When the opportunity presented itself to join Western Michigan before the 2023-24 season, it was a place that “felt like home,” and a place where Bump believed those dreams could become a reality.

The Prior Lake native got a taste of the tournament last March as the Broncos played in the Maryland Heights Regional, where they fell to Michigan State in overtime.

However, the Broncos are back in the dance again, this time with loftier expectations. WMU won the Penrose Cup as NCHC regular-season champs, won the conference tournament in overtime and the Broncos head into the Fargo Regional as the nation’s No. 4 overall seed.

As he’s done all season, Bump is playing a key role in their success.

“These are the type of games you grow up thinking about playing in yourself one day and everyone’s goal is to be playing games in March,” Bump said. “So I’m really excited for it and want to do my part as a leader and a player, and we just want to take it one game at a time and be the best version of ourselves.”

Alex Bump looks at the puck after he shot it into the net 22 seconds into double overtime to defeat Denver in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff Championship on March 22, 2025 at Xcel Energy Center. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

Bump and the Broncos are averaging an NCAA-best 4.1 goals per game and allow just 2.1 – which ranks fifth. They’ve lost in regulation just four times all season and WMU is 19-3-0 since the calendar flipped to 2025.

They’ll face Minnesota State at 4 p.m. on Thursday. With a win, WMU will play either Minnesota or UMass on Saturday with a Frozen Four berth on the line. This is WMU’s fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance.

“We’re obviously excited to still be playing and believe we have a group that can do something special, but I think we’re all just trying to focus on ourselves right now and control what we can,” Bump said. “We’re not trying to get ahead of ourselves and worry about who we could potentially be playing or anything. We’re just focused on the next day, but we’ve got a really excited group and we’re ready to go.”

As for Bump individually, the sophomore forward leads the team in goals (23), points (46), power-play goals (7) and is a plus-9. The Philadelphia Flyers pick (2022, 5th) also has fired an NCAA-leading 225 shots at opposing goalies – 44 more than the next closest player.

“His numbers are tremendous, but honestly, they’re still way lower than his quality of play, and it’s not even close,” said Western Michigan coach Pat Ferschweiler. “This kid’s been a superstar every game this season and if a few plays here and there got finished, he’d easily have 65 or 70 points, and he’s been spectacular. His shots on goal are off the charts, his vision is excellent, he’s dynamic with the puck on his stick and has dynamic hands, and he just thinks the game at such a high level.

“I think the most important thing he’s done this year though is take his compete to an entirely different level. He was a great player last year as a freshman, but he’s taken so many steps in year two and it’s been incredible to watch.”

Bump is impressive in many ways
Ferschweiler added that Bump’s personality immediately impressed him on the recruiting trail and he’s continued to emerge as a leader. He’s wearing a letter this winter as an assistant captain. The numbers speak for themselves, too, and the left-shot forward offers his team skill, play-making ability and an elite hockey IQ.

Bump has also scored several timely goals of late. He netted the overtime winner last Saturday at Xcel Energy Center and scored three times at the NCHC Frozen Faceoff, which landed him MVP honors.

He has 16 points (11-5-16) over his past 12 games.

“He’s played the same way the entire year,” Ferschweiler said. “Some more pucks have started to go in the second half of the year and his linemates have elevated their games too, but he’s been the same player since the start. If you watched our first three or four games, he could’ve easily left those games with 15 points. It just didn’t go in for him.

“He came into camp ready and his play showed that, and he just stuck with it. He had zero frustration, just determination, and the quality of play has been there all season.”

Alex Bump leads Western Michigan in goals, points and power-play goals this season. He was defended during the NCHC Frozen Faceoff Championship by Minnesota Wild prospect Zeev Buium from the University of Denver. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

Bump’s 2024-25 season follows a 2023-24 campaign that yielded 14 goals, 36 points and a spot on the NCHC All-Rookie Team.

“Last year was an adjustment, but I think I’ve made a big jump this year and just try to keep getting better every day,” Bump said. “You expect to get better each year as a player and the coaching staff does such a great job putting you in a spot to do so, and there’s so many great people to listen to and learn from here so you can be successful.”

