St. Cloud Downs Colorado College 6-2 on Saturday Night

One night after Colorado College pulled off a surprising 2-2 tie at St. Cloud, Saturday night was more of a return to expectations. That was good news for St. Cloud, and spelled trouble for a struggling Colorado College team.

Andrew Prochno got the scoring started early with a goal 1:32 into the game and the Huskies never looked back. The Huskies would score again the first period, and add two more goals in the second period to build a 4-0 lead against a Colorado College team that has only reached three goals in one game this season.

Ryan Faragher made 20 saves on 22 shots to earn the victory. Josh Thorimbert finished the game with 19 saves on 25 shots.

The win moves St. Cloud to 9-1-2 on the season and 4-1-1 in conference play, while Colorado College falls to 1-7-2 overall and 1-5-2 in NCHC play.

Final Scoring

First Period

1:32- Andrew Prochno from Ethan Prow and Joey Benik 1-0 St. Cloud

Prochno fired a shot from the left point through traffic that beat Thorimbert over the glove.

8:55- Jonny Brodzinski from Kalle Kossila 2-0 St. Cloud

Colorado College turned the puck over on a bad D-to-D pass in their own zone. Kossila picked up the puck and dropped it to Brodzinski who fired a one-timer over the shoulder of Thorimbert.

Shots on goal: 8-8

Second Period

6:58 Ryan Papa from David Morley 3-0 St. Cloud

Morley forced a turnover in the Colorado College zone, and dished the puck to Papa who led a rush up in the ice. Papa's shot dribbled over Thorimbert's shoulder and into the net.

10:00 Nic Dowd from Joey Benik 4-0 St. Cloud

During a delayed penalty on Colorado College, Dowd walked out of the right corner and fired a wicked backhander over the shoulder of Thorimbert.

13:17 Gustav Olofsson from Alex Roos (power play) 4-1 St. Cloud

Roos passed the puck back to Olofsson at the top of the point, and Olofsson fired a one-timer along the ice that beat Faragher to the glove side.

17:44 David Morley from Daniel Tedesco 5-1 St. Cloud

Morley fired a shot on Thorimbert from the right circle that bounced high in the air. A CC defender tried to glove the puck away before it landed in the net, but could only bat it into the net.

17:51 Jeff Collett unassisted 5-2 St. Cloud

Off the opening face-off after the St. Cloud goal, Collett grabbed the puck and raced down the ice to get the goal back.

Shots: 16-16

Third Period

16:15- Nic Dowd from Kevin Gravel and Andrew Prochno (power play) 6-2 St. Cloud

Gravel fired a one-time slap shot from the point. Dowd was parked in front of the net and tipped the puck enough to put it between the legs of Thorimbert.

Final Shots: 25-22 St. Cloud

Notes:

- This was a really nice bounceback win for the Huskies after letting a winnable game slip away from them on Friday night. They looked like the part of a top 5 team tonight, and made Colorado College look as bad as their dreadful record would indicate.

-Turnovers, both in their own defensive end, and on the attacking end were the number one problem for Colorado College tonight.  Bad turnovers directly led to three of St. Cloud's goals, and kept Colorado College pinned in their own zone for good chunks of the evening.

-This is one of the first games I can remember in quite some time that I felt St. Cloud out-physicaled their opponent. The Huskies are usually more of a finesse team, but tonight they seemed to make a concerted effort to throw their body around, perhaps after such a lackluster effort on Friday night. That resulted in a few more Colorado College power plays, but overall, had a positive effect for the Huskies, and is perhaps part of the reason for so many of those Colorado College turnovers.

-Chalk this up as an example of a game where shots on goal don't tell the whole story. Final shots ended up 25-22 in favor of St. Cloud(including 8-8 ties in each of the first two periods). St. Cloud held a 34-22 even strength shot attempt advantage through two periods(I never saw a final box score, but it felt like St. Cloud had a bit of an edge there too.)

-I'm probably not breaking new ground here by saying that the Tigers really, really miss Rylan Schwartz. They just don't have anyone at forward that can consistently generate offense right now. If there's a bright spot for this Colorado College team, it's freshman Gustav Olofsson, who is an absolute horse. We'll have more on Olofsson and how he played tonight later this week.

-St. Cloud's Nic Dowd was excellent all night. He played a big role in that Husky physical presence, and scored two goals, including a beauty in the second period with a great backhand. He's really underappreciated as one of the most versatile players in college hockey.

-The most exciting part of the night may have been when Dowd broke up an otherwise perfunctory third period with St. Cloud's sixth goal. The goal won six free wings from Buffalo Wild Wings for the fans in attendance and drew by far the loudest cheer of the evening. Dowd commemorated the occasion by flapping his arms like a chicken.