Huskies Hockey Season Ends in Conference Tournament Semifinal

(KNSI) – The St. Cloud State University Men’s Hockey Team has narrowly missed the NCAA tournament.

The Huskies needed to repeat as champions of the Frozen Faceoff conference championship to nab an automatic qualifier slot but fell Friday night to Denver. SCSU had four separate one-goal leads but the Pioneers fought back each time to eventually force overtime. Zeev Buium dropped the curtain on the Huskies’ season by beating goaltender Isak Posch at the 6:21 mark of the extra frame.

Friday was the first time the Huskies had lost in the semifinal round of the Frozen Faceoff. They had won the opening game the previous six times they reached the Twin Cities tournament. The loss dropped the Huskies to 17th in the Pairwise rankings, the computer system that determines who makes it to the Big Dance.

The field is 16 teams, but the Atlantic Hockey Association and the Central Collegiate Hockey Association had conference tournament winners from lower in the rankings. That meant only the top 14 got in.

St. Cloud ends the season 17-16-5. This year’s tournament bracket includes four teams from the Big Ten, Hockey East, and NCHC. The state of Minnesota’s only representative is the Golden Gophers. Michigan had four teams qualify to lead all states.

Head Coach Brett Larson told KNSI News last week that the future is bright for the program. The freshman class has been fantastic, coming into its own late in the campaign. Verner Miettinen notched his 19th assist Friday, the 12th-best total for a freshman in school history. Tyson Gross tallied at least one point in six of his final eight games.

Expect the Huskies to be one of the favorites when the conference preseason poll is released in the fall.

___