So what’s led to that success?

“I’ve played with two great linemates and they’ve made it easy for me, and I think that’s been a big part of it,” Bump said. “We’re a fast line and we like to get up and down the ice, and we use our transition game well.

“I think my transition is one of the strengths of my game, so that’s been a big piece of it too, and I’ve had a lot of confidence shooting the puck. But I know I’ve put in the work to be here and get to this point, and my confidence has only kept growing throughout the year.”

Now the hope is Bump can do more of the same and lead Western Michigan on a deep postseason run.

“He comes to the rink every day with a smile on his face and he just loves hockey,” Ferschweiler said. “You probably think every kid loves hockey but the reality is they don’t. Alex is someone that plays because he loves the sport and he’s always determined to get better.

“So when you combine that determination with his play-making ability, work ethic and his compete level, he checks a lot of boxes. He’s someone that thrives in these types of environments and big games too, so we’re excited to see what he can do the rest of the way.”

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ST. PAUL, Minn. — If there’s one thing that Alex Bump definitely does well, it’s scoring goals at Xcel Energy Center.  

Denver players Kent Anderson (left) and Zeev Buium (middle) celebrate one of their three second-period goals. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

For the Pioneers, who won last year’s Frozen Faceoff on their way to a national championship, it was a tough ending as they held what appeared to be a secure lead going into the third.  

Alex Bump scores the overtime-winner 22 seconds into the second OT period while being defended by Denver’s Zeev Buium. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

Early in the second, Western still stayed in control, but then the Pioneers caught fire. At 5:46, DU got on the scoreboard on a goal by Jake Fisher. After Slukynsky stopped Samu Salminen’s shot, the rebound went right to Fisher, who tapped it into an open net to make it 1-0.  

Western Michigan players celebrate their NCHC Frozen Faceoff Championship on March 22, 2025. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

“That is a huge hill to climb, down 3-0 to Denver in the third,” Ferschweiler said. “That’s such a great hockey team, and they’re so dangerous. But I thought our players were getting better throughout the game and there was lots of belief in that locker room. We just talked about being urgent from the first shift on and not waiting ’til the end to try to press. We couldn’t. We had to get three goals, not one goal.

“Then the big-time play by Liam Valente to pull up and find Zack Sharp, who calmly buries it under the bar, and you could feel ‘Okay, the belief was there.’ This is a confident group. The belief is always there, but then you could just feel the momentum build, and I just thought we got better and better and better even throughout the overtime.” 

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Heather Rule writes about the NCHC Frozen Faceoff tournament held at Xcel Energy Center in March. Denver won the conference tourney.

This story was originally published in the April 2024 Year In Review College/Frozen Four digital issue.

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There have been times when Xcel Energy Center has been abuzz with activity with three or four of the nation’s top-ranked teams gathering to fight it out for a guaranteed bid into the NCAA tournament. This spring, league champion North Dakota and pre-season favorite Denver are among the nation’s elite, while Omaha and St. Cloud State are battling for that level of prestige.

At 7:30 p.m. on Friday, St. Cloud State — which is on the outside of the NCAA’s PairWise-based top 16 — will take on powerful Denver in the second NCHC semifinal, after North Dakota takes on Omaha in the first semifinal at 4 p.m. at the NCHC Frozen Faceoff. The two winners will advance to Saturday night, where they will clash for the playoff title and the automatic NCAA berth, and will have the unique benefit of playing after the Minnesota Wild play at 1 p.m. that afternoon at the X.

They will all want to get comfortable in the home of the NHL’s Minnesota Wild, because the NCAA Frozen Four will be held there April 11-13.

The UMD Bulldogs had both the highest of hopes and the longest of long-shots as they headed west to contend with a mountain snowstorm and get to Denver’s Magness Arena, where the powerful Denver Pioneers had no mercy and not a lot of patience in whipping the Bulldogs 4-0. The next game was closer than the final score of 5-2 indicated but still a Denver victory, ending the Bulldogs’ season.

