St. Cloud State hockey season underway, women start ranked for first time ever
SAINT CLOUD – Husky hockey is back at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center as the St. Cloud State women’s team swept Union in two games over the weekend to open the season.
Both the men’s and women’s teams are ranked in the preseason U.S. College Hockey Online poll, with the No. 5 men starting Oct. 7 at home against St. Thomas and the No. 13 women winning 6-1 and 4-0 over the weekend.
It was the first time in the women’s program’s history to be ranked in the preseason poll after closing last year at No. 12. The Huskies tied a program wins record going 18-18-1 last season. This year they were picked to finish fifth in the Western Collegiate Hockey Conference with senior goaltender Jojo Chobak receiving votes to the preseason all-WCHA team. The men were picked third.
Against the Garnet Chargers, a nickname Union announced with updated branding this summer, St. Cloud State’s senior goaltenders Chobak and Sanni Ahola 19 saves apiece. Ahola recorded her fourth career shutout with her first of the season Sunday and Chobak had her 20th collegiate win Saturday.
"The first game of the year is always a little unnerving, not knowing what you're going to get and not knowing how prepared you'll really be with the first official day of practice being this past Monday,” coach Brian Idalski said. “Overall, it went well for us. I liked the depth – I thought our four lines played really well and contributed, gave us some good jam up front.”
On offense, the Huskies really spread out the scoring, though only senior Emma Gentry netted two goals Saturday. She increased SCSU’s lead twice Saturday. Gentry assisted on Dayle Ross’ season-opening goal and Grace Wolfe and Katie Kaufman had the other two scores.
Klára Hymlárová, Laura Zimmermann, Ella Anick and CC Bowlby had the goals Sunday with Ella Anick recording four assists and five total points on the weekend, leading the team. Overall, 13 Huskies recorded a point in the two victories.
“That was good for us,” Idalski said. “I have a lot of options now with different players and different situations, so sorting through some of that, but definitely a good start to look at some different people.”
The SCSU women play Mercyhurst (2-0) next, traveling to Erie, Pennsylvania October 6 and 7 for a two-game series. The Huskies are 1-9-2 against the Lakers all-time, the most recent meeting being a tie in December 2019.
That same weekend the men's hockey team plays at home and in St. Paul, a Tommies team that was 11-23-2 last year and lost both games of a similar opening series. SCSU is 4-0 against St. Thomas since the team made the jump to Division I in 2020 by an average margin of six goals.
St. Cloud State is coming off its NCAA-leading fifth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance and 17th overall in 2022-23, when it lost to the top-seeded Minnesota Golden Gophers in the Midwest Regional in Fargo. The team returns talented defensemen including graduate captain Dylan Anhorn and junior Jack Peart, who was named to the preseason all-National Collegiate Hockey Conference team. Two of SCSU’s top four goal scorers are also back: fifth year Zach Okabe (18-18-36) and senior Veeti Miettinen.
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“We’re not slower, I can tell you that,” coach Brett Larson said at the NCHC media day in reference to his freshman forwards. “I was worried about our speed taking a little hit but (Tyson) Gross is a deceiving skater, (Barrett) Hall looks good, (Jack) Reimann can skate, Verner (Miettinen) can skate, all of those guys.”
In goal, senior Dominic Basse returns after starting 19 games in the crease last season, but Larson said freshman Isak Pisch and redshirt freshman Jimmy Gray are good enough to compete to be in the rotation.
“Dom’s the guy that we expect to and could lead this team again, but he’s got to earn it,” he said.
After the Tommies, the Huskies will continue a non-conference tour of Minnesota the next weekend, playing on Oct. 13 and 14 at Minnesota State-Mankato. SCSU will also play its annual red/black scrimmage at 5 p.m. on Oct. 1 on home ice.
“You're always looking for who's going to surprise you a little bit, who is going to step up a little bit more than you expected,” Larson said. “Who's going to help chip in those goals we lose from (Jami) Krannila and (Grant) Cruikshank.”
This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: 2023 St. Cloud State hockey season starts in Herb Brooks Hockey Center
