Start strong, and finish what you start.
No. 7 St. Cloud State didn’t start or finish strong Friday night, but thanks to Jonny Brodzinski’s second career hat trick and an improved team effort throughout 60 minutes tonight, the Huskies managed a split with the No. 6 Colgate Raiders.
Brodzinski scored twice in the first period, added one in the third for a natural hat trick, and Charlie Lindgren made 23 saves to help the Huskies to a 3-1 win Saturday night at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center.
“I expected them to do it,” said Colgate coach Don Vaughan, referring to St. Cloud’s quick start.
SCSU came out much more aggressively, which is exactly what Huskies coach Bob Motzko wanted after seeing Colgate do it Friday night to throw the Huskies off balance.
“Our guys responded tonight,” Motzko said.
“Tonight, we just came with a different attitude,” Brodzinski added.
A little over eight minutes into the game, Jimmy Murray carried the puck into the Colgate zone and sent a nice long pass just in front of the goalie crease across to Brodzinski, who put it away past Raiders goaltender Charlie Finn to give SCSU a 1-0 lead and get the crowd of 4,068 energized.
The troubles for the Raiders were just beginning at that point. Colgate was called for three penalties in the first period, and Brodzinski made them pay on the third with his second goal at the 17:43 mark.
“Taking three penalties certainly didn’t help the cause on our part,” Vaughan said.
Overall, the Raiders were penalized six times in the game for a total of 11 in the series. That won’t win you many games.
“We’ve gotta be a little more disciplined,” said Finn, who made 22 saves.
After a scoreless second period, Brodzinski capped his night by getting his hat trick with about five minutes left in the game. The referees initially signaled no goal, but the play was reviewed and the crowd donated their caps to honor Jonny’s second career hat trick. His first came on March 7 of last season when he helped the Huskies sweep Colorado College and win the NCHC’s inaugural regular season championship.
“That’s what goal scorers do,” Motzko said. “They need to put a few in the net to get it going.”
Needless to say, Don Vaughan was impressed with Brodzinski’s effort.
“[Brodzinski]’s a horse,” Vaughan said. “He’s a heck of a player.”
Colgate broke the shutout with just under three minutes left when Tyson Spink scored a power-play goal.
The Raiders didn’t have nearly as good a forecheck as they did Friday night, and therefore it resulted in fewer scoring chances. They still managed to fire 24 shots at Lindgren.
“It was a hard-fought win tonight,” Lindgren said.
The Raiders were disappointed not to get the sweep, but they’ll take the positives out of splitting this series with the Huskies in a tough environment.
“Sometimes, bounces go our way; sometimes, they don’t,” said Finn. “We showed spurts of what we’re capable of. We really just have to focus on not losing our composure.”
The Huskies are equally satisfied with the split.
“They’re a very good team,” Brodzinski said of Colgate. “It was a top-10 battle.”
St. Cloud State will be off next weekend before traveling to New York to take on the defending national champion Union Dutchmen on October 24-25, while Colgate will host Northeastern next weekend.