St. Cloud State had to go to Sunday and win the third game of a best-of-three series to subdue Western Michigan, leaving behind NCHC rival Minnesota Duluth, along with Minnesota State Mankato. St. Cloud State will serve as Minnesota host for the NCHC Frozen Faceoff.

Beyond the NCHC
Bemidji State still is in good position to advance, having beaten Lake Superior State 4-1 on Saturday to gain the CCHA championship playoff game against Michigan Tech, which eliminated MSU Mankato with a 4-3 Tech victory. 

Minnesota had high hopes of repeating as Big Ten tournament champion but first had to get past Michigan, its quarterfinal foe, and the rival who had knocked out the Gophers in the two previous seasons. The Wolverines, who had beaten the Gophers two weeks earlier in a wild 6-5 overtime battle, gained a 1-0 lead and stretched it to 2-0 in the second period, then held off the Golden Gophers 2-1 after Jimmy Snuggerud scored to cut into the deficit in the third.

In normal circumstances, that defeat would have ended Minnesota’s season, but the Gophers have managed to hold their high rank in the PairWise and in the national rankings even while falling in the Big Ten standings. So, while Michigan advances to face league champion Michigan State this weekend, with the tournament winner getting an automatic invitation to the NCAA party, the Gophers are virtually certain to be awarded an NCAA at-large bid and sneak in the back door.

The four NCAA regionals are scheduled for Sioux Falls, S.D., Maryland Heights, Mo., Springfield, Mass., and Providence, R.I. Undoubtedly, if the Gophers get an at-large invitation, they will be sent on the road to an Eastern regional, or get a lower seed to stay in the west, both of which will be more difficult to win.

Much as all of us in Minnesota would love to see another playoff match with Minnesota against anybody, and things won’t seem normal to have NCAA tournaments without UMD or MSU Mankato, you have to consider the big picture and know that if you’ve ever been anywhere between East Lansing and Ann Arbor, Mich., then you have some idea how every sports competition between Michigan and Michigan State becomes the biggest rivalry in the country.

With Michigan State as big a surprise conference champion as Michigan was finishing fourth, the single-game elimination between the Spartans and Wolverines will be well worth watching on t he Big Ten Network, when they collide at a sold-out Munn Arena in East Lansing on Saturday night.

When the shooting finally stops in each conference championship, the survivors will be scattered among four regionals around the country, each playing semifinals and finals to determine one Frozen Four team for the NCAA semifinals and finals back in St. Paul at Xcel Energy Center.

“Go, Buzzy, Go!”
Back in 1966, I had recently pulled out of the University of Minnesota to accept a sportswriting job at the Duluth News Tribune. It was a fascinating time, because UMD had just made the move to begin shifting to Division I in hockey and into the WCHA as a conference. Ralph Romano was coach, athletic director, ticket manager and sports information director at UMD, and he did an amazing job of manipulating all of those tasks at once.

My wife, Joan, and I found an apartment that could house us and our young son, Jack, and we were very close to Romano and his operation. So, when he invited us to meet him for a recruiting rip to his hometown of Thunder Bay, Ontario, it was high adventure. We drove up the North Shore, got a hotel room, and met Romano at the arena to watch a junior hockey game where a young prospect named Ron Busniuk was the top attraction.

A stocky counterman with quick moves and a hard-nosed willingness to mix it up in the corners, Busniuk — universally called “Buzzy” in the region — caught our attention right away. Our toddler son chanted “Go, Buzzy, Go…” every time Buzzy touched the puck. Romano was successful in recruiting Busniuk, who came to UMD and never forgot our closeness. Freshmen were ineligible to play varsity hockey in those days, and we had Buzzy over to our apartment for dinner. Joan remembers him with a tiny souvenir hockey stick, playing floor hockey with Jack on the living room floor.

Busniuk stepped in and led the team in goals and points as a sophomore and junior. When he was a senior, Romano shifted him back to defense, where he not only led the Bulldogs in goals and points but also earned All-WCHA and All-America honors in 1970.

