By Kyle Ginsbach/Assist. Sports Director/@GinsbachKyle

St. Cloud State Men’s Hockey completed a sweep of their in-state rival Bemidji State on Saturday night.

Game two of the weekend series would see a bit of a change to the lineup for SCSU, with junior forward Adam Ingram making his season debut, as well as Jack Rogers swapping spots with Nick Portz. Grant Achan would be the extra skater, while the Huskies would only skate three pairs of defensemen for the game. Isak Posch would see another start in the net, with Matias Sholl handling the net for the second straight game for the Beavers.

Coming into the game, the Huskies hockey head coach said this about his opponent, “Coaching against Bemidji hasn’t changed in a long time. They’re the hardest team to play against, there’s no room out there, not a lot of pretty plays to be made, and one of two things is going to happen. You’re going to get really frustrated and try to force things, or you’re going to keep it simple at stick with it.” Little to say, the Huskies knew they’d be in for another grind against their CCHA foe.

The first period would look similar to the third period the Huskies and Beavers played the day previous. After ten minutes of back-and-forth action, SCSU forward Austin Burnevik would find the back of the net for the third time on the weekend, giving the Huskies the lead. The tally would be mark the first power-play goal of the season for SCSU and the third point in Burnevik’s five-point weekend. The following ten minutes of the opening frame would see the back-and-forth action continue, with the Huskies managing to carry another 1-0 lead into the locker room.

Coming off of a second period that saw the Huskies surrender two goals in a 30-second time period in game one, St. Cloud State might’ve played their best period of hockey all season. That came in spite of the Beavers coming off a 2023 season where they outscored their opponents by 13 goals in the second frame. As if not to discredit that statistical tidbit completely, The Beavers would show why that was the case when Will Magnuson knotted the game 11 minutes into the second frame. But, the Huskies would respond. Barrett Hall would give SCSU the lead a little over a minute later, on a play where Hall would practically catch the puck before putting it in the net. Whether the play was intentional or not, the goal would stand without a review. Five minutes later, St. Louis Blues’ draft pick Colin Ralph would notch his first collegiate goal to give SCSU a two goal lead. Brett Larson’s squad would carry that lead into the locker room, something they failed to do on Friday.

The third period would begin with the team determined to hold the same lead they had lost 24 hours previous. The contest would revert back to a evenly contested one before a Huskies penalty would see their first failed penalty kill of the season, with Beavers forward Jackson Jutting bringing the game within a single tally at the 8:09 mark. The Huskies penalty kill would respond on another Beavers power play minutes later, something that would prove to be the key minutes of the game. Perhaps with a flair for a dramatic, Isak Posch would make a miraculous save in the dying seconds of the game, in a buzzer-beater of sorts. When the final horn sounded, it would be the Huskies capturing their third straight one goal victory, with the final being 3-2.

Other notes:

• Both teams recorded 25 shots on net. SCSU led in attempts 55-51.
• The Huskies won 40 of the 66 faceoffs, with first-line center Verner Miettinen winning 20 of 26 of his draws.
• The Huskies improved to 11-3-2 at the Samford Center since 1999
• Bemidji State played without three defensive starters (Hendricks, Kubitz and Jailen Duffie)

Up Next: St. Cloud State will travel to Ann Arbor to take on one of the top teams in the Big Ten, the Michigan Wolverines. Puck drop for both contests at Yost Ice Arena are tentatively scheduled for 6:00 p.m. with KVSC’s coverage starting 30 minutes prior. Carl Goenner and Alexander Fern will be on the call, where you can find the games online at kvsc.org, or on the main airways 88.1 FM KVSC.