The problem is Perbix doesn’t, because he didn’t. Motzko’s triumphant return to the “House that Herbie built” Saturday night did not come without a little outside help.

In the opening moments of overtime, Minnesota’s Blake McLaughlin tugged hard on the back of the puck-carrying Perbix’s sweater, yanking him to the ice just to the left of Husky goaltender David Hrenak. So convinced of his guilt, McLaughlin stopped skating as he passed the NCHC official in the corner who watched the play unfold right in front of him. The Huskies did the same but Sammy Walker did not and once McLaughlin realized he had been spared a penalty, he picked up the loose puck and fed his Gopher co-captain who went in alone on Hrenak, burying the game winner 36 seconds into the extra session.

The controversial finish gave No. 4 Minnesota a split in its home-and-home series with No. 2 St. Cloud State and put a damper on SCSU’s homecoming celebration. Motzko improved his record at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center to 146-73-29 (.647) overall and 1-0-0 on the visiting bench.

“I eventually knew that it was gonna happen, you know; it’s different,” Motzko said of his return. “I have great memories here and then to see a crowd like this and the intensity. I’ve lived through this. This is a special place and … it was special tonight too.”

Considering Motzko’s contribution to the program, his “homecoming” might have been a bittersweet moment for some Husky fans under normal circumstances. However, things turned ugly as the standing-room-only crowd pelted the ice with beer cans, seltzer cans and anything else within its reach.

Amid all of it, players and coaches shook hands while St. Cloud State coach Brett Larson took a detour to berate the official responsible for ignoring the infraction. 

The explanation?

“No explanation,” a seething Larson said. “We just watched on video, it’s impossible, you can’t explain it. That’s why there’s no explanation; it’s impossible to explain.”

One observer, who I shall not name but it rhymes with Ryan, initially agreed with Motzko immediately after watching it in real time from behind the top row of Section 207, where students absolutely respected the area’s no-alcohol policy without exception.

His first instinct was, and I quote, “Elite dive.”

He even stood across from Motzko as the coach offered his opinion which seemed to confirm what the naked eye witnessed. Moments later, however, his son pulled out his phone and revealed the smoking-gun video proving otherwise and tarnishing his opinion of an otherwise phenomenal night of hockey.

“I’m embarrassed that that happened and that non-call really ruined a great hockey game,” Larson said. “Two teams that I thought played great tonight gave our fans just a treat, a back-and-forth game with two really good hockey teams. Unfortunately, that situation really left a tough taste in our mouth.”

2021 Minnesota Mr. Hockey Award recipient, Jack Peart, scored his first collegiate goal in Saturday night’s 4-3 OT loss to Minnesota. (MHM Photo / Rock Olson)

Decked out in retro uniforms resembling those worn in the 1985-86 season, Motzko’s final season playing for SCSU, the Huskies tilted the ice in their favor early on and jumped out to a 1-0 lead near the halfway point of the first period on a fluky goal credited to Sam Hentges. But Minnesota scored twice in the second on goals by Aaron Hulgen and Bryce Brodzinski to give the Gophers a 2-1 lead entering the third. 

In a reversal of Friday night’s contest, St. Cloud State wasted no time tying the score on freshman Jack Peart’s first collegiate goal just 19 seconds into the final period. This time, however, it was the Gophers who answered, with Walker quickly restoring the lead.

“We needed to do that,” Motzko said. “I wasn’t happy with a couple of those goals that we gave up, last night, especially. When you get in games like this, you know, with playoff intensity, you are going to make mistakes this early. Sometimes you’ve got to live through those mistakes to get to the other side, a learning experience.

“So, we’re learning.”

The Gophers were less than five minutes away from a regulation victory but a cross-checking call on Minnesota’s Ben Meyers with 4:16 to go put the Huskies a man up and Nolan Walker tied it just seven seconds later. Motzko felt, at worst, it should have been a 4-on-4 situation. 

“It shouldn’t have been in overtime, the guy was hooking Meyers and Meyers retaliated,” Motzko said. “You can’t do that but he let that go. So I felt we deserved to win that game and I know it’s going to be controversial how it played down, but it played the way it was supposed to tonight.”

That’s not exactly how Nolan Walker saw it, especially after his experience in the post-game handshake line.

