Co-captains lead St. Cloud State to win over RPI

No. 16-rated St. Cloud State edged Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 2-1 on Friday at the National Hockey Center for a split of their nonconference series.

Ben Hanowski and Drew LeBlanc, the Huskies senior co-captains, each scored a goal in the second period.

Hanowski's goal came on a power play at 12 minutes, 54 seconds and tied the score at 1-1. He tipped in a shot by teammate LeBlanc. It was Hanowski's sixth goal of the season and his 96th career point at SCSU.

LeBlanc, who leads the nation with 22 assists, scored the game-winning goal at 19:37 of the second period. He has six goals now, too. He also has an NCAA-best 28 points and his career point total (125 points) is 11th place on the Huskies' all-time points list.

LeBlanc also owns a nine-game points streak going into the Northern Michigan series on Jan. 4-5 in St. Cloud.

The Huskies (12-8-0), first in the WCHA, lost 4-3 to RPI (5-7-4) on Thursday.

The Engineers, who had won four in a row against SCSU dating back to 2002, took a 1-0 lead in the third minute of play on Matt Tinordi's first goal.

MINNESOTA ST. MANKATO LOSES FORWARD

Junior forward Corey Leivermann of Minnesota State Mankato has decided to leave school and transfer.

Leivermann, a 2008 graduate of Mankato West, was the first native of Mankato to play for the Mavericks, but the problem was he didn't play much.

As a freshman he played in 19 goals and had three goals and four assists for seven points. Last season he had one goal in 21 games. And this season he only played in the first two games against Alabama-Huntsville, a Division I weakling.

The 5-11, 175-pound Leivermann tweeted to a Mankato Free Press reporter that he will transfer to Gustavus Adolphus in nearby St. Peter, Minn. He will be eligible at the Division III program there immediately.

* The Gophers and Bemidji State also lost players at the holiday break. Defensemen Blake Thompson left the Gophers and the Beavers lost a freshman goalie from Sweden.

U.S. WINS IN U17 CHALLENGE PRELIM

Jack Eichel scored two goals and had an assists as the U.S. team rallied to beat Canada's Team Pacific 6-2 in a preliminary game before the Under-17 Hockey Challenge in Drummondville, Quebec. The U.S. team opens the tournament against Canada Ontario on Saturday.

Team Pacific took a 2-0 lead in the opening period. Defenseman Jack Glover, who has committed to the Gophers, started the U.S. rally with a goal at 5:16 of the second period. The U.S. team also scored four other goals in the middle period. Forward Alex Poganski, who has committed to North Dakota but attends St. Cloud Cathedral now, has one of those goals.