How have St. Cloud State men's hockey players fared in shootouts?

ST. CLOUD — A big shift in college hockey was established prior to last season, with a standard three-on-three overtime period being implemented following regulation.

Shootouts were also changed to three-man shootouts, a change from the National Collegiate Hockey Conference's previous sudden-death rule.

And while St. Cloud State went to overtime five times in the regular season last year, none made it to a shootout.

The Huskies have now gone to a shootout four times in the last nine games, all occurring in the last month. St. Cloud State has come up short in three of the four shootouts, with an extra conference point on the line for the winner.

"It's not always your best goal scorers are the best in shootouts, it doesn't always translate, but for us it is," St. Cloud State head coach Brett Larson said. "You're usually looking to those guys that can finish and score; lean on them to get it done for you."

More: St. Cloud State hockey ties 1-1 with UMD, loses in shootout

The Huskies have opted for the same four forwards to shoot: graduate student Kevin Fitzgerald, fifth-year senior Easton Brodzinski, junior Jami Krannila and sophomore Veeti Miettinen.

Fitzgerald (2-4) is the only player with more than one successful attempt, followed by Krannila (1-3), Brodzinski (1-4) and Miettinen (1-4). Brodzinski was the only successful shooter on Tuesday night, while Krannila wasn't eligible to participate after getting a penalty with seven seconds remaining in overtime.

That puts them at a 5-15 mark this year, converting at only a 33 percent clip. They've gotten better results from goalie David Hrenak, who has stopped exactly half of the 14 attempts he's faced in shootouts for a 50 percent rate.

The only other attempts from active SCSU players came in 2019-20 during the sudden-death era. Senior Nolan Walker was denied on his only attempt and Brodzinski was successful on his lone shot, while Hreank saved once and allowed a score once to maintain his career 50 percent rate.

"You work on it every Thursday at the end of practice; you're watching to see who's hot," Larson said. "It's one of those deals where you gotta be ready, you gotta practice it every week and you need to take advantage of it."

Penalty shots

Tuesday's 1-1 tie with Minnesota-Duluth was also unique because it included a rare penalty shot from Krannila with 24 seconds remaining in the first period. UMD goalie Ryan Fanti denied Krannila on the attempt, one of the 46 saves he made on Tuesday evening.

Krannila was the player who ended a nearly 30-year streak last March in an NCAA tournament game against Boston, scoring the first successful penalty shot for SCSU since Tony Gruba in 1992.

Brodzinski scored a penalty shot last month at home against Miami, while the only other active SCSU player with an attempt in their career is Walker. He was denied on an attempt at Miami on Dec. 7, 2019.

Hrenak saved a penalty shot against Miami on Feb. 10, 2018. The only other penalty shot he's faced in his 142 career games was against North Dakota on Dec. 12, 2020. UND's Grant Mismash scored the penalty shot with only 2:30 remaining in the final period of a 5-3 SCSU win.

North Dakota scored another penalty shot on the Huskies this season, with Ashton Calder beating SCSU backup goalie Jaxon Castor in the final period of a 7-1 win.

Next up: Colorado College

St. Cloud State will play their final home games of the regular season on Friday and Saturday against Colorado College.

SCSU last played the Tigers on the road in November, winning 3-2 (OT) and 4-1 to extend their win streak against Colorado College to five games.

"It was two tough games out there," Larson said. "They're an improved hockey team: you can see it in their record. They're in a lot of tight games ... there's no way that we're taking anything for granted this weekend. We're gonna have to be just as hungry and play just as hard as we did against Duluth because (CC) is definitely a team that's on the upswing."

The Huskies are currently 10th in the all-important Pairwise Rankings, which give the best indication to where a team stands heading into the NCAA tournament selection process. A strong weekend against 41st-ranked Colorado College would set SCSU up nicely to head into their final week of the regular season in Duluth next weekend.

Zach Dwyer is a sports reporter and photographer for the St. Cloud Times. Reach him at 320-406-5660 or zdwyer@stcloudtimes.com. Follow him on Twitter @sctimeszach.

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This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: How have SCSU men's hockey players fared in shootouts?