After leaving UMD, Busniuk signed with the Buffalo Sabres of the NHL, and after two seasons, he signed with the Minnesota Fighting Saints, where he was a highly valued asset as a puck-moving defenseman. for two seasons. He later played several more years with the New England Whalers and Edmonton Oilers of the WHA, before retiring back home to Thunder Bay, where he coached the Thunder Bay Twins to two Allan Cup national senior men’s championships.

I had lost touch with Buzzy, after writing about him for most of a decade, and I never heard that he was ill. So it was a jolt to me when I read that Ron Busniuk had died earlier this month at age 75 at a residence in Thunder Bay.

They’ve already held the services up there, and while it may be traditional to wish “Godspeed” to a close and highly respected friend who has died, our family prefers to send him off with one final “Go, Buzzy, Go!”

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Swaney’s double-overtime winner lifts UMD to Frozen Faceoff title

St. Paul — With their NCAA tournament seeding secured and only Minnesota Duluth’s region placement fate to be determined there would not seem to be much to play for between St. Cloud State and UMD on a late March Saturday night in St. Paul. Don’t tell that to the Huskies and Bulldogs, though, as the two in-state, intra-conference rivals went at each other hard and fast in the first-ever NCHC Frozen Faceoff championship overtime game at Xcel Energy Center. 

“Anytime you get the top two teams in the country in the same building you know you’re going to have a good game,” UMD forward Billy Exell said. “When you get into these battles both teams are preparing and they don’t want to lose.”

But someone must lose and, in this battle between two NCAA tournament top seeds, Minnesota Wild prospect, and Lakeville native, Nick Swaney scored the game winner at 7:29 of overtime to give Minnesota Duluth a 3-2 win over the Huskies. The Bulldogs captured the school’s second Frozen Faceoff title overall and first since beating North Dakota 4-3 in the 2017 championship game.

“It’s certainly exciting to to win this championship again against a great team,” Minnesota Duluth coach Scott Sandelin said. “It didn’t look so good early but our guys just stuck with it and kind of grinded through it and found a way. We’ve played five times this year and we’ve had unbelievable games with them so I have a lot of respect for their team.”

Despite his team coming up short, first-year St. Cloud State coach Brett Larson, who until this season was an assistant under Sandelin at UMD, expressed what most observers of the game would say, regardless of the result.

“For me, being around college hockey for a long time, that was one hell of a hockey game,” St. Cloud State coach Brett Larson said. “Two unbelievable teams getting after it and if you’re a fan college hockey you like that one for sure.” 

The winning play began with UMD freshman forward Jesse Jacques blocking St. Cloud State Hobey Baker Award top 10 finalist Jimmy Schuldt’s shot which sparked a 2-0n-1 featuring fellow freshman Tanner Laderoute and Nick Swaney with SCSU freshman Spencer Meier the lone defenseman back. Laderoute picked the puck up at his own blue line, carried it into the Huskies’ zone and slid a pass to Swaney who lifted a short-side backhand shot past St. Cloud State goaltender David Hrenak.

“He made a great pass and I was fortunate to find the back of the net,” Swaney said of Laderoute. “It was all him.”

Swaney nearly did not get the opportunity to be the hero as the Bulldogs trailed the Huskies 2-1 with less than five minutes to play in regulation and Jacques in the penalty box serving a tripping penalty. But that’s when the UMD penalty kill, which limited SCSU to just one goal on six power-play chances, made its biggest play of the night.

Laderoute took advantage of a poor cross-ice pass by Jack Achan in his own zone, stole the puck and fed Exell between the circles who buried just his second of the year with 4:51 remaining to tie it up and eventually send the game to overtime. 

Even that goal may not have mattered had a bounce not gone UMD’s way in the third period.

After a scoreless second period, the Huskies started the third with 47 seconds of power-play time but only needed 28 seconds of it when Patrick Newell corralled a loose puck in the high slot, spun 180 degrees and fired a shot through traffic which beat Shepard for a 2-1 St. Cloud State lead. 

