Mens College Hockey: Huskies earn 3-3 tie against Wisconsin

St. Cloud, Minn. -The St. Cloud State University men's hockey team (4-4-2, 2-1-1 WCHA) maintained a four-game unbeaten streak against the University of Wisconsin (4-5-1, 3-4-1 WCHA) with a thrilling 3-3 overtime tie on Saturday at the National Hockey Center.

The Huskies gained a 3-1 lead at :31 of the third period and then held on to gain the WCHA point with strong goaltender work by rookie netminder Ryan Faragher (Fort Frances, Ont.), who earlier in the week had gained WCHA Rookie of the Week honors.

Faragher made 14 saves in the third period as UW outshot the Huskies 16-5 down the stretch. Wisconsin salvaged the tie with a goal at 19:20 on the power play with an extra attacker on the ice when Justin Schultz scored with assists from Mark Zengerle and Tyler Barnes.

Schultz opened the Wisconsin offense at 13:49 of the first period with a goal as assists were provided by Matt Paape and Michael Mersch.

The Huskies replied quickly as freshman defender Andrew Prochno scored at 14:54 of the first period. Senior forward Travis Novak (Lethbridge, Alberta) and sophomore forward Cory Thorson (Crystal) had assists on the play.

This was Prochno's third goal of the season, while Novak and Thorson both have three assists on the year. Of note, Prochno has goals in last two games for the Huskies, while Thorson brings a two-game point streak into SCSU's series at Minnesota State next weekend.

The Huskies pushed their lead to 2-1 with an even strength goal by senior forward Jared Festler (Little Falls) at 13:45 of the second. Sophomore forward Cam Reid (Delta, B.C.) had the solo assist on the goal. This was Festler's fifth goal of the 2011-12 campaign.

In the closing seconds of the second period, play was halted due to an injury to senior forward Drew LeBlanc (Hermantown). Due to the length of time required to take LeBlanc off the ice to receive care, the period was halted with :29 left on the clock. Both teams went to the locker room for an early period break.

After the break, play was resumed to complete the second period. Both teams then switched ends to begin the third period after the final seconds of the second period had expired and play resumed in the third.

The Huskies then made it 3-1 at :31 of the third when junior forward Ben Hanowski (Little Falls) scored his team leading sixth goal of the season. Sophomore forward David Eddy (Woodbury) continued his big weekend with a picture-perfect set-up pass to earn the first assist. Sophomore defender Nick Jensen (Rogers) provided the second assist on the play.

Wisconsin then took advantage of a power play opportunity at 15:41 of the third when Paape scored to make it 3-2 with assists from Brendan Woods and Joe LaBate. UW then tied it with Schultz' late goal.

In the OT session, SCSU carded three shots on goal but was unable to break the deadlock. Wisconsin had no shots on goal in the OT session.

On the night, UW outshot the Huskies 36-27 as Faragher ended the day with 33 saves. He record in 2011-12 now stands at 2-2-1. Joel Rumpel had 24 saves for the Badgers. On the power play UW was 2-6 and SCSU was 0-2.

The Huskies will resume play in the WCHA with a two-game series at Minnesota State on Nov. 11 (7:37 p.m.) and Nov. 12 (7:07 p.m.). Fans can listen to both games live on KNSI AM 1450 (www.1450knsi.com) and KVSC FM 88.1 (www.kvsc.org).

Courtesy:Tom Nelson/St. Cloud State University