Game Gab - Nightly Post-Game Analysis
Come here after the games for analysis and insights from CHN Staff members.
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Friday, March 15, 2013
St. Cloud State 6, Alaska-Anchorage 1 - Friday, March 15, 2013
UAA held close, 1-1 after one. St. Cloud took control of the game with a three-goal second period. Following a five-minute major and game misconduct on freshman Ben Matthews for checking from behind, the Seawolves were able to kill off four minutes and 49 seconds of the penalty before David Morley scored to help open things up for the Huskies. Freshman Jonny Brodzinski scored his 20th of the season early in the second period, then scored again with 22 second left in the frame. The Seawolves, which were already short one forward and one defender prior to Matthews' ejection, didn't help themselves any in the second period, receiving two penalties early on. Overall UAA was tagged for 25 minutes of penalties.
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Wisconsin 3, St. Cloud State 2 - Saturday, March 9, 2013
St. Cloud State has some euphoria Friday, as it rallied in the third period to defeat Wisconsin and clinch its first WCHA regular-season title, in its final season in the league. But that euphoria was muted somewhat Saturday, as the Huskies lost and missed out on a chance to win the title outright. Instead, it has to share it with Minnesota. “It hurts right now, sharing the title with a team you despise,” Cory Thorson said to the St. Cloud Times, which was a typical response from the players. “But credit to them for sticking it out and sharing it with us. But we wanted it all to ourselves. Credit Wisconsin tonight because they played a very solid game.”
The teams traded goals in the first minute, but Wisconsin took control after that and limited the Huskies to just 20 shots. Michael Mersch scored in the first period, and then again with an empty netter late in the third. St. Cloud kept the net empty and actually got one back, and got chances after that, but couldn't tie it. ... “It was a great hockey game, but we lost it in the first period,” Huskies coach Bob Motzko told the Times. “They had a great little rush for three or four minutes where they were really forechecking us hard and our top line was minus-2, sleeping at the wheel to start a game."
SCSU remains the top seed in the playoffs, and will host Anchorage. Wisconsin clinched a home-ice spot, but is still unsure of its opponent.
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Michigan Tech 5, St. Cloud State 1 - Saturday, March 2, 2013
St. Cloud State had a chance to wrap up its first MacNaughton Cup if it won and other things broke right. With that on the line, it came out a laid a clunker. Tech scored three goals in the first 4:23 of the game, and never looked back. It kind of leaves a bad taste for SCSU after winning Friday. Now St. Cloud has to travel to Wisconsin for two games, with Minnesota and North Dakota just two points behind and facing a much easier schedule.
“Well, it’s like coach said that it wouldn’t be right if the conference title didn’t come down to the end of the season with the way our league is,” St. Cloud center Nic Dowd told the St. Cloud Times. “That’s how it is in the WCHA. You get punched in the face, you’ve got to bounce back up and play another two games next weekend."
Mel Pearson played Jamie Phillips in net over a struggling Phoenix Copley, and it paid off. “It was 3-0 for a long time and the fourth goal was just a horrendous goal on our part,” SCSU coach Bob Motzko said to the Times. “Our top players touched the puck twice on that play. ... We had 55 minutes to go. But their goalie was solid. He was big and took up a lot of net and he stood up tall and we had a tough time getting anything by him.”
Saturday, February 23, 2013
St. Cloud State 5, Colorado College 2 - Saturday, February 23, 2013
St. Cloud State rebounds from a Friday loss to get the split and stay two points up on Minnesota for first place in the WCHA. Five different players scored, to balance two goals from CC's Rylan Schwartz. Jonny Brodzinski picked up his 17th for the Huskies and Ben Hanowski scored his 13th. “I couldn’t play much worse than I did (Friday),” Hanowski told the St. Cloud Times. “So (Saturday) was just kind of responding, getting a little ornery and getting a little upset with yourself." St. Cloud State has never won the MacNaughton Cup, for winning the WCHA regular season, and in its final season in the league before going to the NCHC next year, it has never been this close. “That was one of Hanow’s best games of the season,” Huskies coach Bob Motzko told the St. Cloud Times. “From the opening puck (drop), Ben Hanowski set the tone for us tonight. He responded like a leader.”
Saturday, February 9, 2013
St. Cloud State 4, Minnesota 3 - Saturday, February 9, 2013
This series was everything you'd hoped it would be coming into the weekend. In-state rivals playing for first place. In the end, after two tremendous hockey games, the teams got a split. As far as the WCHA race goes, this favors St. Cloud State, since it maintained a three-point lead on the closest teams with the regular-season ticking down. And the Huskies go away happy because they won the second of the game, always a better way to end up. But Minnesota is fine too. After all, despite being in third place in the WCHA (with two games in hand), it is still No. 2 in the Pairwise. And part of that is because the Gophers have two games in hand over every team in front of them in the standings.
Friday, Erik Haula scored a pair of huge goals for Minnesota, and standout defenseman Nate Schmidt got the clinching goal late in the third. Saturday, SCSU turned things around, charging forward to a 4-1 lead. Minnesota scored twice late to close the gap, but that was it. Ryan Faragher came up huge with 36 saves, and the scoring continues to be spread among two lines that are both really cooking.
