Sixth-ranked St. Cloud (24-8-1, 17-8-0 WCHA) set a new team record with its 24th victory of the season, a 6-2 win at home over Minnesota State-Mankato (18-14-1, 12-12-1 WCHA) Friday.
SCSU’s previous best for wins was 23, set in 1996-97 and equaled in 1999-2000.
Jon Cullen put the Huskies up 1-0 with his 11th goal of the season at 3:10 of the first before Mankato notched a pair of goals to end the first period.
In the second period, junior defenseman Duvie Westcott charted an unassisted tally at 1:35 to tie the game at 2-2. Westcott returned at 9:54 with a power-play goal in the second which proved to be the game-winner.
SCSU poured it on with Joe Motzko’s power-play tally at 15:21 of the second, and Mark Hartigan ended the period with a goal at 16:03.
In the final period, Nate DiCasmirro scored his sixth goal of the season with a power-play effort at 18:27. Senior Brandon Sampair tallied his 30th assist of the season on DiCasmirro’s goal, becoming only the sixth player in SCSU history to gain 30 assists in a season.
In the nets, Scott Meyer was impressive with 31 saves as the Mavericks outshot the Huskies 33-31. On the power play, SCSU shut out Mankato on eight attempts while posting a 3-of-7 rate on its own power-play chances.
The two teams will square off again Saturday at 8:05 p.m.