St. Cloud State nearly made it 3-1 midway through the final period when Blake Lizotte’s shot hit iron and the puck traveled post-to-post without going in. The official behind the net initially ruled it a goal but, after a lengthy review, the goal was overturned.

Newell said the Huskies, winners of 13 straight coming into the game, learned at the right time they are not invincible.

“We came with a 12 or 13 game win streak, two of those games were against that team and credit to them for for a hell of a battle,” Newell said. “Obviously, this one stings and it’s something that we really wanted to get done but, you know, luckily for us there’s more hockey to be played and that’s what we’re going to look forward to this week.”

The familiar foes were all square at 1-1 after 20 minutes with the Huskies applying heavy pressure to the tune of a 15-6 shots on goal advantage while the Bulldogs applied plenty of heavy hitting. Shepard stood tall in the opening period, keeping UMD close with 14 saves despite plenty of traffic in front of him.

“Well we didn’t have the puck in the first period so we had to do something,” Sandelin said of UMD’s physical opening period.

The Huskies struck first on a delayed tripping penalty on UMD’s Peter Krieger when Robby Jackson pounced on a rebound to tap in his 19th goal of the season at the 7:45 mark.

“We loved our jump, we were winning races to puck, we were getting there first.” Larson said.  “We had gone through four line changes before they had gone through two and hemmed them up in their zone pretty good.

“After that first 10, 12 minutes, I thought it was real even, really good hockey game but we really liked the momentum we created with the start.”

Per NCHC rules, Krieger still had to serve his time so SCSU was immediately a man up after Jackson’s goal. UMD’s physical play rolled on through the power play but it ultimately cost them when Louie Roehl was tagged for boarding with four seconds remaining on Krieger’s penalty. The officials reviewed Roehl’s hit but determined it not severe enough to be classified as a major.

With the teams skating 4-on-4 due to an Easton Brodzinski tripping call, St. Cloud State’s Nick Perbix nearly doubled his team’s lead when the freshman defenseman found a lane to the UMD net but was denied by Shepard. Just 14 seconds later, however, Minnesota Duluth picked up the equalizer on sophomore defenseman Mikey Anderson’s fifth of the season. 

UMD’s Parker Mackay banked a drop pass off the right wall in the SCSU zone to Scott Perunovich whose backhand pass found Anderson just off the bench and streaking across the blue line. Anderson quickly launched a blast from between the circles past Hrenak’s outstretched glove with 9:11 remaining in the period.

St. Cloud State and Minnesota Duluth head into the NCAA tournament next week as the top two overall seeds with Minnesota State right behind for a Minnesota top-3 sweep. The Mavericks rallied from a two goal deficit with under two minutes to play at home against Bowling Green on Saturday to win the WCHA championship in overtime as well.

“It was a big win for our guys,” Sandelin said. “It’s really exciting to move into the tournament after a win like this tonight.”

Note:

When the puck dropped to open  Saturday night’s game against St. Cloud State, 2018-19 ALL-NCHC first team goaltender Hunter Shepard made his 77th consecutive start for Minnesota Duluth dating back to Oct. 21, 2017. Shepard eclipses the mark set by current UMD volunteer goalie coach Brant Nicklin from Oct. 12, 1996 to March 15, 1998. 

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Shepard, UMD shut out DU to set up all-Minnesota NCHC final

St. Paul — Postseason goals in hockey are never easy to come by anyway but a playoff game featuring the reigning National Collegiate Hockey  Conference (NCHC) Goaltender of the Year going head-to-head with the 2018-19 NCHC All-Rookie Team goalie makes the task even that much more difficult. Minnesota Duluth’s Hunter Shepard and Denver University freshman Filip Larsson proved that and more in UMD’s 3-0 NCHC Frozen Faceoff semifinal on Friday night at Xcel Energy Center.

The win sets up an all-Minnesota Frozen Faceoff championship game between the No. 4 Bulldogs (24-11-2) and No. 1 St. Cloud State (30-4-3) on Saturday night. The Huskies knocked off Colorado College 5-2 in the other semifinal on Friday afternoon.

