St. Cloud State tops Miami, advances to Frozen Four

3/31/2013
BLADE STAFF
  • Frozen-Four-3-31


    • St. Cloud State defeated Miami 4-1 to capture the NCAA Midwest Regional hockey title today at the Huntington Center.

    Freshman Joey Benik scored two goals to lead St. Cloud State to a berth in the Frozen Four on April 11 in Pittsburgh. Benik, who also scored two goals in the Huskies' 5-1 upset of Notre Dame in the semifinals on Saturday, tallied the first two goals today.

    St. Cloud, which entered the regionals as the fourth seed, also got two goals from Cory Thorson. Sophomore goalie Ryan Faragher finished with 20 saves for the Huskies (25-15-1).

    Miami freshman goalie Ryan McKay had a strong game in net, finishing with 17 saves. Miami sophomore Blake Coleman scored the lone goal for the RedHawks (25-12-5), which were the No. 2 seed.

    After Benik scored his second goal to give St. Cloud a 2-0 lead early in the second, Miami cut it to a one-goal edge. But just 2 minutes, 22 seconds later, the Huskies went up 3-1 midway through the second period. The Huskies added an empty net goal with less than a second remaining as Thorson scored his second.

    This will be St. Cloud's first trip to the Frozen Four. The Huskies reached the final four of the Division II tournament in 1987.

    Miami was ranked No. 5 in the country, while St. Cloud was 11th.