Article Written by Brooklyn Purowit

With their wins in the best of three series against the University of Minnesota-Duluth, the men’s hockey team is headed to St. Paul, MN, to take part in the annual Frozen Faceoff. The Frozen Faceoff takes place at the Xcel Energy Center, where the four teams who came out on top in the first round of the NCHC playoffs will compete.

This year, seventh ranked Colorado College upset second-ranked Western Michigan who allowed three goals in just one minute to clinch their spot at the Frozen Faceoff. Along with the CC Tigers, Denver swept Miami Ohio. Along with SCSU and UMD, the University of North Dakota and Nebraska-Omaha series also required three games, however, the Fighting Hawks came out stronger.

So, we will see top ranked Denver, followed by fourth ranked St. Cloud State, sixth ranked North Dakota, and seventh ranked Colorado College competing at the X this weekend. For the first matchup on Friday, it will be an interstate battle between the CC Tigers and DU Pioneers with gametime at 4:00pm. At 7:30, longtime rivals UND and SCSU will compete for the fifth time this season with the competition level at an all-time high. 

On Saturday, there will only be one game as the winners from both of Friday’s matchups will face off to determine who the king of the NCHC is and will get an automatic bid into the NCAA Regional Tournament. Puckdrop is set for 6:00pm for the championship game. 

Looking at the Huskies versus North Dakota, the teams last met in Grand Forks February 17th and 18th where the Huskies lost in OT on Friday but picked up the extra conference point with Grant Cruikshank scoring in the shootout. 

Last time the teams met at the Brooks Center, SCSU swept the Fighting Hawks by scoring six unanswered goals twice as Zach Okabe would complete the natty hatty in game two.

 

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