Gophers

First-period goal burst helps St. Cloud State upset North Dakota in NCHC

For the Minnesota Star Tribune

March 21, 2015 at 5:26AM

St. Cloud State left wing Joey Benik, top right, saw his shot make it past North Dakota goalie Zane McIntyre with 5 seconds left in the first period on Friday night at Target Center. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

This isn't your typical offense-focused St. Cloud State hockey team, coach Bob Motzko said, and it took his players nearly two-thirds of the season to realize it.

"We're a good offensive team — we're not a great one," Motzko said. "But we've had to become a very, very strong defensive team if we were going to have success moving forward."

And in Friday's 3-1 victory over top-ranked North Dakota at Target Center, St. Cloud State showed exactly what its coach meant.

Joey Benik and David Morley scored less than 20 seconds apart in the final half-minute of the first period, but it was the defense — led by 19 saves from Charlie Lindgren — that helped St. Cloud State (19-17-1) grind its way through a semifinal at the National Collegiate Hockey Conference Frozen Faceoff.

St. Cloud State plays Miami (Ohio) in the championship game Saturday night.

Huskies defenders blocked 16 shots and held UND without a shot on goal during a critical third-period power play. Lindgren, a sophomore from Lakeville North, stopped a second-period breakaway and made a pair of sprawling saves down the stretch.

"He is a battler, and that's one of the greatest things you can say about a goaltender," Motzko said.

North Dakota (27-8-3) came in having lost just once in regulation over its previous 17 games, and it had won three in a row against St. Cloud State. But, after scoring the game's first goal — on a long wrister through traffic from Keaton Thompson — UND struggled to generate much offense.

"The way they played us was the way we would've expected them to play tonight," coach Dave Hakstol said. "You give up a couple easy ones this time of year, it's tough to, you know, come out on top. It really is, and that's playoff hockey — it's tight."

The Huskies, meanwhile, took advantage of their opportunities.

Morley tied the score at 19:35 of the first. Seconds later, Benik scored after his own drop pass on a 2-on-1 ricocheted off defenders and back onto his stick in front of a nearly wide-open net.

Joe Rehkamp added an empty-netter with 1:05 left.

Miami (Ohio) 6, Denver 3: Linemates Austin Czarnik, Anthony Louis and Kevin Morris each had two points, and the Redhawks never trailed against the Pioneers.

Daniel Doremus had a goal and an assist for Denver, and Trevor Moore scored to cut the Miami lead to 4-3 in the third.

But the Redhawks (24-13-1) answered each time the Pioneers (22-13-2) rallied.

"There's never an easy moment when you're playing a team like Denver," Miami coach Enrico Blasi said. "They come at you in waves, and you have to bend but you can't break."