No. 9 UMD routs No. 5 St. Cloud State 5-1 in series opener

Written by Austin Rush | Archived Nov. 10, 2020

Karson Kuhlman rips a slap shot in tonight's contest. Photo courtesy of Alex Ganeev

Three nights after having their seven-game win streak snapped by Minnesota State, the No. 9 University of Minnesota Duluth men’s hockey team picked up right where they left off defeating No. 5 St. Cloud State 5-1 tonight.

The Bulldogs got the ball rolling early as senior captain Karson Kuhlman tipped in a Louie Roehl shot from the point just 2:36 into the game. Junior forward Peter Krieger followed Kuhlman’s lead sneaking in a shot from in close to make it 2-0 UMD with 4:50 left in the opening period. As if the first period wasn’t exciting enough against the No. 5 team in the nation, sophomore forward Joey Anderson shelfed a wrist shot receiving a pretty pass from freshman blueliner Scotty Perunovich on a 2-on-1 odd man rush.

As of recent, its been the power play that has been red hot for the Bulldogs but tonight was all about the penalty kill. Junior forward Parker Mackay and Karson Kuhlman each scored a short-handed goal in the final 2:36 of the second period to take a 5-0 lead into the final 20 minutes. The last time the Bulldogs netted two short-handed goals was last season on October 29 where they beat the University of North Dakota 3-0 at home. UMD contained the Huskies on all three of their man advantage opportunities.

"I thought the penalty kill did a good job," said UMD head coach Scott Sandelin.  "It was nice to get a couple of shorties. We won the special teams game because we didn't get many power play opportunities (the Bulldogs were 0-for-2 with the man advantage). Overall, I thought our guys came ready to play tonight."

UMD extended its program best National Collegiate Hockey Conference win streak to six games tonight with their victory over their intra-state rival.

Just about the only thing the Bulldogs didn’t beat the Huskies in tonight was shots on net. St. Cloud State outshot UMD 25-18 in the contest.

The Bulldogs and Huskies will do it all again tomorrow night at 7:07 p.m. as UMD goes for its third consecutive NCHC series sweep.