“Even their own guy came up to everyone and said, ‘That’s horrible. It should have been a penalty,'” SCSU’s Walker said. “So that’s when you know, right there, that we got screwed.”

The post Unhappy Homecoming appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

SAINT PAUL — There’s an age-old adage that says “success breeds success” and, while that may be true, it also has a way of breeding nearly as much contempt. The University of St. Thomas experienced both sides of that coin over the course of several decades of athletic dominance at the Division III level.

But a new era has dawned for St. Thomas, which now faces the reality of playing the role of David in a world of Goliaths at the Division I level beginning with the 2021-22 sports season. With the puck having already dropped on both the Tommies men’s and women’s hockey seasons, it’s a role the school, the players and its fans have already embraced.

Both teams went from the frying pan and into the fire in their respective opening weekends.

The women opened on the road against Ohio State, the NCAA’s current No. 3-ranked team, and were swept by the Buckeyes. The Tommies bounced back the following weekend at home against Bemidji State, winning the second game of the series 2-1 on Luci Bianchi’s third-period goal for its first Division I win and a series split.

The men, meanwhile, faced second-ranked St. Cloud State in a home-and-home series culminating with the Tommies hosting the Huskies at Xcel Energy Center. The Tommies got themselves in penalty trouble in St. Cloud, falling 12-2 thanks in no small part to seven Husky power-play goals. The following night was a different story as St. Thomas played a more disciplined game and hung in there with St. Cloud State before falling by a 2-0 margin in front of 4,261 mostly Tommie fans. 

St. Thomas coach Rico Blasi, who led Miami (Ohio) University to 10 NCAA tournament and two Frozen Four appearances, including one championship game, took note of the fan support and even singled out the student section. 

“I’m super excited for our program, I’m super excited for our university,” Blasi said. “All the people have been working extremely hard for this transition and to have that kind of support is really going to show you what St. Thomas is going to be all about.”

The post Tommies Take Center Stage appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

In a record-breaking year for success, all five Division 1 college teams in Minnesota made the 16-teams selected by the NCAA to play in four regionals, with two-time defending champion Minnesota-Duluth forced to play in Fargo at the Midwest Regional where No. 1 ranked North Dakota was top seed, while Big Ten playoff champion Minnesota was the No. 1 seed at the West Region in Loveland, Colo., where WCHA season champ Minnesota State-Mankato was also positioned and won the final. In the Northeast Region, Bemidji State earned the right to play from the WCHA, as the fifth team from Minnesota.

The only interloper is Massachusetts, better known as UMass, in a return to the Frozen Four where they lost a 3-0 final to UMD two years ago in the last Frozen Four before the pandemic shut things down a year ago.

In an amazing display, all five Minnesota teams won their opening regional semifinal games, including Bemidji State’s huge 6-3 upset over Big Ten regular-season champion Wisconsin. The game was 5-1 midway through the third period before the stunned Badgers got two late goals. That sent the Beavers into the Bridgeport, Conn., region final, where they were struck down 4-0 on a pure hat trick by Carson Gicewicz and the shutout goaltending of Filip Lindberg.

In a cruel twist, Gicewicz and Lindberg were among four UMass players ruled out of the Frozen Four by positive tests for COVID-19, so they will be unable to help their team against UMD.

In the West regional, Minnesota jumped to a 3-0 first-period lead and cruised past Nebraska Omaha 7-2 behind two goals from Mason Nevers, while MSU-Mankato needed a sensational finishing rally to squeeze past Quinnipiac 4-3 in overtime in the other semifinal. Mankato trailed 2-0 after one, cut it to 2-1 on a goal by Jake Jaremko in the second, but fell back behind 3-1 midway through the third. Nathan Smith cut it to 3-2 with a goal for the Mavericks at 14:54 of the third, and with star goaltender Dryden McKay pulled for a sixth attacker, Cade Borchardt tied it with 1:02 remaining. The game went to overtime, and after 11:13 had elapsed, Ryan Sandelin — son of UMD coach Scott Sandelin — battled to the crease to score after spotting a loose rebound, for a 4-3 triumph.

