Early power play goals, timely penalty kills late lead UMD to sweep of top-ranked St. Cloud State

DULUTH — In the 1989 cinematic classic “Major League,” Cleveland manager Lou Brown defined a win streak as three games.

By that definition, Minnesota Duluth established its first winning streak of the 2022-23 season on Saturday to climb back into the battle for home ice in the NCHC quarterfinals. The Bulldogs earned their first NCHC weekend series sweep via a 6-3 victory over No. 1-ranked St. Cloud State at Amsoil Arena.

The Huskies came into the weekend tied with Denver atop the NCHC, while coach Brett Larson — the former Bulldogs captain and assistant coach out of Duluth Denfeld High School — was seeking his 100th win in five seasons as head coach of the Huskies.

Larson remains at 99 wins while his team falls to third in the NCHC. UMD moved up to fifth place in the league and within six points of fourth-place Western Michigan, who visits Duluth next weekend.

“We beat a really good hockey team this weekend,” said coach Scott Sandelin, whose Bulldogs travel to St. Cloud State to close the regular season March 3-4. “We’re going to enjoy it. Hopefully our guys can enjoy it because we’ve got another great team coming in that’s pretty good offensively, too.”

UMD’s special teams success from Friday’s 5-3 win carried over into Saturday, starting in the first period when the Bulldogs scored three special teams goals.

Senior wing Luke Loheit and freshman wing Ben Steeves converted on UMD’s first two power play chances of the evening. Then on the Huskies’ first power play of the game, senior center Jesse Jacques of Hermantown tallied his first shorthanded goal in five seasons at UMD.

“That feels really good, especially on the penalty kill. You don't get many chances at that,” Jacques said of his first shorthanded goal since playing junior hockey. “It really kept the momentum going for us. Personally, that felt really good. It got the got the boys going.”

SCSU scored two power play goals of its own on its next two advantages early in the second period. Both goals came off the stick of senior center Jami Krannila from the right faceoff circle, beating UMD junior goaltender Zach Stejskal on the back door.

The Huskies had the opportunity to blow Saturday’s game open via a five-minute slashing major accessed to UMD freshman Luke Johnson 8:27 into the second, just as UMD did the night before when it scored three on a Huskies major. The major power play came via a successful challenge by coach Brett Larson, but SCSU couldn’t convert.

UMD finished 2-for-3 on the power play Saturday and 6-for-10 on the weekend. Meanwhile, the penalty kill bent, but didn’t break, holding SCSU to 2-for-5 Saturday and 3-for-7 on the weekend.

“We did pretty well on the five-minute kill, not letting them score on that. That’s big,” Jacques said. “That was a huge thing for us. All the guys got excited and after that, coaches were fired up. It really gave us a lot of momentum and a lot a lot of firepower after that.”

Junior defenseman Wyatt Kaiser and junior wing Quinn Olson finished with two assists each on Saturday, with Kaiser tallying four assists in the series.

Sophomore defenseman Owen Gallatin and freshman wing Isaac Howard each had a goal and an assist Saturday, with Gallatin giving UMD a 4-2 lead late in the second and Howard restoring the two-goal advantage 8:35 in the third.

Sophomore center Dominic James clinched the win with a steal and score on an empty net in the final four minutes.

“We did have a tough patch there for a while. We really had to dig in and really figured out who we are as a team,” Kaiser said. “We didn't really know for sure, I don't think. This weekend has helped us kind of identify a little bit more who we are.

“The bench is really good right now. If you make a mistake, it's OK. You got four or five other guys out there helping you. The D are helping each other, the forwards are helping each other. We have good goalies. It’s just nice. I feel like everybody feels supported.”

3. UMD fifth-year senior Jesse Jacques — His shorthanded goal in the first created a tough hill for the Huskies to climb the rest of the night.

2. UMD freshman wing Isaac Howard — He restored the two-goal lead for UMD in the third by tallying his third goal in six games.

1. UMD sophomore defenseman Owen Gallatin — He scored a key goal late in the second to give UMD a 4-2 lead at the second intermission, while his zone entry eight-plus minutes into the third is what set up a feed by freshman wing Cole Spicer and score by Howard.

St. Cloud State 0-2-1—3
Minnesota Duluth 3-1-2—6
First period
1. UMD, Luke Loheit (Quinn Olson, Wyatt Kaiser), 8:49 (pp)
2. UMD, Ben Steeves (Olson, Kaiser), 15:46 (pp)
3. UMD, Jesse Jacques (Tanner Laderoute), 16:22 (sh)
Second period
4. SCSU, Jami Krannila (Jack Peart, Josh Luedtke), 2:20 (pp)
5. SCSU, Krannila (Luedtke, Peart), 6:12 (pp)
6. UMD, Owen Gallatin (Isaac Howard), 15:50
Third period
7. SCSU, Ethan AuCoin (Brendan Bushy), 6:15
8. UMD, Howard (Cole Spicer, Gallatin), 8:35
9. UMD, Dominic James, 16:42 (en)
Saves — Dominic Basse, SCSU, 21; Zach Stejskal, UMD, 33.
Power play — SCSU 2-5; UMD 2-3. Penalties — SCSU 4-8; UMD 8-27.