Ryan Poehling's breakaway goal helps SCSU clinch NCHC's Penrose Cup

Ryan Poehling has had a number of breakaways during the season for the St. Cloud State men's hockey team. By the sophomore from Lakeville's count, he had scored on just one going into Saturday's game.

But he scored on a breakaway for the game-winning goal at 12:25 of the third period to help the top-ranked Huskies to a 4-2 win over Denver before a roaring crowd at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center.

Big goal? Ah, yeah. The win clinched the Penrose Cup, the trophy for the NCHC regular season championship, for St. Cloud State.

St. Cloud State junior defenseman Jimmy Schuldt blocked a shot and got it ahead to Poehling, who raced in and scored a goal on Denver's Tanner Jaillet.

"All the credit to Jim because he made a great defensive play," Poehling said of the captain, who assisted on his ninth goal of the season. "He's been playing hard the entire year and especially this weekend.

"For him to block this shot and give me the opportunity to get the breakaway ... It was good for me to finally get one in the back of the net. Everyone was giving me crap. I've had like 18 breakaways and that was only like the second one that I got to the back of the net ... but it was a big one."

Poehling said he decided to change his approach on the breakaway as it was happening.

"I was going to shoot, but (Jaillet) was pretty far out" of the net, Poehling said. "I ended up trying to freeze him a little bit and I got it over his glove."

Junior defenseman Jon Lizotte was not surprised by the move.

"Not going to lie: He works on a move just like he scored on" in practice, Lizotte said. "He finally fulfilled it in a game, and I think he's got a little more confidence in it and can score a lot more breakaway goals."

Poehling seemed to have another gear to his skating all weekend. He was flying all weekend and had three shots and was a plus-2 Saturday. That plus-2 is saying something because St. Cloud State coach Bob Motzko had Poehling's line matched up against the line of Henrik Borgstrom centering wings Jarid Lukosevicius and Troy Terry.

Borgstrom, a first round draft pick of the Florida Panthers, was held to two assists and three shots on the weekend and was a minus-2 Saturday.

"Ryan was great all weekend, and I had them matched up all weekend (defensively) and I messed up," Motzko said. "The one line change that I didn't have them out on the ice against Borgstrom and Terry, that's when they scored the goal. That was my fault.

"Then they put all three of them together."

"All three" means that Borgstrom and Terry, an Anaheim Ducks draft pick and Dylan Gambrell, a San Jose Sharks draft pick, were all on the ice. For a stretch of about 5 minutes after Poehling scored, it felt like the big three did not leave the ice for the Pioneers.

The Huskies took a time out with 2:55 left and a faceoff in the St. Cloud State zone. After the time out, Denver coach Jim Montgomery pulled Jaillet for an extra attacker.

Then Lizotte, a junior from Grand Forks, North Dakota, sealed the game with an empty-net goal with 40 seconds left.

"There was a battle in the corner and a couple of scrums and it popped onto my stick and I had some open ice," Lizotte said. "Coach always says, 'If you can finish it, finish it.' I thought I could and thankfully it went in."

The roar from the home crowd after Lizotte's goal was loud, and the staff and players on the St. Cloud State bench went nuts after he scored. They knew that had clinched a win against the defending NCHC and NCAA Division I champions.

"It was a heck of a hockey game that both teams treated us to and they layed it on the line," Motzko said. "That's a championship team over there and we had to bounce back and learn how to win a big game like this.

"I'm proud of our guys. After getting rocked in the first, they bounced back ... But we've got bigger things we want a crack at."

This is the opinion of Mick Hatten. Follow @mickhatten on Twitter, Instagram @MickHatten and at Facebook.com/sctimesmick. Contact him at 259-3621 or mhatten@stcloudtimes.com.

SCSU 4, DENVER 2

First period scoring:

1. SCSU — Robby Jackson 15 (Judd Peterson) 14:43 (sh).

Jackson stole a pass in the high slot of the SCSU zone from Troy Terry to start a 2-on-1. Jackson passed it to Peterson, who got a backhand shot on that Tanner Jaillet stopped. But Jackson slid in the rebound for a 1-0 SCSU lead.

2. D — Jarid Lukosevicius 15 (Henrik Borgstrom, Dylan Gambrell) 16:13.

Shortly after SCSU killed a penalty, Denver had great puck movement and strung together several passes to get the goal. Gambrell was on the right side of the net and got it across teh slot to Borgstrom at the other side of the net and he got it out front to Lukosevicius, who banged in a shot to tie the game at 1.

Penalties: D — Lukosevicius (slashing) 9:52; SCSU — Mikey Eyssimont (cross-checking) 14:06; D — Logan O'Connor (roughing) 17:54; SCSU — Jack Ahcan (roughing) 17:54.

Second period scoring:

3. SCSU — Jacob Benson 7 (Jimmy Schuldt, Jon Lizotte) 2:34.

Schuldt got the puck to Benson, who caught the pass near the boards and the top of the left wing faceoff circle in the SCSU zone. Benson raced up the side and cut to the middle and shot it past Jaillet from the faceoff dot to the right of him to give SCSU a 2-1 lead.

Penalties: D — Plant (elbowing) 6:42; D — Tariq Hammond (slashing) 11:24; SCSU — Jack Ahcan (interference) 16:09.

Third period scoring:

4. D — Blake Hillman 3 (unassisted) 5:30.

Hillman intercepted a clearing attempt by Jack Ahcan, skated in from the blue line and scored on a wrist shot from the slot that beat Hrenak on the glove side to tie the game at 2.

5. SCSU — Ryan Poehling 9 (Schuldt) 12:25.

Schuldt blocked a shot and got the puck ahead down the middle of the ice to Poehling, who went in and scored on a breakaway to give the Huskies a 3-2 lead.

6. SCSU — Jon Lizotte 4 (Mikey Eyssimont) 19:20 (en).

Denver pulled Jaillet for an extra attacker after SCSU took a time out with 2:55 left. Eyssimont was able to get the puck in the middle of the SCSU zone and he skated to near center ice and shot it into the empty net for a 4-2 lead.

Penalties: D — Plant (interference) 8:00.

Shots on goal: D — 12-9-6—27; SCSU — 9-9-15—33. Goaltenders: D — Tanner Jaillet (29 saves); SCSU — David Hrenak (25 saves). Power-play goals, opportunities: D — 0-for-2 (2 shots); SCSU — 0-for-4 (6 shots). Penalties: D — 5 for 10 minutes; SCSU — 3 for 6 minutes. Faceoffs: SCSU 32-22. Referees: Tom Sterns and Brad Shepherd. Linesmen: Brandon Schmitt and Elliott Bucholz. Marty Sundvall Memorial Three Stars of the Game sponsored by St. Cloud Times: 1. R. Poehling (SCSU), 2. Schuldt (SCSU), 3. Benson (SCSU). Attendance: 4,643.