ST. CLOUD — In each of Tyson Gross’ first two seasons playing for the St. Cloud State men’s hockey team, the Huskies have failed to make the NCAA Division I tournament.
Gross said
are determined to change that this season.
“We want to make it back into the tournament,”
said Gross, a junior center from Calgary.
“That’s one of the big goals. We’re getting better every single day and having a short-term memory.”
The Huskies finished eighth out of nine teams in the NCHC and with a 14-21-1 overall record.
Brett Larson is beginning his eighth season as the Huskies’ head coach and knows that the team’s top priority is to reach the national tournament again.
“This camp has been really good,” Larson said at NCHC Media Day. “We’ve got a really hungry team right now. Last year, as everybody knows, didn’t go our way. We had a pretty good start, but we weren’t scoring enough.
“We were relying on (goalie) Isak Posch to win a lot of games.
it was tough for us. He got back at the end of the year and won us some big games and we looked like ourselves again. That created a really hungry group that wants to respond and put this program back where it belongs.”
The Huskies begin their quest to get back to the national tournament this weekend. SCSU plays host to Augustana for an exhibition game at 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 3 at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center.
St. Cloud State forward Tyson Gross (13) celebrates after scoring a goal in the second period against Nebraska-Omaha Friday, Dec. 6, 2024, at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud.
Contributed / Elizabeth Hennen
Then the Huskies open the regular season against 19th-ranked St. Thomas at 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4, at the Brooks Center. Both games will be televised on the The Twin Cities CW.
The Huskies tied for 55th in NCAA Division I in goals-per-game last season (2.2) and the power play tied for 47th (16.8%) last season. Both of those numbers were the worst for the Huskies since Larson took over.
To help put those numbers in perspective, in 2023-24, the SCSU averaged 3.2 gpg and converted on 24.2% of its power plays.
The good news is that all of the team’s top eight players in points and 82.7% of its overall scoring from last season returns.
The Huskies are also excited about a freshman class that includes forwards
and
Roed, a seventh-round draft pick of the Colorado Avalanche,
tied for eighth in the USHL in goals (27) and was seventh in points (60) in 61 games last season for the Tri-City Storm. Urness had 18 goals and 50 points in 55 regular season games for the Sioux Falls Stampede.
“We’ve got guys coming in that you’re not just going to put in on the third and fourth line,” Larson said. “You’ve got guys who can challenge for the top nine right away.
“To be honest with you, we didn’t score enough last year. We didn’t get enough offensive punch from our blue line. We didn’t do it up front. There’s no doubt that the guys are going to get opportunities to prove they can create offense this year. We are trying some different combinations throughout the preseason.”
SeasonGPG (NCAA rank)PP% (Rank)2018-194.0 (2nd)23.8 (7th)2019-202.8 (26th)18.1 (33rd)2020-213.3 (14th)21.9 (16th)2021-223.6 (4th)31.0 (1st)2022-233.2 (14th)25.5 (5th)2023-243.2 (15th)24.2 (12th)2024-252.2 (55th)16.8 (47th)
The Huskies have also added two transfer defensemen that they think have offensive upside in senior
and sophomore
“We think we’re four lines deep and that we’re going to have tough decisions on the last forwards to go into the lineup,” Larson said. “We think the same thing about our ‘D’ core. We’ve really stressed our team game. Part of our process is really working from our end out. We think we can get the puck out of our end quick and defend well. If we can do that early, it will take a little bit of pressure off our goaltending and let that goaltending slowly develop and grow and turn into the goalies we think they can be.”
St. Cloud State goaltender James Gray (33) skates onto the ice during introductions against North Dakota Friday, Jan. 31, 2025 at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud.
Jason Wachter / St. Cloud LIVE
The Huskies got off to a 9-4 start last season thanks, in large part, to the play of Posch, who was a freshman from Sweden. But on Dec. 6, Posch suffered a foot injury in his home and did not play again until Feb. 8.
The Huskies went 2-11-1 without Posch,
which included an 0-8-1 stretch. Posch finished the season with the Huskies,
but signed a pro contract with the Colorado Avalanche
after the season was over.
SCSU has redshirt junior Jimmy Gray back,
but Gray has been a backup his whole career and has played in seven career games.
SCSU picked up
Patriks Berzins out of the transfer portal
and Yan Shostak is a freshman. The three goalies will battle it out to see who earns the starting spot.
Berzins (Talsi, Latvia) played in two games last season for Maine. Shostak (Minsk, Belarus) was the USHL Goaltender of the Year last season for the Lincoln Stars.
“I think they’re pretty similar type of goalies,” Gross said. “Sometimes, I get them mixed up a little bit with them because they both have blue helmets. They’ve both been great. Jimmy has been here a while and has always been solid. I think everyone is going to get their chance this year.”
Larson said that he is excited about his goaltending.
“We’ve got some really good competition and guys with good pedigrees,” Larson said. “I think that puts us in a spot where guys are going to push each other and somebody’s going to emerge.”
Boston College’s Mike Post (12) drives the puck toward the net as St. Cloud State’s Cooper Wylie (26) defends during the first period Friday, Nov. 1, 2024 at Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud. K
Kimm Anderson / For St. Cloud LIVE
The Huskies have nine defensemen on their roster.
The returners include seniors
and
junior Kaleb Tiessen and
The freshmen are
and
Tanner Henricks (Mission Viejo, California)
to go along with Loftus and Smolinski.
Henricks is a fourth-round draft pick of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
“I think we have high expectations for this group,” Henricks said. “I think we have a great group and I’m really looking forward to see what we can do. I have really high expectations.”
Larson said that his freshman class is underrated by many media members.
“We’ve injected a really great freshman class, I think one of the best in the country,” Larson said. “It’s funny that you see these class ratings and we never finish anywhere in them. But I’ll take the top goalie in the USHL with some of the top forwards in the league and one of the best defenseman in the USHL. I think we’ve got some really good pieces and we’re excited about this class.”
Larson said that he and the coaching staff have a strong belief that the Huskies can get back to the NCAA tournament after winning the NCHC Frozen Faceoff and winning 25 games in 2022-23.
“I think it starts with a staff that believes in the group we have,” Larson said. “Fans may look at it and say, ‘Wait a minute, you just had a tough year with the wins and losses, especially in the second half.’ When we looked at our group … we liked what we had and we liked what we we’re bringing in. We liked the kids that we recruited and we believe they are the right kids for our program. For us, there is a lot of belief that we had the right group and we wanted to stick with it.”
Gross is one of three captains on the team along with
and Wylie. Gross has liked what he has seen out of his team in the preseason.
“Some young new faces and some guys who are going to be taking on bigger roles this year,” Gross said of his team. “I think it’s exciting. There’s a lot of new guys that have worked hard in the offseason to bring this program back to a high-scoring offense. That’s our goal. Last year, we struggled a little bit offensively. These new guys are all fast, super-skilled players.
“I think we’ll be scoring a lot more goals.”