“If we drop two games, Minnesota is right on us,” Huskies junior center Nic Dowd told the St. Cloud Times. “Just to get a win in this situation -- that’s big time. That’s what big-time programs do and that’s what we want to be. ... That’s why we had guys coming back when they could have left (for pro hockey). We had guys selling out to block shots. That’s why we have guys more excited on the bench when other guys score. We want to be a big-time program and leave our legacy.”
Saturday, February 2, 2013
St. Cloud State 4, Bemidji State 1 - Saturday, February 2, 2013
St. Cloud just keeps on rolling. The Huskies get a sweep of the weekend, outscoring Bemidji State 8-1, and are now unbeaten in six. Nic Dowd, Ben Hanowski and Jonny Brodzinski all scored their 12th of the season in Friday's win.
Saturday, January 26, 2013
St. Cloud State 2, North Dakota 2 - Saturday, January 26, 2013
St. Cloud State followed up its rout of North Dakota on Friday, with a tie that kept the Huskies in first place all alone in the WCHA, and kept their hot streak alive. Meanwhile, North Dakota gets just one point for the second straight weekend, getting a tie one night after being outshot 33-15 in a game some players called "embarrassing." UND coach Dave Hakstol changed the line combinations on three of his four lines, the pairings on two of his three defensive units and switched the starting goalie as well. "Biggest change was our intensity and effort for the entire 65 minutes,'' Hakstol said. "Regardless of what the line combinations or D pairs are, if you play that hard night in and night out, you're going to win the majority of hockey games that we play." ... The tie wasn't what Hakstol wanted, though. "In terms of our team play, our performance and effort, I feel good about that," Hakstol said. "But to come away with one point, it's hard to feel good about anything."
St. Cloud's Jonny Brodzinski hit the goal post early in the third period that would've been the game winner. ... Said North Dakota's Corban Knight, "We left a point out there on Saturday night in a home game, so I don't think anybody's satisfied in that room right now. Definitely something's that pretty frustrating right now."
Saturday, January 19, 2013
St. Cloud State 5, Denver 1 - Saturday, January 19, 2013
St. Cloud moved into a tie for first place in the WCHA with a glowing performance on the weekend, sweeping Denver. Defenseman Nick Jensen had a pair of goals in Friday's 5-2 win. Everyone got involved all weekend, with goals on Saturday from Dave Morley (2), Drew Leblanc and Ben Hanowski. Because its non-league record isn't very good (the Huskies have been swept in series against New Hampshire and Northern Michigan, and split with RPI), they are just No. 14 in the Pairwise, but being in first place in the WCHA at this point is huge. “We felt, not that our season was slipping away from us, but we were in a slide and needed a big weekend to jump start us,” LeBlanc said to the St. Cloud Times. “Both nights, we were just attacking and flying around and buzzing. It came down to we out-competed them, a good, hard-working team.”
Denver has been a mercurial bunch this season, hot and cold. But over the last four years, the team has been the mark of consistency in league play. This was the first time in 60 series that Denver got swept, dating back to Nov. 14-15 against St. Cloud as well. “It was fairly obvious if you were behind the bench, in the stands, in the press box as that the dominant team this weekend was the home team,” Denver coach George Gwozdecky told the St. Cloud Times. “They wanted it very badly, executed very well and put a tremendous amount of pressure on the forecheck on our defensemen. ... Our defensemen struggled mightily to transition the puck up the ice and that’s been one of our strengths. They took it away.”
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Northern Michigan 2, St. Cloud State 1 - Saturday, January 5, 2013
Northern Michigan has had a rough go since two early-season wins over Wisconsin. But this weekend, it got two road wins over St. Cloud, to lift the team's spirits. Reed Seckel scored three goals on the weekend, including Saturday's game winner, and Jared Coreau made 37 stops in Saturday's win.
Saturday, December 8, 2012
St. Cloud State 2, Nebraska-Omaha 1 - Saturday, December 8, 2012
After Friday's 6-5 barnburner win for UNO, things were more subdued Saturday, as the Huskies responded for the split. David Morley completed a hat trick for St. Cloud with two goals late in Friday's loss to bring his team within a goal, but that was as close as it got. Ryan Walters, who was just named national player of the month by the Hockey Commissioners group, scored twice for the Mavericks in that game. ... Saturday, St. Cloud scored early, then had a five-minute major power play in the first period, only to see UNO get a shorthanded goal. The game stayed tied -- thanks in large part to two UNO goals that were disallowed, one for a crease violation and one for kicking the puck -- until midway through the third when freshman Jonny Brodzinski scored the game winner for the Huskies.
“Brodzinski filled in nice on that line and that line was making plays all night,” Huskies junior defenseman Nick Jensen told the St. Cloud Times. "We really needed him out there tonight. ... He goes super hard, no matter where he goes: in the corners, back-checking or going to the net. He’s not afraid to go in there. If he’s going to hit, he’s going to get hit.” ... Morley left Saturday's game hurt, but reports indicate he should be OK. It was scary though because Morley took what appeared to be a hit to the head -- last season, he sat out as a medical redshirt due to concussion issues.
