Huskies take down Boston
St. Cloud State defeats both Boston University and Boston College, earning trip to Frozen Four.
Boston cynics had a wonderful weekend at the NCAA hockey Albany Regional at Times Union Center.
St. Cloud State engineered its own Boston Massacre, shutting down Boston University and Boston College, in that order, to earn a trip to the NCAA’S Frozen Four in Pittsburgh.
The second-seeded Huskies finished their sweep Sunday night with a 4-1 hammerlock of BC, the top-seeded team in the region. A day earlier, they advanced to the final with a 6-2 victory over third-seeded Boston University.
As a result, St. Cloud will join two other Minnesota schools and Massachusetts in the national semifinals Thursday, April 6.
“We’re called the state of hockey for a reason,” St. Cloud coach Brett Larson said. “We’re proud of our hockey there, from the youth hockey all the way through through high school hockey and into college hockey. When I grew up, I didn’t dream of playing the NHL. I dreamed of playing college hockey.
“That’s the way a lot of kids feel. The kids in the St. Cloud area want to be Huskies. they grow up dreaming of stepping on that ice and playing for the Huskies. A prime example of that would be Will Hammer (senior center from St. Cloud) and Spencer Meyer ( junior defenseman from Sartell, seven miles north). They’re they’re living that dream right now, which is pretty cool to see.”
Hammer scored the game winner, part of a three-goal surge in the second period, as the Huskies (19-10-0) advanced to the Frozen Four for the first
time since 2013.
Another of the 10 Minnesota natives who played Sunday night for the Huskies is Luke Jaycox, who scored the first St. Cloud goal. Jaycox is from Warroard, in the northern region of the state.
“Warroad is an unreal place to grow up,” Jaycox said. “It’s a small town, but everybody knows each other and we all have in common the hockey gene in us. You just spend your childhood skating every day In the winter. Then in the summer, when we’ve got ice, everybody knows who you are, and they’re cheering you on from back home. It’s pretty special that this Frozen Four is going to have three other Minnesota teams.”
St. Cloud will play the winner of the game Minnesota-mankato, which beat top-seeded Minnesota 4-0 on Sunday night in the West Region championship.
Boston College (17-6-1), which got a free berth into the final when Notre Dame was forced to drop out because of COVID -19 protocols, hadn’t played in 11 days. They didn’t show any signs of rust early, as Matt Boldy, BC’S scoring leader, netted the only goal of the first period.
The Huskies came back with rebound goals by Jaycox and Hammer, then got a critical call in their favor in the final minute of the second period. Nolan Walker broke in on Boston College goaltender Spencer Knight. As he was shooting the puck, Walker crashed into Knight. Video review showed that the puck crossed the goal line before Walker made contact with Knight, giving the Huskies a 3-1 lead and the Eagles a two-minute power play.
“They said the goal was scored one (video) frame before the penalty was taken,” longtime Boston College coach Jerry York said. “It was clear to the referee. That was a big play because we were going to go on a power play. We didn’t think it was a goal. The goal was called off. They reviewed it, and they made the correct call, according to our people upstairs.”
Earlier in the second, with BC still leading, the Huskies lost first-line winger Easton Brodzinski, who scored twice Saturday. He absorbed what appeared to be a clean hit by the Eagles’ Trevor Kuntar and fell to the ice. He had to be helped off and was favoring his right leg.
St. Cloud seemed to pick up its game after Brodzinski left. His precise injury and status for the Frozen Four was not immediately known.
“It was tough losing Brodzy,” Jaycox said. “He’s a big part of our team. It sucked, but we still had a goal to achieve, and it pushed us a little harder to work not only for the team, but Brodzy, too.”
Off his Saturday effort, Brodzinski was voted to the all-tournament team with teammates Walker, Jaycox, defenseman Nick Perbix and goaltender David Hrenak, who had a .956 save percentage in the two games.
“I’ll take a .956 any day,” Larson said. “David saved his best hockey of the year for right now, and we’re hoping to keep building off it.”