Article by Felicity Harding. Photo by Felicity Harding.
The men’s hockey team traveled to Kalamazoo, Michigan to take on the Penrose Champions, the Western Michigan Broncos in the first round of the NCHC Frozen Faceoff.
After what started as a promising season, the Huskies ran into injury and offensive issues. Entering the postseason, the Huskies saw the lack of offense bleed over as they took on a hot Western Michigan Broncos team, ultimately leading to the Huskies being unable to upset the Broncos.
Both nights, the Huskies found themselves getting into penalty trouble, giving up three powerplay goals in the first periods Friday, March 14 and Saturday, March 15.
The team was able to get some life after giving up two powerplay goals in the first period on Friday after captain and senior defenseman Josh Luedtke was able to get the Huskies on the board to bring them within one of the Broncos. But a rough second period caused the game to get away from them as they saw themselves trailing 5-1 at the end of the second.
St. Cloud pulled sophomore goaltender Isak Posch after two periods and put in redshirt sophomore goaltender James Gray for the final period. The Huskies were able to make it a 5-2 game about eight minutes into the third with a powerplay goal from sophomore forward Verner Miettinen. But a goal less than two minutes later from Broncos sophomore forward Alex Bump put the nail in the coffin for the first game, giving the Broncos a 6-2 victory in game one.
The Huskies came out for the second game and saw similar struggles as the first night, ending with the same score. The Huskies gave up one powerplay goal in the first and then an even strength goal in the second before a goal heavy third.
After falling 3-0 early in the third, the Huskies were able to get on the board with a powerplay goal from sophomore forward Tyson Gross and then later saw a goal from sophomore forward Verner Miettinen, making the score 4-2. But with an early goalie pull for an extra skater for the Huskies, the Huskies saw themselves eventually trail 6-2, handing them the series loss and the end of their season come sooner than wanted.
With the Huskies falling to the Broncos and being unranked, their 2024-25 season has officially come to a close with the Huskies missing the NCAA Tournament for a second consecutive season.
But with the end of one season comes the preparations for the next.
While the Huskies had a less than ideal season only made worse with injuries, the young players found a lot of success and showed a promising future for the Huskies. On top of the success of the young players with the Huskies this season, there is a lot of skill in the commits that will be joining the team for the 2025-26 season, including the current top goaltender in the USHL in Yan Shostak. The Huskies will also get some offensive power in Noah Urness, Nolan Roed, Nathan Brown, Anthony Cardilli, Brock Souch, and Aiden Welch, as well as some defensive help from Joe Belisle and Tanner Henricks.
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