“We played a lot of games that are really, really close and that’s kind of what it came down to again today,” Minnesota Duluth coach Scott Sandelin said. “But it took a good third period for our team to win and we’re excited about playing tomorrow.”

UMD freshman Cole Koepke’s shot past Larsson through a Parker Mackay screen 42 seconds into the third period turned out to be the game’s only goal scored with a goaltender in the crease. Sophomore defenseman Louie Roehl would later score into an empty net and Koepke would add his second of the game, and seventh of the season, into the same vacant Denver goal.

All three goals were unassisted.

Shepard and Larsson matched each other nearly save-for-save through two periods with Larsson making 21 stops to 19 for Shepard. UMD made a hard push late in the second but Larsson stood his ground and denied all comers. Shepard finished with 25 saves with Larsson stopping 30 UMD shots for the game.

“You gotta get in their good goalie’s space,” Sandelin said. “I thought they were doing a pretty good job of that and we weren’t and I thought we did a better job of that in the third period.”

Shepard, meanwhile withstood some flurries of his own and slammed the door on Cole Guttman’s breakaway opportunity 20 seconds into the second period.

“There’s a reason he’s, you know, won awards last night in this conference and I thought he was seeing the puck really well,” Denver coach David Carle said. “Did we have some second chance opportunities? Yeah, but he did a great job sealing the bottom of his net and, unfortunately, we weren’t able to get any past him.”

Added Sandelin on Shepard, “They were doing a good job around our net and that’s what you have to do against good goalie. It was it was nice to see Shep seeing the puck and making some of those saves for us because, again, that game could have gone either way.”

But it was UMD and Kopeke who broke through when the Hermantown native came off the bench, picked up a loose puck and, with Mackay blocking Larsson’s view, ended the stalemate.

“Larsson’s a great goalie and anytime you can try and take the goalie’s eyes away just increases your chance of scoring,” Koepke said. “So I thought Parker’s positioning was pretty, pretty key on that goal.”

Minnesota Duluth and Denver split their four regular-season meetings with Denver winning 2-0 and 1-0 games but this time the tables were turned.

“I thought it was a good hockey game, tight checking, similar to most of our games against Duluth,” Carle said. “There wasn’t a lot of time and space out there, it came down to execution and they made one more play than we did and that was ultimately all that was needed.”

The Bulldogs briefly thought they had taken a 2-0 lead when Jesse Jacques pounced on a loose puck behind Larsson. After a lengthy review, however, the officials ruled Riley Tufte had interfered with Larsson and the goal was overturned.

Minnesota Duluth now turns its attention to St. Cloud State, a team the Bulldogs have dropped three of four games to this season, although all were fairly tight games including a pair of 4-3 losses (one in overtime) two weeks ago in St. Cloud.

“We had two great games with them at the end of the year, so I expect it to be the same thing,” Sandelin said. “Hopefully, we can find a way to solve them, keep this going and, you know, keep building off of the last few games for our team.” 

 Photo Gallery by Rick Olson for Minnesota Hockey Magazine. Follow Rick on Twitter at @rickolson77.

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St. Cloud State back in NCHC Frozen Faceoff title game with 5-2 win over CC 

St. Paul — St. Cloud State and Colorado College faced each other four times during the regular season, twice with the Huskies ranked No. 2 in the country while Friday’s NCHC Frozen Faceoff semifinal meeting marked the third time the Tigers took on SCSU as the nation’s top-ranked team. Each of the first four meetings saw St. Cloud State come from behind to beat the Tigers and the fifth time was no exception.

After spotting CC a lead midway through the first period, the Huskies (30-4-3) answered quickly and pulled away to a 5-2 win to advance to Saturday’s Frozen Faceoff championship game for the fourth time in five years.  SCSU awaits the winner of the evening matchup between Minnesota Duluth and Denver University.

“You can tell that they’ve been battle tested and playing really tough games and fighting for their life,” St. Cloud State coach Brett Larson said. “Give CC full credit because I really liked their team, I liked their game and they were certainly tough to play against tonight.”