Saturday, November 10, 2012
St. Cloud State 5, North Dakota 2 - Saturday, November 10, 2012
North Dakota's pattern of winning Friday and losing Saturday continues on. St. Cloud State captain Drew LeBlanc had two goals and an assist in the win. Friday, Clarke Saunders got the better of Huskies goalie Ryan Faragher, picking up the 3-0 shutout win. Saunders wasn't as sharp Saturday, stopping 32 of 37 shots. ... The game turned after North Dakota freshman Jordan Schmaltz was given a 5-minute major and game misconduct for checking from behind. UND was able to successfully kill it, but just seconds after the penalty expired, LeBlanc scored his first of two goals to put the Huskies up 2-1. ... "We played a solid first period. I thought after the five-minute major kill, we just got away from our game," North Dakota coach Dave Hakstol said. "Instead of supporting the puck, and a short pass game, we got stretched out. We turned a lot of pucks over at the offensive blue line. We were one-and-done in a lot of different situations. That's not the way we're going to be successful. ... I think you saw heavy legs. I don't think we moved the puck out of our zone very well and that was part of it. But that's not something we make an excuse for. We've played through those situations before and we've done a good job of it. We just couldn't get ourselves back on track tonight."
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Denver 6, St. Cloud State 1 - Saturday, November 3, 2012
St. Cloud used a growingly-familiar combination to win Friday -- two goals from Nic Dowd (6) and a shutout from Ryan Faragher. But Denver earned a hard-fought home split, bouncing back from its first loss of the season, getting a stellar game from a less familiar source -- senior Chris Knowlton. A grinder who put up a career high 12 goals last season, earned his first career hat trick. But more importantly, the Denver defense got back to work and clamped down, as Juho Olkinuora, making his first start of the season one night before his 22nd birthday, needed just 20 saves.
"We came out in a bad mood," Denver coach George Gwozdecky said. "We knew that we'd embarrassed ourselves (Friday). That's a good team we played this weekend, but we used (Friday's game) as a teaching moment. ... We had a completely different mind-frame, which helped us start (well), but also respond to a very unusual first goal which let them tie it up. ... We can be a tough team to compete against when we play like that. We have to be emotionally ready to play with the intensity, discipline and eagerness to win those battles, and tonight we wanted to win the fight.”
Olkinuora emerged last season as a capable replacement when Sam Brittain went down and Adam Murray initially faltered. Now Denver has three goalies to try to keep happy. Expect Brittain to get the bulk of time, but it will be interesting to see how Gwozdecky handles it. For now, with Adam Murray hurt, short-term, it makes things a little easier.
Saturday, October 27, 2012
St. Cloud State 5, Minnesota State 1 - Saturday, October 27, 2012
It was 1-0 St. Cloud headed into the third, but Chase Grant's cross-checking penalty just 10 seconds in, opened the door for the Huskies to reel off four more goals and win going away. "Those are things we've discussed, and I don't know if the message is being delivered," MSU coach Mike Hastings said about taking that penalty. ... Evan Mosey had the team's only two goals of the weekend. "I didn't have a problem with our effort. The only time I get really disappointed is lack of effort or lack of discipline. Through first two periods, I thought we were getting what we needed to get. ... For the group of forwards we have to be held scoreless, it's unacceptable, from their standpoint and from ours."
Meanwhile, credit St. Cloud goalie Ryan Faragher with a strong weekend. He bounced back from a rough opening weekend against New Hampshire, and has been great since. Nic Dowd picked up that early-third-period power-play goal, his fourth of the year to lead the team. And freshman Kalle Kossila, from France, has been great at center so far this season, with seven points and a plus-8. “We didn’t match (Friday) night’s intensity, so that was the negative, but our power play clicked and our goaltender stood up,” Huskies coach Bob Motzko told the St. Cloud Times. “You know when (Faragher’s) on because he’s making it look easy. He was just seeing the puck. Too bad we let the last one to wreck his (shutout) deal.”
St. Cloud State 5, Alaska-Anchorage 1 - Saturday, March 16, 2013
The Huskies took care of business for a second straight night, sweeping with a combined 11-2 score. “Usually, you win a first-round playoff series and there’s not that much hype,” SCSU coach Bob Motzko told the St. Cloud Times. “I’m really glad we brought the (MacNaughton) Cup here tonight for the fans and all of them stayed around to see it. It’s been a long time and we have a great core of fans and there was excitement in the building." WCHA Player of the Year Drew LeBlanc opened the scoring, but St. Cloud didn't pull away until the third. ... "Tonight we put the cherry on top to have the trophy in front of our home crowd," SCSU forward Ben Hanowski said afterward. "It's special to get this one. St. Cloud State has always been close to me in my heart and physically. I couldn't ask for a better way to end my career here at home."
The question for Alaska-Anchorage going forward, is will changes be made? The Seawolves finished the season with just four wins. It's always been a struggle, but things are going backwards, with little to look forward to, except an easier conference next year.
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