SCSU Hockey Bests Rival, Advances To NCAA West Regional Championship

(KNSI) – St. Cloud State Hockey’s Jaxon Castor may have saved his best performance of the year for when it mattered most.

The Huskies goaltender turned away all 34 shots he faced en route to a second consecutive shutout and an opening round win in the NCAA Tournament. SCSU blanked Minnesota State-Mankato 4-0 Thursday afternoon in the West Regional Semifinal.

The Mavericks dominated early, outshooting St. Cloud 10-4 in the first. The game stayed scoreless until late in the second period. Veeti Miettinen broke the ice on the powerplay at the 12:30 mark.

Jack Peart, Zach Okabe, and Grant Cruikshank with an empty netter rounded out the goal scoring for the Huskies. SCSU picks up the win but they were outshot in every period. Mankato is one of the best teams in the country in terms of possession time and shot margin and stuck to that script but it wasn’t enough against Castor.

SCSU will meet another in-state rival on Saturday evening with a trip to the Frozen Four on the line. Minnesota took advantage of a five-minute power play in the third period to pull away from Canisius.

The pregame starts at 5:00 p.m. on KNSI.

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