The #8 ranked SCSU men's hockey team earned a split with #1 Minnesota with a 4-3 win Saturday night at the NHEC. The Huskies lead the WCHA by five points with six games remaining in the regular season.

The game was scoreless through one period, with the Gophers outshooting SCSU 12-7. The Huskies got a pair of goals in the second period to seize the lead and ignite the season-high crowd of 6,140.

Joey Holka started the scoring at 2:39 of the second to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead. His fourth goal of the season was assisted by Garret Milan and goaltender Ryan Faragher.

Junior forward Nic Dowd gave SCSU a two goal lead at 17:48 of the second, assisted by Jimmy Murray and Kevin Gravel.

St. Cloud native Nate Schmidt scored a goal for a fourth consecutive game when he beat Faragher with under a minute left in the second frame. The power play goal was the Cathedral graduate's eighth of the season and made the score 2-1 at the second intermission. Minnesota again outshot SCSU in the period, 15-8.

A Huskies freshman (Jonny Brodzinski) and a fifth-year senior (Drew LeBlanc) each scored goals in the third period to give the Huskies a 4-1 lead.

Nick Bjugstad's power play goal at 10:53 cut the Gopher deficit to 4-2, and Nate Condon's goal at 14:26 gave the crowd some concern. However Faragher kept Minnesota from tying the game with a number of saves down the stretch.

The Gophers outshot the Huskies 12-6 in the third period and 39-21 overall in the game.

 

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