Easton Brodzinski's two goals spark St. Cloud State past Boston University

ALBANY, N.Y. – Thirty-two seconds after Boston University had tied the score in the second period, Easton Brodzinski put St. Cloud State ahead to stay in the Huskies' 6-2 victory over the Terriers on Saturday afternoon at the Times Union Center in the first semifinal in the Northeast Regional.

St. Cloud State will play Boston College, the No. 1 seed in the regional, at 4:30 p.m. Sunday (ESPN2) for a berth in the Frozen Four from April 8-10 at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh. BC did not play a semifinal game because Notre Dame pulled out of the NCAA tournament because of COVID-19 issues.

Brodzinski's 12th goal of the season made it 3-2 St. Cloud State (18-10) with four minutes left in the middle period. The Huskies added three more unanswered goals in the third. Jami Kannila scored unassisted at 4:17, Brodzinski, a forward from Blaine, got his second goal of the game at 10:04 and Veeti Miettinen capped the scoring at 15:02.

Despite how it finished, the game began a bit shakily for the Huskies. Wilmer Skoog scored for BU at eight seconds. Micah Miller of St. Cloud State tied it at 12:14 and, 1:15 later, teammate Nick Perbix gave the Huskies their first lead at 2-1.

Two minutes after that, Jake Wise of Boston University (10-5-1) scored on a power-play.

SCSU goalie David Hrenak, of Povazska Bystrica, Slovakia, had 31 saves, BU's Drew Commesso 32.

This was only the second meeting ever between these teams. The Terriers won the first 5-3 when they met in thee 2000 NCAA tournament, also in Albany.

The Huskies were the No. 2 seed in the regional this time, the Terriers the No. 3. Both received at-large tournament bids.

St. Cloud State is 5-15 all-time in this tournament in 15 appearances with one trip to the Frozen Four in 2012 which was the last time it was held in Pittsburgh.

For the Huskies' five seniors, including Brodzinski and Hrenak, this is their third NCAA tournament. SCSU was the No. 1 overall seed in 2018 and 2019.