St. Cloud State head coach Bob Motzko has lead the Huskies to their first ever Frozen Four berth in his eighth season at the helm.

The Huskies topped Notre Dame 5-1 on Saturday before taking down Miami (OH) 4-1 in Sunday. Coach Motzko says the Huskies forecheck pressured the Irish defense into making some mistakes, and solid defense on the other end of the ice by SCSU kept the potent Notre Dame offense at bay.

The Huskies got a fantastic weekend from freshman Joey Benik, who missed the beginning of the season due to a broken leg he suffered in SCSU's first practice of the season. The Andover native scored two goals in each NCAA Tourney game over the weekend after registering just three goals during his injury shortened freshman season. Motzko says Benik has been a point producer his entire career, and the Huskies are not surprised to see him fill up the scoresheet now that he is healthy.

Notre Dame never really threatened SCSU in Saturday's game as the Huskies came onto the ice with a lot of intensity and energy. Sunday's game was much closer than the 4-1 final would indicate, with Miami putting together some great offensive possessions and a number of great scoring chances.

Motzko admits that he "was a mess" in the third period as time slowly wound down on the scoreboard. He estimates he must have drank "eight bottles of water," and says he was comfortable enough with the upperclassmen's leadership abilities that he could take a step back and take it all in.

Motzko says he felt that the Huskies program broke a barrier by advancing to the Frozen Four. Although he discounts the all time 1-9 record in the NCAA Tournament, he admits it was important to get over that hump, and counters with the fact that the Huskies are 3-1 in their last four tournament games. Motzko stresses that players don't know (or care) that SCSU has a poor record in the NCAA postseason, instead the players just want to know "if they are ordering pizza tonight. "

The Huskies take on #1-seeded Quinnipiac on Thursday night (April 11) at 7 PM CST. Dave Overlund will be in Pittsburgh with live updates during the Frozen Four.

More From 103.7 The Loon