Despite solid effort UMD falls to St. Cloud 5-3 in NCHC play opener
Written by Austin Rush | Archived Nov. 10, 2020
The University of Minnesota Duluth men’s hockey team falls 5-3 to St. Cloud State University in penalty filled game.
Heading into the middle frame, UMD and St. Cloud were all notched up 0-0. That all changed when senior forward Karson Kuhlman raced into the Husky zone and buried a wrap around goal shorthanded to put the Bulldogs up 1-0 just 2:29 into the second. A mere 18 seconds later, junior forward Jacob Benson put home a loose puck out front the Bulldogs net to equalize things at one.
At the 17:11 mark of the second period, freshman defenseman Matt Anderson shelfed his first collegiate goal with the Bulldogs on the power play to give UMD a 2-1 lead. Just like the first goal, UMD’s lead was short lived as 1:41 later sophomore forward Ryan Poehling pulled the Huskies even with the Bulldogs again on a delayed penalty call.
The Bulldogs trailed for the first-time tonight 6:33 into the third period as freshman forward Kevin Fitzgerald cleaned up a rebound out front to give the Huskies their first lead of the night at 3-2. St. Cloud popped in an insurance goal 8:18 into the final period on the power play as freshman forward Easton Brodzinski tapped in his own rebound.
Senior forward Sammy Spurrell’s goal with 2:58 left in regulation pulled UMD within one but it wouldn’t be enough as the Huskies would go on to seal their victory with a full ice empty netter prayer with 34 ticks left.
“They capitalized on a couple opportunities, but our kids fought hard, Shep gave us a a great chance to win a game but our guys battled and that’s all you can ask for,” said UMD head coach Scott Sandelin.
UMD struggled to stay out of the box tonight as they went to the box nine times. St. Cloud went 2-for-8 with the man advantage while the Bulldogs countered that by going 1-for-4
The Bulldogs and Huskies wrap up their opening conference weekend series tomorrow afternoon. Puck drop set for 4 p.m.
Photo courtesy of Tom Nelson