On Sunday, MSU-Mankato, the pride of the WCHA, took on Minnesota, the last remaining hope of the Big Ten, which has yet to convince other college leagues that it has reached parity. That quest remains, because Mankato completely squelched the Gophers in Loveland, Colo., scoring two minutes apart in the first period as Ryan Sandelin set up Sam Morton’s opening goal, then scored himself for the 2-0 jump-start. There was no scoring in the second period, but goaltender Dryden McKay kept the Gophers off the board, and goals by Nathan Smith and Dallas Gerads in the third carried the Mavericks to a shocking 4-0 triumph.

It’s fitting, in a way, that the proud WCHA and all its 37 NCAA champions since 1951 will end its days as the top men’s conference in the country with one last representative heading for the Frozen Four. The league will cease to operate men’s hockey next season as a third uprising will see the formation of the “new” CCHA, following departures that started the Big Ten and NCHC operations.

Minnesota Duluth’s Kobe Roth (10), Hunter Lellig (8), Jackson Cates (20) and Matt Anderson (3) rejoice in what was thought to be Roth’s game-winning goal in the first overtime of the Midwest Regional Final. The joy was short-lived as the goal was reversed upon review. But the Bulldogs would have the last laugh, however, on Luke Mylymok’s winner four overtimes later.
Photo by Russell Hons

The NCHC, won by North Dakota in both regular season and playoffs, will have great camaraderie as well as solid representation from UMD and St. Cloud State. Scott Sandelin takes his UMD Bulldogs to their unprecedented fourth straight Frozen Four, in quest of their third consecutive championship. St. Cloud State is coached by Brett Larson, who twice assisted Sandelin in building two of those UMD champions.

The Huskies went to the East region and earned their way to the Frozen Four by dispatching Boston’s top two rivals in Albany. St. Cloud State spotted Boston University a 1-0 second-period lead before Micah Miller and Nick Perbix scored retaliatory goals, and after BU tied it 2-2, Easton Brodzinski broke the tie with a goal for a 3-2 St. Cloud lead. In the third period, the Huskies finished off the Terriers with precision, as Finnish imports Jami Krannila and Veeti Miettinen scored goals, sandwiching the second goal of the game by Brodzinski for a 6-2 victory. BU threatened, getting a major power play, but Krannila got hauled down on a short-handed breakaway and scored on the ensuing penalty shot.

That victory sent St. Cloud State back to Times Union Center to face top seeded Boston College, which took a 1-0 first-period lead on a goal by Matt Boldy, who was to sign an NHL contract with the Wild a few days later. The Huskies facilitated that move by burying the Eagles under a 3-goal barrage in the second period. Luke Jaycox, Will Hammer and Nolan Walker connected for a 3-1 lead, and Micah Miller scored his second in two days in the third period to clinch a 4-1 victory.

That will send St. Cloud to its first Frozen Four, where the Huskies will face off against Mankato, its biggest rival through the years in all sports, especially basketball and football, until hockey took both programs to Division 1.

UMD got an unexpected boost in Fargo, when Michigan was forced to drop out of the tournament with an outbreak of COVID-19 — leaving UMD without an opponent in the semifinals. North Dakota, meanwhile, crushed American International 5-1 in the semis and stormed back to Scheel’s Arena in Fargo for the showdown against UMD.

The game was called by many the best-played game of the season, and it took on legendary proportions when UMD broke a scoreless tie in the third period with goals by Jackson Cates and Cole Koepke barely a minute apart. Goaltender Zach Stejskal made the 2-0 lead stand until the closing two minutes, when the Fighting Hawks pulled their goalie and scored twice for a 2-2 tie that forced overtime. Make that “overtimes,” because they played into the fifth overtime before little-used freshman Luke Mylymok raced end to end up the left boards and sent a pinpoint shot between the legs of a screening defenseman and through the legs of goaltender Adam School for a 3-2 victory that ended the longest game in NCAA tournament history — 142 minutes and 13 seconds, spanning 6 hours and 12 minutes.

For more storylines, Stejskal made 57 saves before severe cramps knocked him out in the fourth overtime, and fellow-rookie Ryan Fanti stepped in to make six more saves in 17:36 to close out the game.

