Men's Ice Hockey

#1 vs. #2, Minnesota State hosts SCSU this weekend

Video Stream: FloSports
TV: Charter/Spectrum 191 & 826 (Minn.)
Radio: 1420 AM KTOE
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Week two of the NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey season will see a battle of the top-two nationally ranked teams face-off in Mankato, Minn.

For the first time in the new CCHA era, a CCHA member is atop the national rankings in just the second week, as Minnesota State was voted number one in the United States College Hockey Online (USCHO) poll. The Mavericks will host last season’s National Championship Finalists and second-ranked St. Cloud State for a pair of games at the Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center this weekend. Both games will be streamed live on FloSports here.  

St. Cloud State is one of Minnesota State's oldest, most-played opponents. The Mavericks first met the Huskies in the first year of the program (1969-70) and own an all-time record of 63-57-13 vs. SCSU.  The last time the two teams met was last year in a NCAA national tournament semi-final contest in which the Huskies claimed a 5-4 win.

Last weekend, Minnesota State swept the defending NCAA Division I National Champions and number-one ranked Massachusetts Minutemen. Minnesota State shutout the Minutemen on Saturday’s opening night before scoring six-unanswered goals to earn 6-3 victory on Sunday.

The Mavericks had two players earn CCHA Weekly Awards this week as Nathan Smith was voted as the CCHA Player of the Week after tallying five points last weekend and Dryden McKay was voted as the CCHA Goaltender of the Week after recording a shutout on Saturday, pulling him within one of the NCAA record of 26 by Michigan State's Ryan Miller (1999-02).

The St. Cloud State Huskies earned a victory over CCHA member St. Thomas on opening night last Saturday. St. Thomas' Christiano Versich scored the first-ever NCAA Division I goal for the Tommies. Then, St. Cloud was victorious over the Tommies in a neutral site game at the Xcel Energy Center, home of the NHL’s Minnesota Wild, on Sunday. 

Stay tuned to ccha.com for a complete weekend preview posted on Friday.