Patrick Newell scored a huge first-period goal and added an assist, Robby Jackson scored a highlight-reel goal in the second while Blake Lizotte and Kevin Fitzgerald chipped in a pair of assists each. SCSU goaltender David Hrenak made 31 saves, including 13 in the third period when Colorado College employed an unusual power play strategy in an effort to get back in the game.

Larsson said the word Hrenak’s performance brought to mind was sharp.

“Sometimes when goalies are sharp, in a way they almost make it look easy because they’re not flying all over the place,” Larson said. “They’re just in the right positions and making the right save and that’s how I thought he played tonight.”

The Tigers (17-19-4) struck first in the opening period when Cloquet’s Westin Michaud fired a left circle shot that beat Hrenak at the 9:47 mark just 19 seconds after SCSU’s Robby Jackson went off for interference. Jackson’s release from the penalty box was short-lived as he was assessed a 10-minute misconduct before the ensuing faceoff, presumably over something he said to an official.

But back-to-back goals by Newell and Nolan Walker 24 seconds apart put the Huskies up for good three minutes later. St. Cloud state defenseman Jimmy Schuldt said what was clear from the first four meetings with CC is the Tigers are a team that really plays off momentum.

“They wanted to get a lead right away and they did and then they were going,” Schuldt said. “We made a couple good plays to get a lead and that’s definitely a turning point in the game and then and then I think we started rolling from there.”

A scary incident occurred between Michaud and Newell’s goals when St. Cloud State’s Ryan Poehling lost an edge and tumbled awkwardly into the end boards to the right of the Colorado College net. The brunt of the impact was taken by Poehling’s facemask and the former Lakeville North star was tended to for several minutes on the ice before skating off mostly under his own power but he did not return. 

Larson said it was too soon to know the severity of Poehling’s condition, revealed only as an upper body injury, with further evaluation of one of his top scorers (8 goals and 31 points) to come on Saturday.

“Obviously, it doesn’t matter who it is that was a scary moment,” Larson said. “I know everyone’s holding their breath on the bench, but I can tell you he is going to be okay; we’ll just see how bad the injury is by the morning.”

Another Poehling went down hard and was slow to get up at the 15:54 mark when Ryan’s brother Jack absorbed a huge hit from Colorado College’s Trevor Gooch. The high hit earned Gooch a major penalty for contact to the head and a game misconduct. 

Leading 2-1 halfway through the second period, St. Cloud State struck again when Spencer Meier lofted a puck toward Tigers’ net before Jackson re-directed it out of midair and past stunned CC goaltender Alex Leclerc for a 3-1 lead.

“Spencer Meier made a great play, didn’t take any time, threw it at the net and Robbie obviously made an incredible play batting out of the air,” Lizotte said. “That’s just a credit to Robbie and his talent and ability.”

The Huskies carried that lead into the third period and extended it to 4-1 on defenseman Jack Achan’s 6th of the year with just 12:39 remaining in regulation. The final period was not without its drama, however, as Colorado College had a golden opportunity to chip away at lead.

With the Tigers already on a power play and trailing 4-1, St. Cloud State’s Jon Lizotte hit Michaud into the boards from behind in the left corner. The hit drew a major checking from behind penalty and a game misconduct on the senior defenseman and gave CC a 5-on-3 advantage for 1:25 with just over nine minutes to play. 

Colorado College coach Mike Haviland wasn’t satisfied with the two-man advantage and made the aggressive move of pulling Leclerc for a 6-on-3 edge. The tactic proved unsuccessful and Leclerc returned to the crease 1:21 later.

Schuldt said he found the rare situation to be “really fun.”

“If you’re killing a 5-on-3 you have certain set lanes are to cover but a 6-on-3 is a whole different animal,” Schuldt said. “It just kind of comes down to being in the right place at the right time, I think.”

The Tigers did cut the deficit to 4-2 on Brian Yoon’s goal with 58 seconds left on Lizotte’s penalty but Nick Poehling scored two minutes later to restore the three-goal cushion.

Photo Gallery by Rick Olson for Minnesota Hockey Magazine. Follow Rick on Twitter at @rickolson77.

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