St. Cloud State surges to top of WCHA

The Huskies are only four games above .500 overall and in the WCHA, but No. 17-rated St. Cloud State University is in first place in the conference.

SCSU (11-7-0, 9-5-0 WCHA) won 3-1 over Colorado College (8-10-2, 5-6-0 WCHA) on Saturday at the National Hockey and Event Center to move past Denver, which lost to Bemidji State 5-1 the same night.

The Huskies, off until a nonconference series against RPI on Dec. 37-28 at home, have 18 points, DU and North Dakota are tied for second with 17 apiece.

One reason the Huskies are playing so well is freshman forward Kalle Kossila from Finland. He scored his team-leading 10th goal at 16 minutes, 41 seconds of the first period to give SCSU a 1-0 lead. Kossila has more goals than any other freshman in Division I hockey.

CC tied the score at 1-1 in the seventh minute of the secondf period on Joe Marciano's goal.

Ben Hanowski and Jonny Brodzinski scored goals 1:38 apart in the middle of the second period to give SCSU a 3-1 lead and that's the way the game ended.

The Huskies outshot the Tigers 30-17. SCSU has had more shot than its opponent the past six games.

Sophomore Ryan Faragher stopped 16 shots for the victory; CC goalie Josh Thorimbert had 27 saves.

COMEBACK WIN FIRST NIGHT

The Huskies won 5-3 over Colorado College on Friday after trailing 2-1 at the end of the opening period.

Freshman forward David Morley had two goals in the rally and and Kossila the game-winner in the third period.

Faragher had 22 saves, Joe Howe of CC 24.

* The Huskies have won three games in a row and five of their last seven. ... They are in the middle of a 10-game homestead. Their next six are at home. Their next WCHA series, against Denver on Jan. 18-19, caps the homestand.

* In overall games, SCSU is third among WCHA teams in scoring, averaging 3.44 goals per game, and fifth in defense, gving up 2.50. ... They are averaging only 10.1 penalty minutes a game, fewest in the conference.

* The Huskies' special teams are in the middle of the conference. SCSU's power play is seventh, at 18.5 percent, its penalty kill is fifth, at 83.9 percent. ... They have scored 24 goals in the third period -- tied for second in the league -- and given up just 13.

* Drew Leblanc (5-19-24) is tied for second in WCHA scoring in all games, whil teammate Nic Dowd (9-14-23) is tied for fourth. Four of Dowd's goal have been game-winners.