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ST. CLOUD, Minn. — While the offense played well Friday for No. 7 St. Cloud State, the defense was a little suspect.
On Saturday, the Huskies defense stepped it up greatly, while the offense played up to its normal standards.
“We needed to defend tonight,” SCSU coach Bob Motzko said following the Huskies’ 6-1 victory over No. 4 North Dakota. “[North Dakota]’s too well-coached a hockey team to give up four goals last night on defendable goals.”
Not only did they block shots and prevent UND from establishing its forecheck for much of the game, but the St. Cloud offense erupted with an efficient offensive performance, netting six goals from six different players, the third of which chased Fighting Hawks goaltender Matt Hrynkiw before the halfway point of the game.
“[When] you have the lead and stay in the lead, that’s huge,” said Motzko. “Games change when you get behind.”
And on Saturday, the Huskies were never behind once.
Meanwhile, North Dakota lost its first road game of the season. UND managed 29 shots on goal, but only connected on one of them after playing so efficiently on offense and everywhere else Friday.
“We were kinda sloppy in all three zones tonight,” said UND defenseman Troy Stecher, who had the lone Fighting Hawks goal. “We weren’t taking care of the puck.”
The game began as a tightly-contested defensive battle as the two arch-rivals bumped each other around, drawing one power play each. Neither team converted, but for the second straight night, the Huskies struck first.
With just under six minutes left, Patrick Newell netted his third goal of the season. It was a rather soft goal as Newell simply threw it on net looking for a rebound to David Morley and it somehow got past Hrynkiw. Nevertheless, it gave St. Cloud State a 1-0 lead after one.
The bulk of the night’s goal-scoring came in the second.
It began with a highlight-reel goal by Daniel Tedesco, who put Hyrnkiw on his behind as he weaved the puck in the net 5:40 into the second. Three minutes later, Morley redirected a shot off the pipe and in to increase the SCSU advantage to three goals. By then, Fighting Hawks coach Brad Berry had seen enough and pulled Hrynkiw, who made just five saves on eight SCSU shots.
Cam Johnson came on to make 10 saves in relief.
North Dakota finally got on the board with five and a half minutes left in the second when Stecher connected on a twisted wrister from the slot. All momentum from the goal faded, however, when a rare five-minute major for interference was called on UND forward Trevor Olson. Ryan Papa was injured on the play for the Huskies and as of late Saturday, Motzko had no word on his status other than he had to go through protocol.
St. Cloud State capitalized on the major to complete the period’s scoring when Niklas Nevalainen buried a centering feed from Blake Winiecki at 18:35 for his first goal of the season.
“Blake made a great pass,” said Nevalainen. “I was wide open in the slot and he found me.”
Berry thought the penalty changed the game entirely.
“We took the five-minute major and on the five-minute major, we didn’t get a clear when we should have [and] they put the puck in the net to make it 4-1,” he said.
St. Cloud State added two more goals (Ethan Prow, second of season) and Jacob Benson (first career) late in the third period to send North Dakota to their most lopsided loss since a 2008 Frozen Four semifinal loss to Boston College, which also ended in a 6-1 score.
“We gotta start maturing as a hockey group,” said Stecher. “We know we’re a better team.”
Charlie Lindgren made 28 saves for St. Cloud State to improve his season record to 8-3.
The Fighting Hawks (5-1-0 NCHC, 10-2-2 overall) suffered just their seventh loss in their last 33 away from Grand Forks. UND fell back into a first-place tie with the Huskies, and they’ll look to regroup next weekend when they visit East Lansing for a weekend series with Michigan State.
The Huskies (5-1-0 NCHC, 9-3-0 overall), meanwhile, improved to 5-1 at home and will renew an old rivalry next weekend when they visit Minnesota.