St. Cloud State teammates Kevin Fitzgerald, Nick Perbix and Seamus Donohue congratulate junior forward Sam Hentges on the Minnesota Wild prospect’s third period goal in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff championship game on March 16, 2021 in Grand Forks, N.D.
Photo by Russell Hons

In St. Cloud’s victory, scoring leader Easton Brodzinski was carrying the puck when a BC player delivered a hard, legal, but blindside hip check that dropped Brodzinski to the ice. He was helped to the bench and the dressing room, and then an Albany hospital where the injury was diagnosed as a fractured leg, to end his senior season on the sidelines. The Huskies vowed to keep going in the name of their fallen senior leader, and whipped BC as evidence.

“The toughest part is for him,” said coach Larson. “Here’s a guy who has poured his heart and soul into our program, and now he can’t be part of it. Our guys all know we want to do it for Easton, and all have bought into it a little bit more.

“Nobody picked us to be in the top 20 at the start of the year,” Larson added. “We knew it would be tough, because the NCHC is the toughest league in college hockey. We played North Dakota when we had our first nine games in the pod, and we played Duluth seven times. All of that helped prepare our resilience, and we didn’t ever get rattled.”

MSU-Mankato’s victory over Minnesota was its seventh in a row against the Gophers, spanning the years when the WCHA teams branched off and now the five Minnesota colleges play in three different conferences.

UMass goaltender Filip Lindberg was the seventh-round draft pick of the Wild in 2018, and he finished his senior year with a 9-1-4 record in Hockey East, where he led the league with a 1.33 goals-against average, and he led the league and the nation with a .946 save percentage. Gicewicz, a senior who transferred to UMass from St. Lawrence, wound up with 17 goals and 24 points after his hat trick against Bemidji State. The loss of the quarantined players leaves only senior Matt Murray as a goaltender. He went 9-4 in 13 of the first 15 games, with a .913 save percentage.

Coming out of the NCHC’s season-opening pod in Omaha, UMD faced St. Cloud State in four consecutive games, with UMD winning 4-3 in overtime and losing 3-1 at St. Cloud, then heading North, where St. Cloud State swept, winning 4-3 and then 1-0 in an overtime classic. The teams concluded the regular season with another series, with the Bulldogs winning a 5-1 blowout at AMSOIL Arena before St. Cloud State blew a 3-0 lead but won 4-3 in overtime at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center. They weren’t done yet, as they collided again in Grand Forks in the NCHC playoff semifinals, with Chase Brand’s short-handed goal standing up to give the Huskies a 3-2 victory.

They could meet one more time, if St. Cloud State gets past Mankato and UMD can beat UMass, and that would pit coach Sandelin against former assistant Larson. Of course, if UMD beats UMass and Mankato gets past St. Cloud State, the Bulldogs and Mavericks would meet with coach Sandelin against his son, Mankato sophomore Ryan Sandelin.

The post Making a STATEment appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Once he got past his sophomore year and into his junior season, he had a better understanding of where his piece fit into the St. Cloud State puzzle.

“So that was good for me, confidence-wise of knowing that I can fill this fourth-line role,” Hammer said. “And I think it fits the player that I am.”

Hammer, a St. Cloud native, doesn’t have monster offensive numbers. He scored three goals and an assist in 32 games his junior season and has two goals and seven points this year.

But that second goal this year was a big one. It was the eventual game-winner in the NCAA Regional Final in a 4-1 victory over Boston College that helped send St. Cloud State to its second Frozen Four. The Huskies (19-10-0), coached by Brett Larson, face Minnesota State at 4 p.m. CT on Thursday.

The Huskies tied the game 1-1 midway through the second period against Boston College on March 28. About six minutes later, Hammer took an initial shot on goal from the front of the crease. As he and his teammates crashed the net looking for a rebound, Nick Perbix fired another shot on goal. Hammer bounced that rebound into the net for a 2-1 lead.

“It’s not every day that I’m contributing on the scoresheet,” Hammer said. “So it was fun to get that goal, on the team’s behalf. I was the beneficiary of the play.”

He credited his linemates who worked to get the puck and get bodies in front of Boston College goaltender Spencer Knight.

“I just happened to be the one to put it home,” Hammer said. “It was a fun moment. One I’ll never forget, for sure.”

He may have that unforgettable goal, but Hammer’s journey to the Frozen Four with St. Cloud State was filled with plenty of ups and downs.

