2014 NCAA Hockey Tournament: West Regional - SCSU Huskies

The St. Cloud State Huskies earned an at-large bid into this tournament as a three seed. They stumbled at home in the NCHC tournament’s firsts round, absorbing a sweep by the worst-place University of Miami. It was a disappointingly short appearance for the regular season champions, and it opens up a few questions about their mental toughness and defensive ability (nine goals allowed in two games at home). Still, they’re a strong team that’s been in the top twenty in the Pairwise basically all season (unofficially).

You might remember them from a January matchup against Minnesota in the North Star College Cup semi-final that they lost 4-1.

SCSU finished the regular season hot; the Huskies had won five of their last seven games, including a sweep of Duluth.

The Husky leader on offense is the familiar Nick Dowd. His team leading 39 points is matched by sophomore phenom Jonny Brodzinski (gee, that name looks familiar). Dowd has 21 goals and Brodzinski has 20. The math on their assists total is up to you. Sophomore Kalle Kossila is right behind them with 38 points (and a team-leading 25 assists). On the whole, SCSU has put up some husky numbers on offense, averaging more than 3.63 goals per game.

This is our second team in the West Regional with questions to answer on defense. SCSU allows a husky 2.78 goals against per game. The fortunes of this team rest largely on the shoulders of 6’2", 200 lb. junior goaltender Ryan Faragher. As Faragher goes, the team goes. If he’s on, the Huskies are hard to beat. If he’s off, they’re a very fallible team that struggles to slow down opposing offenses.

St. Cloud State faces off against Notre Dame at 8:00 PM. TV coverage on ESPNU.