Huskies Edge Fighting Hawks In Saturday Sports Highlights
MEN’S COLLEGE HOCKEY
--St. Cloud State earned the crucial extra point by beating the University of North Dakota in a shootout on Saturday. It was a back-and-forth game the entire night with SCSU never leading by more than one goal. After a scoreless OT sent the game to the shootout, St. Cloud would take a 1-0 advantage on Veeti Miettinen's goal. North Dakota would tie it and SCSU grabbed a 2-1 shootout advantage on a goal by Adam Ingram. Then Dominic Basse got some help from his best friend, the crossbar. It looked like the Fighting Hawks were about to tie the game on the last shot of the shootout but the shot over Basse’s shoulder hit the crossbar and bounced out giving SCSU the 2-1 shoutout advantage and the win.
-- The University of Minnesota completed the weekend sweep by taking down Ohio State 6-3. After a scoreless first period, the Gophers put up three goals in the second period and three more in the third to get the win. Bryce Brodzinski recorded his 12th goal of the season. Minnesota is now 14-6-4 overall and 7-4-3 in the Big Ten. They will take on Michigan State next weekend.
WOMEN’S COLLEGE HOCKEY
-- The Gophers earned a sweep of Bemidji State by taking down the Beavers 3-1 on Saturday. BSU got up 1-0 in the first period and would hold that lead until Emma Kreisz scored with 4:32 left in the second. They would take the lead on a power play goal by Ava Lindsay in the third. Josefin Bouveng would also score in the third to give the Gophers the 3-1 win. Up next is a home-and-home series against Minnesota State-Mankato next weekend.
-- The University of St. Thomas flipped the script from Friday night and was able to beat St. Cloud State 5-1. SCSU would grab an early 1-0 lead on a goal by Taylor Lind in the first period. St. Thomas would tie the game in the 2nd and then break it open in the third period with 4 scores. In all, 5 unanswered goals by the Tommies. The loss puts St. Cloud State at 15-8-1 on the year.
-- St. Ben’s could only muster one goal against Hamline on Saturday and fell 4-1. Aurora Opsahl would open the scoring in the game for the Bennies netting her 12th goal of the year in the first period. Hamline would tie it and then take a 2-1 lead at the end of the first. After a scoreless 2nd period, Hamline would score two more in the third to pull away and get the 4-1 win. The loss put St. Ben’s at 3-5-2 in the MIAC.
WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
--A scoreless four-plus minutes of play in the 4th quarter ended up doing in St. Ben’s as Hamline would go on a 13-3 run to end the game and steal a 54-51 win from the Bennies. St. Ben’s was in control for the first three quarters before going cold in the fourth to let Hamline come back from a seven-point deficit. Carla Meyer led the Bennies with 11 points and eight rebounds in the game.
-- The Gophers defense held Michigan State to their lowest output of the season on route to beating the Spartans 69-50. Michigan State got up early but the Gophers put on a run to be up 20-18 at the end of the first quarter. The Gophers would go on a 12-0 run to close out the half. It was more strong defense and great shooting in the 2nd half as the Gophers pulled away. They held Michigan to 32.8 percent from the field who had been averaging close to 90 points a game. Minnesota was led by Mallory Heyer who had 18 points and 15 rebounds.
-- St. Cloud State earned a weekend sweep by beating Augustana 76-58. The Vikings took an early 19-16 lead at the end of the first quarter after shooting 8-10 from the field. SCSU would then take over. The Huskies defense would hold Augustana to 6 points in the 2nd quarter and forced 14 turnovers by half to go up 29-25 at halftime. SCSU would jump on the Vikings in the third quarter and be up 57-39 at the end. The two teams would hold pretty much even in the 4th quarter to get to the final 76-58 score. SCSU was led by Jada Eggebrecht who had 21 points. They are now 10-6 on the season and 7-5 in the conference.
MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
-- St. Cloud State struggled shooting and it would result in a 77-66 loss to Augustana. SCSU would only shoot 37.7% from the field and the Vikings would lead for 38:30 of the game. St. Cloud was led in scoring by Luke Taylor who had 10 points. The loss drops the Huskies to 8-10 on the season and 4-8 in NSIC play.
-- St. John’s would suffer their first conference loss of the year to Hamline and it was a heartbreaker losing 74-73. With Hamline up by one with 8.9 seconds left, 81.6% free throw shooter Blake Berg was at the stripe for the Johnnies attempting a one-and-one. Berg would miss the free throw and Hamline would grab the board forcing St. John’s to foul. Hamline would hit both of their free throws and the Johnnies' last-second three-point attempt came up short to give the Pipers the win. St. John’s record in the MIAC is now 11-1, and they are 13-4 overall.
JUNIOR HOCKEY
--The Granite City Lumberjacks got another victory Saturday night beating the Alexandria Blizzard 4-2. The Jacks got goals from Jack Louko, T.J. Lepisto, Nolan Widman, and Sam Brennan. They improved their record to 25-6-0-2.
--The St. Cloud Norsmen edged out the Minnesota Wilderness 2-1 to get the weekend sweep. The Norsemen’s goals were scored by Hagan Moe and Tyler Dysart. Next up for St. Cloud is the Bismarck Bobcats next weekend.
READ MORE FROM AUTHOR PAUL HABSTRITT:
- Rocori Dance Team Has Strong Family Ties
- Display Lights Up Holidays In Cold Spring
- Making Connections Name Of The Game For St. John's Prep
- A Novel Idea Develops Into Passion For Retired Teacher
- New Sartell Community Ed Director Brings Diverse Skill Set To Job
- 2024 Opening Still The Goal For New Children's Museum
- Sartell Dance Showcase Packs Them In
LOOK: Here are the 10 US golf destinations with the most courses per capita
Gallery Credit: Michael Leonard
10 (More) Hilariously Bad Google Reviews of Central MN Landmarks