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St. Cloud State University
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Sports
Men split with hapless Tech
By Bobby Hart
Published:
Monday, February 3, 2003
Jake Moreland
Joe Motzko
The SCSU men's hockey team found themselves added to Michigan Tech's list of victims over the weekend, as they were upset Friday night 4-3 in overtime, but bounced back on Saturday night with a 4-2 victory.
Denver, Minnesota and Colorado College were all teams that the Tech Huskies had tied this season. But now, SCSU is the only WCHA team, besides Alaska-Anchorage, that has lost to them. It marked the first defeat for SCSU in the last 10 meetings against a Michigan Tech team that now has 13 points in the eighth spot of the league standings.
The weekend wasn't all in vain though, as the Huskies witnessed senior Joe Motzko break out of his scoring slump, which has plagued him since Dec. 7. The first line forward racked up five points over the weekend, four of those coming in Saturday night's win, which tied a career high.
Motzko's only point Friday was the first goal of the game coming off a rebound 8:34 into the first period on a power play. MTU's Jon Pittis answered back later in the period with a long slap shot past Jake Moreland's glove, tying the game at one apiece.
Soon after, the Huskies killed off an MTU power play in the second period when Colin Murphy made it 2-1 at the 8:47 mark About four minutes later, Tech would take advantage of Husky defenseman Colin Peters' penalty, when Josh Singer scored 14 seconds before SCSU would be at full strength. Houghton, Mich., native Jeff Finger would then start the comeback for the Huskies when he cleaned up a Jon Cullen shot, giving the senior forward his 100th career point. Jonathan Lehun tied it midway through the third.
In overtime, MTU's Clay Wilson stole the puck from SCSU's Tim Conboy in the Husky zone, and scored on a backhand game-winner past Moreland. Tech goalie Cam Ellsworth was simply too much for the Huskies as he finished with 32 saves. The fact that SCSU was outshot 4-1 in overtime didn't help either.
Although the Huskies put in the work, the turnovers were too much to overcome in the end.
"We worked really hard in our offensive zone, but we made about five mistakes that cost us the game," Lehun said.
"The work ethic was there for us tonight, but we didn't play smart and turned the puck over." Motzko said.
The Huskies would learn from their mistakes and play their kind of hockey on Saturday to earn the 4-2 win.
Joe Motzko, who accounted for four points on the night, started it off for the Huskies late in the first period when he found Matt Gens to put the Huskies up 1-0. Two minutes later Colin Murphy tied the game, but Motzko led a three-goal barrage in the first eight minutes of the second period to bury Tech.
First, Motzko scored a power play goal assisted by Matt Hendricks, Joe Jensen tipped in a slap shot by the senior and then Motzko found Cullen for a power play goal.
"I was just basically getting more chances," Motzko said. "I had the same work ethic this whole time, but the last couple of nights guys found me open in the right spots. My teammates also seemed to be open when I had the puck."
The Huskies dominated the second period, outshooting MTU 23-5. SCSU goaltender Jake Moreland had another nice game with 29 saves. Ellsworth's 52-save performance couldn't be ignored either.
"He was amazing both nights," Lehun said. "He's a great goalie. He was always squared to the shooter. The only shots he didn't save were the one's that he couldn't see."
Friday's loss could prove to be costly. It dropped the Huskies to a .500 record (fifth place in the WCHA), and into a tie at No. 8 in the Pairwise Rankings, which reflect the NCAA Tournament field. The next eight games in the season will be crucial for SCSU, who holds onto the last home ice spot, barely ahead of Denver and Duluth.
The Huskies will have to sit back and watch the WCHA playoff race next weekend, and will return to action with a home series against Colorado College on Feb. 14 and 15.
"The weekend off could be a good thing, especially after those two losses in a row to Duluth and Tech. It'll give us a chance to clear our heads," Lehun said. "It also gives us a chance to heal up (Ryan) Malone and (Ryan) LaMere. So when we come back against CC, we'll hopefully have our full lineup."
