St. Cloud State Builds Early Lead; Sweeps Boston College

After scoring the final five goals of Friday’s night contest, including three goals in the third period, St. Cloud State picked up where they left off on Saturday, scoring three goals in the first period en route to a 3-1 win over Boston College and a series sweep of the Eagles.

As is becoming the norm for the Huskies this season, it was the Poehling brothers providing the offense. Jack Poehling got the scoring started when he finished his own rebound just 2:17 into the game. His younger brother Ryan would extend the lead 10 minutes later when he finished a nice pass by Kevin Fitzgerald. Mikey Eyssimont added a power play goal with 30 remaining in the first period to give the Huskies a commanding 3-0 lead heading into the locker room for the first intermission.

That would turn out to be all the offense the Huskies would need. Boston College applied pressure in the final two periods, but could only sneak a single goal past St. Cloud State netminder David Hrenak in the latter half of the third period.

Hrenak stopped 36 of 27 shots for his second career win in as many starts. Boston College’s Joseph Woll stopped 21 of 24 shots in the loss.

St. Cloud State will head into a bye week next weekend with a perfect 5-0-0 record on the season. Boston College fell to 1-3-1 overall, and will try to regroup next weekend when they travel to Providence on Friday night, before hosting defending national champion Denver on Saturday.

Notes and Thoughts

-Don’t be fooled by the final shot totals—37-24 in favor of Boston College—this was more of the same from last night. St. Cloud State was able to play at a level that Boston College just couldn’t match, and the Huskies blew the doors off the Eagles in the first period. Penalties continued to be a problem for Boston College, with the Eagles taking two penalties in the first period—both cases of Huskies winning a race to gain position and BC taking a penalty to compensate—and the Huskies made them pay with power play goals.

-St. Cloud State took their foot off the gas for the final 40 minutes, but were never seriously threatened. It was a good stat-building night for goalie David Hrenak, who was credited with 36 saves on 37 shots, but it didn’t feel like more than a handful presented any sort of serious threat. Many of Boston College’s most serious scoring chances ended up being broken up by their own forwards.

I said it last night, and I’ll say it again, this is not exactly a classic Boston College team. There is very little offensive firepower. I thought Christopher Grando was dangerous tonight, Graham McPhee had a moment or two, Jacob Tortora had a moment or two. Everyone else was just a guy out there. The good news for Boston College is that all those guys are young. They didn’t dress a senior up front and only two juniors. They could develop into a serviceable group down the line.

Final Scoring

First Period

2:17 Jack Poehling from Jack Ahcan and Ryan Poehling (power play) 1-0 St. Cloud State

Ahcan picked up a loose puck in the slot, skated to the left side of the crease and made a pass to Poehling at the bottom of the left circle. Poehling’s first shot was denied, but he got his own rebound and scored.

12:47 Ryan Poehling from Kevin Fitzgerald and Mikey Eyssimont 2-0 St. Cloud State

Eyssimont passed the puck behind the net to Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald made a quick spin pass to Poehling at the top of the crease and he put a shot over Woll for the goal.

19:30 Mikey Eyssimont from Jimmy Schuldt and Robby Jackson (power play) 3-0 St. Cloud State

Eyssimont took a pass at the right point, and was given room to walk the puck in to the top of the right circle. He fired a high wrist shot that beat Woll.

Second Period

None

Third Period

13:45 JD Dudek from David Cotton and Julius Mattila 3-1 St. Cloud State

Mattila drove the net hard from the right wing and put a back hand shot on net that Hrenak couldn’t control. Cotton took one whack at the rebound, but it was Dudek that was able to get his stick on it for a rebound goal at the top of the crease.