued his impressive play this season scoring a power play slapshot from the blueline. Junior forward David Eddy finally got his first (and second) goals of the season. Nic Dowd scored an awesome shorthanded breakaway goal. Captain Ben Hanowski looked great scoring 2 goals.  Overall a great team effort with lots of contributions.

SCSU scoring looked like this:

1st Period:

• Andrew Prochno (Cam Reid)
• David Eddy (Nic Dowd) 

2nd Period:

•  Cory Thorson (Mitch MacMillan, Tim Daly)
•  Eddy (Jared Festler, Sam Zabkowicz) 

3rd Period:

• Ben Hanowski (Cam Reid, Nick Jensen) 
• Nic Dowd (Nick Jensen) 
• Ben Hanowski (Drew LeBlanc, Kevin Gravel)

Notes from the Game:

• Jared Feslter may be injured for tonight. If he is not in the lineup expect to see either freshmen Garrett Milan or Brooks Bertsch.
• Freshman Tim Daly played in place of junior Taylor Johnson who as been out with pneumonia.
• David Eddy received a game misconduct on what sounds like an accidental issue with his mask getting caught on a Wisconsin player. 
• Three stars of the game: 1. Eddy, 2. Dowd, 3. Hanowski.
• Freshman goalie Ryan Faragher had 26 saves between the pipes going 2-2-0 on the season with a 2.03 GAA and a .935 save rate.
• Drew LeBlanc is getting very close to 100 career points as a Husky. He now has 97 career points.

Links:

• Huskies dominate the power play, beat Badgers 7-2
• Eddy scores twice to guide St. Cloud over Wisconsin
• Huskies Claim 7-2 Victory Over Badgers
• Huskies Route the Badgers 7-2 on Friday Night at the NHC
• UW men's hockey: Badgers' youth shows against St. Cloud State 
• Badgers fall to Huskies on the road 

Videos:

Go Huskies!!!

Huskies outplay Sioux; PK costs Huskies the Sweep

Freshman Ryan Faragher stops all 44 UND shots to win 4-0

It is always exciting when the St. Cloud State Huskies take on rival the UND Sioux. The Husky fan base got a big surprise Friday afternoon when we learned that #1 goalie Mike Lee did not make the trip to Grand Forks and is “for sure, out a couple of weeks” with an injury. Instead freshmen goaltender Ryan Faragher, who had previously only played one collegiate game and had not yet played in the WCHA, would be between the pipes against perennial hockey powerhouse UND. Faragher did not disappoint in his WCHA opener stopping all 44 UND shots, earning a shutout, on the way to a 4-0 Husky victory. The Huskies were badly outshot, but that was largely due to the fact the Huskies spent a good part of the night on the penalty kill. Although it is great the Huskies were able to kill the penalties Friday night, they will need to be more disciplined as the penalties could cost the Huskies games in the future (see Saturday night's game). The goal scorers for the Friday's game included: Jared Festler, Andrew Prochno, Sam Zabkowicz,  Travis Novak. 


Read about Friday's Game:

•  St. Cloud State Blanks North Dakota, 4-0
• Headbanging Husky Leads Way in 4-0 win over North Dakota
• Faragher stops 44 shots en route to St. Cloud’s shutout of North Dakota
• Backup goalie stuffs Sioux

Video:

Unfortunately, the Huskies were not able to pull out the same impressive win on Saturday night. In the end it was the penalties that cost the Huskies the game as the Sioux scored 2 powerplay goals going 2-for-4 on the night. The Huskies showed a lot of strength in the third period by outshooting North Dakota by an impressive 12-6 margin. The lone goal scorer for the Huskies was Ben Hanowski. Freshman goalie Ryan Faragher had another very good night with 23 saves in the loss for SCSU.

Read about Saturday's Game:

• Hanowski Scores Goal in 3-1 Loss at UND
• Huskies split series, suffer a 3-1 defeat

Other Fun Stuff:

• Faragher's awesome weekend earns him WCHA Rookie of the Week
• Listen to this week in the WCHA
• Listen to the Bob Motzko Show
• Ryan Faragher is also the Center Ice Club player of the week
• Student Ticket Pick-up for SCSU-UM Game Starts Nov. 14
• Husky Player Profile - Drew LeBlanc
• Movemver begins---Please donate generously ;)

A Look Ahead

The SCSU Huskies will return to the National Hockey Center on Friday, Nov. 4 (7:37 PM) and Saturday, Nov. 5 (7:07 PM) for games against the University of Wisconsin Badgers. The games will be televised live on Charter Cable Channel 87 in the St. Cloud area.  The game on Nov. 5 will be televised live in the Twin Cities on Comcast Cable (channel 13 in St. Paul/channel 23 in Minneapolis). Wisconsin is coming off a split with UNO.