Will Hammer as a St. Cloud Cathedral Crusader.
Photo by Tim Kolehmainen

Hammer jumpstarted his post-high school hockey career with four years on the St. Cloud Cathedral boys’ team where he scored a total of 65 goals and 145 points. He was the squad’s leading scorer his senior year in 2013-14 with 23 goals and 48 points in 26 regular-season games.

That season ended with a trip to the Minnesota boys’ state hockey tournament. Cathedral beat Totino-Grace 4-3 in overtime in the Class 1A quarterfinals before losing to eventual champ East Grand Forks. The Crusaders, coached at the time by Eric Johnson, took fourth place in the tournament.  

From there, Hammer played two seasons with Aberdeen in the NAHL where he had an “OK” first season and “not the greatest” second season, he said. He scored nine goals and 33 points across 109 games in his two seasons. A new coaching staff came into Aberdeen after his second year, and Hammer was traded to the Minnesota Magicians in Richfield.

“Which was kind of challenging in itself for anyone who’s been traded, it’s not an easy thing to go through,” Hammer said. “You kind of get a little perspective of what the professionals go through on a very small scale.”

Hockey went well for him with the Magicians, where he scored 18 goals and 41 points in 60 games, and he talked with a few colleges along the way. But nothing worked out. Then he was all set to go to Augsburg College, a Division III program, after his time with the Magicians. Luckily, a spot opened up on the St. Cloud State roster instead.

Another thing he’ll never forget? The call asking if he’d like to be part of the St. Cloud State men’s hockey team. He was outside at home.

“I know exactly where I was,” Hammer said. “It was fun being able to tell my family and friends, too, because I felt like they were in the trenches with me.

“It was exciting, not only for me, but for my whole family. Something that we’ve enjoyed and will never forget.”

Though his hockey journey turned out good in the end – and maybe even better with a national championship – Hammer acknowledges it was tough, too. Playing in juniors for three seasons and then moving on to collegiate hockey, it was always a challenge when he’d compare himself to other players, especially with the access of social media seeing where others are in their careers, he said.

“That was a lesson I learned throughout my junior experience is that everybody has their own path,” Hammer said. “Here I am today and playing in the Frozen Four.

“I never would’ve imagined I would be in the Frozen Four here in my senior year in my hometown.”

Photo by Kylie Macziewski

Every player has tough moments in their hockey careers, Hammer said, adding that the trade from Aberdeen was a tough one for him. He also had a health scare during his sophomore year at St. Cloud State, giving him another hurdle to clear before he was good to go and continue playing. He’s thankful to have such a great support system around him, too, with family and friends.

The Huskies are two victories away from a national championship. First up, they need to beat a tough Minnesota State team in Thursday’s Frozen Four semifinal. Hammer knows that every team at this stage of the tournament is good, and the Mavericks are no different with great coaching, a solid forecheck and detailed, structured team.

St. Cloud State will need to focus on themselves, as they have throughout the rest of the playoffs, Hammer said. It will be key to work on the opposing D and own the front of not only the Huskies net but the Mavericks net as well, according to Hammer.

“I think if we do that, then we like our chances,” Hammer said. “So that’s what we’re going to focus on. We’re just going to focus on that first game and trying to play Husky hockey for 60 minutes.”

For Hammer, his ultimate dream was to play college hockey and win a national championship. Still striving to achieve the last part of that dream this week, he also said it will be the end of the road for him, hockey-wise. Outside of the rink, he has an internship with CentraCare, a local hospital in St. Cloud, and hopes to pave a career in health administration.

Even though his hockey path might be coming to an end with this Frozen Four, he’ll be able to look back and recall the adversity he made it through and the confidence he gained.  

“I think, with anything, confidence is over half the battle,” Hammer said. “So I was able to get a little more confidence in my time here at SCSU.”

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The University of Minnesota announced on Tuesday, March 27, that Bob Motzko will be the next head coach of the Gopher men’s hockey team. Motzko, who was an assistant with the U of M from 2001-05, has been bench boss for the St. Cloud State Huskies for the past 13 years.

Motzko replaces Don Lucia, who stepped down after 19 years where he led the Gophers to back-to-back national championships in 2002 and 2003. During his 13 seasons at St. Cloud State, Motzko compiled a career record of 276-192-49, and led the Huskies to NCAA Tournament berths in eight of the past eleven seasons.

