Lines, updated statistics, some quotes going into Saturday’s WCHA men’s game between SCSU and Bemidji State

St. Cloud State’s Andrew Prochno (28) goes after the puck after checking Bemidji State’s Jeff Jubinville on Friday at the Sanford Center in Bemidji. Photo by Jack Hittinger, Bemidji Pioneer

NO. 12/13 ST. CLOUD STATE (13-5-1 WCHA, 16-10-1 OVERALL)

The Huskies are No. 8 in the PairWise Rankings going into Saturday’s game with Bemidji State. St. Cloud State is 7-0-1 in its last 7 WCHA games and is one point ahead of Minnesota and Nebraska-Omaha for the conference lead in the standings.

The Huskies were happy with Friday’s road win, but they did not play a perfect game, particularly after the first period.

“We got a lead (3-0 in the first period), which is critical on the road, we got good goaltending and then we got a little sloppy,” Huskies coach Bob Motzko said. “We had too many turnovers. We kind of stopped making plays. It got ugly out there. The last half of that game is as ugly as hockey can be played.”

St. Cloud State was 0-for-4 on the power play with seven shots.

“We had some good looks on our first power play, but they made some adjustments and we didn’t answer,” Motzko said. “When you’re on the road, you rarely win games when you’re power play goes 0-for.”

The Huskies, though, did not get called for a penalty after taking some bad penalties in the series last weekend at North Dakota. Motzko wants to see more of that from his team tonight.

He also wants to see his team attack more in the offensive zone against the Beavers.

“We stopped forechecking,” Motzko said of his team in the second and third periods Friday. “You can’t forecheck them when they have the puck because they’re just going to slap it out. But there were a lot of times where we could have (forechecked). We were having a tough time distinguishing when to forecheck and when to get out of there. When you play against that style, it’s to learn how to (forecheck against it). We’ll watch film (Friday nght) and hopefully, we can put on some more pressure. We need to put more pressure on the offensive zone.

“We have to stay out of the penalty box and not give them chances on the power play. Two, we’ve got to establish more pressure. That gets you more into the flow of the game, gets your guys going. We’ve got to come more prepared to put pressure on them.”

The lone change for the Huskies is on the fourth line. Sophomore Joey Holka, who was a scratch Friday, replaces sophomore Garrett Milan as a wing.

BEMIDJI STATE (4-11-4 WCHA, 5-15-5 OVERALL)

Bemidji State is 0-7-2 in its last 9 games and been shut out in 3 of its last 7 games.  

The Beavers’ defensive pairings are all the same as last night. In goal, Mathieu Dugas, who came on in relief of Andrew Walsh on Friday, starts.

The Beavers’ fourth line stays the same. The other three lines have changes. Center Jeff Jubinville and right wing David Boehm stay together on a line, but Brance Orban moves up from the third line right wing to left wing on the top line. Center Cory Ward and right wing Brad Robbins stay together on the third line, but Radoslav Illo is the left wing. Illo replaces Ben Kinne on that line. Kinne moves onto the right wing on a line with center Aaron McLeod and left wing Jordan George. All three of those players were on different lines Friday. But no players who were dressed Friday are scratches tonight.

BEMIDJI STATE STATISTICAL LEADERS