Box Score
ST. CLOUD, Minn. (12/9/06) – St. Cloud State senior forward Dan Kronick scored 16 seconds into the third period and added an empty-netter with 26 seconds left to lift the No. 8/8 Huskies to a 3-1 win and the weekend sweep of visiting Colgate on Saturday, Dec. 9, at the National Hockey Center. With the win, SCSU (10-3-3) set a school record after going unbeaten in 11 straight games. The Raiders break for exams and the holidays with a 7-10-2 overall mark.
Minnesota native
Justin Kowalkoski, whose hometown of Young America is just 90 minutes from St. Cloud, earned his first start of the season. He finished the game with 26 saves, but his counterpart, St. Cloud senior All-American Bobby Goepfert, earned the win with 31 stops.
For the second straight game, St. Cloud scored first with 5:02 to play in the opening period. Freshman Andreas Nodl got the puck from senior captain Casey Borer and skated it behind the net to the left side. He passed it to Andrew Gordon at the top of the slot. Gordon settled it, then ripped it over Kowalkoski’s left shoulder.
The Raiders evened the score at the 9:30 mark of the second period. Senior
Marc Fulton (Vancouver, B.C.) carried the puck into the zone, and passed it off to freshman
Jason Williams (Plattsburgh, N.Y.). Williams played give-and-go with junior assistant captain
Tyler Burton (Langley, B.C.), and tried to set him up for a shot from low in the left circle. However, the puck went through Burton’s legs and came out to sophomore
David Sloane (Ambler, Pa.), who was skating in on the right side. Sloane ripped the puck top-shelf for his fourth goal of the year.
SCSU got the go-ahead goal just 16 seconds into the third period. Off the faceoff at center ice, senior defensemen Grant Clafton and Justin Fletcher ushered the puck into the zone. Clafton gave it to senior Dan Kronick, who wheeled around between the circles before floating a shot through traffic over Kowalkoski’s glove. Kronick added the empty-net goal with 26.7 seconds left to seal the win.
Colgate will play its next game in 20 days, after it breaks for final exams and the holidays. The Raiders will face another set of Huskies in Northeastern in the first game of the Toyota UConn Classic on Friday, Dec. 29 at 4:00 p.m. Colgate will play either the host UConn Huskies or Holy Cross on Saturday.
