SCSU hockey looks to bounce back against rival North Dakota this weekend
ST. CLOUD — St. Cloud State returns home this weekend for a top-10 matchup with rival North Dakota, looking to get back on track after their first losing streak of the season.
The Huskies are now 9-5 overall, losing their past three games to drop to No. 5 and No. 6 in the national polls. The 6-2 and 4-0 losses to Western Michigan two weeks ago were the first time SCSU has been swept in a weekend in nearly a year, also coming at Western Michigan on Jan. 15-16.
SCSU now sits fifth in the conference standings, while North Dakota stands alone at the top of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference. This weekend is already shaping up as a much-anticipated matchup to see if the Huskies can return to their level that had them ranked No. 1 in the nation last month.
"I think it's every kids dream to play North Dakota in college hockey," freshman defenseman Jack Peart said earlier this week. "Getting to play them ... in front of our fans will be special."
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A two-week wait between hockey games
After allowing 10 goals in the two losses to Western Michigan, the Huskies had a bye week to regroup. A lot of it came down to getting back to the basics.
"Play simple hockey: get pucks and bodies to the net, and eventually you're gonna get a bounce," senior defenseman Nick Perbix said about improvements. "(Western Michigan) just won the net fronts ... when we're in the defensive zone we need to take sticks, move bodies out of there. When we're in the offensive zone we gotta not let opponents move us out of there."
While the Huskies had Thanksgiving day off last week, they had practices Friday and Saturday to continue to fine-tune during their off week.
"A coaches nightmare and players nightmare is having a rough weekend before a bye week," head coach Brett Larson said. "You have two weeks to sit and stew on it, and you don't smile much and you don't enjoy life very much for almost a full two weeks. At the same time, it's those moments of adversity in this league that push you to get better."
Big points of emphasis included stick position on forecheck and stick/puck battles in tight areas. The Huskies should have nearly everyone available this weekend, with the lone exception being senior forward Sam Hentges. Larson hopes to see him available by Dec. 31 against Bemidji State, the next game for SCSU after their series with North Dakota.
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How does St. Cloud stack up against North Dakota?
The No. 7-ranked Fighting Hawks come to St. Cloud for the first time since Feb. 22, 2020, where the Huskies ended the series with a 2-1 win as both benches cleared for a brawl after the final whistle.
The rivals only played three times last year. St. Cloud State won the first meeting in the Omaha pod 5-3, lost 4-3 only four days later and then lost 5-3 in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff title game in Grand Forks.
Despite a massive overhaul on North Dakota's roster, the Fighting Hawks once again are first in the NCHC standings. They are 5-1 in conference, coming off a split with No. 11-ranked Minnesota last weekend at home in a non-conference clash. Sophomore Jake Sanderson leads North Dakota in scoring with six goals and 10 assists, while sophomore Riese Gaber and junior Ashton Calder have each tallied seven goals.
"The one thing that you can tell hasn't changed is their culture, their blueprint for winning and how they play," Larson said. "You can tell they have a new group of guys buying into that ... you're gonna have to be very good defending that area around the net. They don't waste a lot of opportunities to get the puck to the danger areas."
The Huskies could take advantage on special teams, where they are back to the No. 1-ranked team in power play percentage at 33.9 percent. North Dakota is only ranked 16th on the power play and in the bottom half of the country on the penalty kill.
"We don't focus too much on results, but we don't feel like we've hit our standard the last few games," Larson said. "Our goal is to play at our standard in all areas, have the best weekend we can possibly play going into the Christmas break."
Zach Dwyer is a sports reporter and photographer for the St. Cloud Times. Reach him at 320-406-5660 or zdwyer@stcloudtimes.com. Follow him on Twitter @sctimeszach.
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This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: SCSU hockey takes on rival North Dakota after bye week