The Huskies season ended earlier than expected last week at the NCAA Tournament when they were upset by the Air Force Falcons. St. Cloud was the top seed in this year’s tournament field and it was the second time in three years the Huskies went one-and-done in NCAA tournament play.

In 2013, Motzko guided St. Cloud State to its first Frozen Four appearance. That Huskies squad was led by Hobey Baker winner Drew LeBlanc. He twice led the U.S. National Junior team at the IIHF World Junior Championship, which included a gold medal in 2017.

The Austin, Minnesota native has won his fair share of personal accolades, as he’s won conference coach of the year four times: twice in the NCHC (2014 and 2018) and twice when St. Cloud was in the WCHA (2006 and 2007).

“I am excited and honored for the opportunity to lead Golden Gopher Hockey,” according to a University of Minnesota press release. “The rich history and tradition of this program is honored by so many in our state and around the country. We will work tirelessly to make those people proud.”

The Gophers missed the NCAA tournament for the second time in three years this season. Motzko will be tasked with getting the program back to tournament; while competing in a rugged Big Ten conference, which features three teams in this year’s Frozen Four, which will be held at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

The post Gophers Land Motzko appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

It’s Wednesday evening and the action is starting to pick up for Erik Martinson and the interns helping him get the Denny Sanford Premier Center ready for the ball.

Martinson has been in Sioux Falls since Sunday, nailing down the fine details of a well-run NCAA Regional hockey tournament from hiding all advertisements and signage to converting football and basketball locker rooms to hockey before the teams get there.

No. 6 Minnesota State and Atlantic Hockey Association champ Air Force roll in first. Top-seed St. Cloud State and No. 12 Minnesota-Duluth are set to arrive a little later.

“I don’t know how we got three Minnesota teams in one region, but I think it’s awesome,” said Martinson, assistant athletics director for operations at the University of North Dakota.

“I’m glad it all worked out with the PairWise Rankings, because I think we’re going to have a great atmosphere.”

Denny Sanford Premier Center Twitter Image

The West Region has a definite Minnesota flavor, with the three Minnesota teams plus Colorado Springs-based Air Force, which has plenty of Minnesota ties with Coleraine-native Frank Serratore behind the bench and seven Minnesota-native players.

“Hopefully there’s more of a positive flavor for the Minnesota teams because of the proximity,” MSU coach Mike Hastings said. “It was nice that we had a 2 1/2 -hour bus ride instead of hopping on a charter and flying like we’ve had to in the past.”

The idea of an arena filled with green-clad North Dakota fans faded as conference championship weekend progressed, but when the NCAA tournament bracket revealed a nice consolation Sunday morning.

“The best outcome would’ve been if UND was here,” Martinson said. “The next-best outcome is what we have with the teams that we got here.”

The NCAA regional rounds have seen notably sparse crowds, especially since the sites were required to be off campus starting around 10 years ago. Hundreds of empty seats are usually visible on TV and thousands more unoccupied in the upper decks, often closed off.

Those in charge at the Denny Sanford Premier Center hope and are confident that won’t be the case this weekend.

“Obviously, North Dakota not making the tournament is going to have an impact,” said Ty Halpin, the on-site NCAA representative in Sioux Falls this weekend.

“But the fan bases are able to drive and I think the game times are conducive to fans coming. Talking to people here, they think a lot of the people who bought tickets thinking North Dakota would be here, will probably still come. Even if it’s not full, it’s still going to be an enthusiastic atmosphere.”

UND showed what an electric atmosphere at a regional can look like with a much smaller, 4,000-seat arena with much of its fan-base willing to pay anything for a ticket when the school hosted at Fargo’s Scheels Arena in 2015 and 2017.

The crowds at those games, around 90 percent Fighting Hawks fans, spilled into the standing-room areas.

“I was down on the ice handing out championship hats to UND players after the region final (at Scheels Arena in 2015),” Martinson said. “It was the loudest noise I’ve ever heard in my life because it’s all the noise is coming at you. Atmosphere drives everything.”

UND’s absence and a larger arena to fill have created challenges when it comes to attendance while trying to match the crazy atmosphere of the Fargo regionals.

