St. Cloud State goalie Ryan Faragher. Photo by Dave Schwarz, dschwarz@stcloudtimes.com
NO. 7/9 ST. CLOUD STATE (16-7-1 WCHA, 19-12-1 OVERALL)
The Huskies are No. 11 in the PairWise Rankings going into Friday’s game with Michigan Tech.
This weekend’s series is on Charter Cable Channel 87 and Comcast Channel 13/23.
Drew LeBlanc has moved into 8th on the school’s Division I career scoring chart with 139 points and is 4th with 100 career assists. LeBlanc will also play in his school record 162nd game tonight.
There has been a change to the lines this week in practice. Freshman Joey Benik has been moved up to the second line with Ben Hanowski and Nic Dowd. Freshman Jimmy Murray has been moved onto the left wing on the line with center Joey Rehkamp and right wing Joey Holka. Senior Taylor Johnson, who was a scratch last Friday, is in the lineup and paired defensively with freshman Ethan Prow.
St. Cloud State split a series last season (5-2 win, 3-2 loss) at Michigan Tech. St. Cloud State is 16-3-1 against Michigan Tech since Bob Motzko took over as coach.
St. Cloud State is looking for its 20th win tonight. It would be the 4th time since Motzko took over in 2005 that the Huskies have won 20 games in a season.
| LW | C | RW |
| 11-Kalle Kossila | 19-Drew LeBlanc | 22-Jonny Brodzinski |
| 10-Ben Hanowski | 26-Nic Dowd | 9-Joey Benik |
| 16-Jimmy Murray | 37-Joey Rehkamp | 17-Joey Holka |
| 27-Nick Oliver | 8-Cory Thorson | 21-Brooks Bertsch |
| LD | RD | Goalies |
| 28-Andrew Prochno | 14-Nick Jensen | 29-Ryan Faragher |
| 7-Kevin Gravel | 40-Tim Daly | 35-Rasmus Reijola |
| 12-Ethan Prow | 4-Taylor Johnson | 33-Joe Phillippi |
MICHIGAN TECH (6-14-4 WCHA, 10-16-4 OVERALL)
Michigan Tech has 3 NHL draft picks dressed tonight: sophomore left wing Blake Pietila (New Jersey), freshman center Jujhar Khaira (Edmonton) and freshman goalie Jamie Phillips (Winnipeg).
Michigan Tech has two players in the lineup from Minnesota: junior left wing Ryan Furne (Oakdale) and freshman defenseman Walker Hyland (Woodbury).
Petan has 3 power-play goals in the last 3 games.
Michigan Tech is 7-for-its-last-20 on the power play and is ranked No. 10 in the nation with the man advantage.
Goalie Pheonix Copley has started 13 straight games and is 6-6-1 with a 2.29 GAA and a .930 save percentage in that stretch.
Sophomore David Johnstone has at least one point in five straight games.
Michigan Tech is 3-8 against nationally ranked teams this season.
Underclassmen are averaging 5.13 points-per-game for Michigan Tech. Freshmen have scored 25 of the team’s 89 goals (28.1 percent).
There are 3 Pietilas in the Michigan Tech lineup. Blake and Chad are brothers; and Aaron is their cousin.
| LW | C | RW |
| 19-Blake Pietila | 10-Tanner Kero | 23-Alex Petan |
| 15-David Johnstone | 7-Jujhar Khaira | 28-Milos Gordic |
| 12-Ryan Furne | 8-Jacob Johnstone | 14-Chad Pietila |
| 18-C.J. Eick | 9-Dennis Rix | 13-Aaron Pietila |
| LD | RD | Goalies |
| 16-Steven Seigo | 34-Riley Sweeney | 31-Pheonix Copley |
| 21-Tommy Brown | 25-Carl Nielson | 30-Jamie Phillips |
| 29-Walker Hyland | 5-Justin Fillion |
SCSU STATISTICAL LEADERS
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | PM | +/- |
| Drew LeBlanc | 32 | 10 | 32 | 42 | 12 | +13 |
| Nic Dowd | 32 | 13 | 19 | 32 | 28 | +7 |
| Kalle Kossila | 30 | 13 | 15 | 28 | 6 | +16 |
| Jonny Brodzinski | 32 | 17 | 10 | 27 | 10 | +25 |
| Nick Jensen | 32 | 3 | 22 | 25 | 12 | +16 |
| Ben Hanowski | 27 | 13 | 10 | 23 | 12 | +4 |
| Andrew Prochno | 31 | 3 | 17 | 20 | 14 | +14 |
| David Morley | 26 | 9 | 7 | 16 | 10 | +3 |
| Cory Thorson | 32 | 9 | 5 | 14 | 6 | -3 |
| Ethan Prow | 30 | 2 | 10 | 12 | 2 | +7 |
| Jimmy Murray | 32 | 3 | 8 | 11 | 14 | +5 |
| Kevin Gravel | 32 | 1 | 8 | 9 | 25 | +3 |
| Goalie | GP | W-L-T | Save% | GAA |
| Ryan Faragher | 30 | 18-10-1 | .915 | 2.25 |
| Rasmus Reijola | 3 | 0-2-0 | .804 | 5.14 |
| Joe Phillippi | 1 | 1-0-0 | .842 | 3.00 |
MICHIGAN TECH STATISTICAL LEADERS
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | PM | +/- |
| Alex Petan | 30 | 13 | 15 | 28 | 6 | +4 |
| David Johnstone | 27 | 8 | 16 | 24 | 30 | +4 |
| Blake Pietila | 28 | 14 | 7 | 21 | 34 | -3 |
| Jujhar Khaira | 30 | 5 | 15 | 20 | 45 | Even |
| Tanner Kero | 26 | 7 | 12 | 19 | 27 | +1 |
| Ryan Furns | 29 | 5 | 11 | 16 | 16 | Even |
| Steven Seigo | 30 | 6 | 7 | 13 | 6 | Even |
| Dennis Rix | 30 | 6 | 4 | 10 | 28 | -7 |
| Milos Gordic | 23 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 8 | -8 |
| Riley Sweeney | 30 | 0 | 10 | 10 | 10 | -6 |
| Malcolm Gould | 26 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 8 | -3 |
| Brad Stebner | 28 | 1 | 8 | 9 | 24 | +1 |
| Goalie | GP | W-L-T | Save% | GAA |
| Pheonix Copley | 20 | 7-12-1 | .905 | 2.98 |
| Kevin Genoe | 11 | 3-3-3 | .902 | 3.28 |
| Jamie Phillips | 6 | 0-1-0 | .877 | 2.87 |
TEAM STATISTICAL COMPARISON
| SCSU | MT | |
| Shots per game | 29.4 | 30.8 |
| Opponent shots per game | 26.1 | 31.7 |
| Goals per game | 3.3 | 3.0 |
| Opponent goals per game | 2.4 | 3.1 |
| Power play % | 17.3 | 21.8 |
| Penalty kill % | 83.1 | 79.2 |
| Short-hand goals for | 2 | 2 |
| Short-hand goals against | 6 | 4 |
| Penalty minutes per game | 8.5 | 12.6 |
| Opponent penalty minutes | 11.9 | 13.3 |
| Faceoffs | 982-923 (.515) | 1,011-998 (.503) |