The Denny Sanford Premier Center – with a capacity of 10,678 – is home to the United States Hockey League’s Sioux Falls Stampede, an indoor football team and live concerts. The arena is the only one out of 16 in the USHL that seats more than 10,000.

No. 1 in the PairWise Rankings, St. Cloud State was the easy pick for the top seed in the West Region since the selection committee tries to reward top seeds with shorter travel. To maximize attendance, the committee had to do some flip-flopping.

MSU, ranked sixth in the PWR, was slotted to play Midwest Regional host No. 11 Penn State in Allentown, Penn. and No. 12 Minnesota-Duluth would’ve played No. 5 Denver out east in a natural bracket.

Good news for those who value bigger crowds and better atmosphere more than bracket integrity.

“You never know what’s going to happen once the 16 teams are determined,” Hastings said. “I’ve never really tried to figure out who we’re going to play. The important thing is to focus on getting in and progressing from there.”

A large chunk of tickets were gobbled up more than 5,000 on presale by UND fans, who assumed their team would play in Sioux Falls this weekend, and it’s hard to blame them, given their program’s 15-year streak of tournament appearances.

(A host team is automatically placed in the region it’s hosting as long as it qualifies for the tournament.)

Each team that qualifies for the tournament is allotted 400 tickets, typically offered first to their season-ticket holders and Halpin estimated 1,000 tickets were sold via the NCAA’s official ticket exchange.

Fans that do make the trip to Sioux Falls will be impressed when they walk through the four-year-old Denny Sanford Premier Center’s doors, according to Halpin. He said he was impressed by the “four adequate locker rooms” and the sightlines provided by a steep upper deck that makes the fan feel closer to the ice.

“It’s phenomenal and it’s still pretty new,” Halpin said. “They’ve dressed it up pretty well from an NCAA perspective and it has all the bells and whistles you can ask for.”

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Huskies coach Bob Motzko said he laughed out loud when someone from the media asked him before the game if the Fighting Hawks might be extra motivated against the Huskies because they needed a win or two in this tournament to advance to the NCAA playoffs.

“Do you ever not get an intense game from North Dakota?” Motzko said.

Motzko nailed it: St. Cloud required a goal from former Lakeville South High School standout Nick Poehling just 1:47 into overtime to slip past the team formerly known as the Fighting Sioux in the matinee semifinal game Friday afternoon at the Xcel Energy Center.

“The puck came right to me,” Poehling said. “I just shot it, and I guess I got a little bit lucky.”

Easton Brodzinski celebrates after scoring a goal to give his team a 2-1 lead over North Dakota at the NCHC Frozen Faceoff (MHM / Jeff Wedge).

The game-winning goal came after a North Dakota turnover allowed St. Cloud State to turn aside a fierce comeback that enabled the Hawks to tie the score 2-2 midway through the third period.

That, too, was no surprise even though the Huskies appeared to be in control  with a 2-1 lead through two periods after getting goals from Patrick Newell and Easton Brodzinski while outshooting North Dakota 21-14.

Didn’t matter.

The Fighting Hawks, staying afloat thanks to a tremendous game by goaltender Cam Johnson, came out for the third period according to junior center Nick Jones with a plan to apply strong pressure on St. Cloud and keep at it.

For awhile, they had the Huskies on their heels.

“Relentless effort,” Jones said.

Motzko wasn’t happy, but he wasn’t surprised, either.

“As well as we were playing, we were on the verge of getting knocked out,” he said.

But he knew advice was uneccessary after St. Cloud State, which had the benefit of winning and losing in its two overtime games against Miami (Ohio) in the first round of the tournament a week earlier, traipsed into its locker room after the third period.

His players knew the score.

“There was no coaching going into overtime,” he said.

Just a costly turnover and it was over in a hurry.

North Dakota coach Brad Berry, whose team is a longshot at best for the NCAA tournament going into Saturday’s third-place game, said turnovers cost the Hawks all afternoon.

“They have a really talented group that can kill you if you don’t take care of pucks,” Berry said.

St. Cloud finished the day with a 34-23 advantage in shots on goal and could have put the game away early if not for 31 saves by Johnson. In the end, even though they had already locked up a berth in the NCAA tourney, the victory has SCSU in the conference tournament final.

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