ST. CLOUD – Park Rapids graduate Chase Brand played in 30 games this season in helping the St. Cloud State University men’s hockey team return to the NCAA Division I Tournament.
Brand, a junior forward and a 2017 graduate of Park Rapids, scored two goals and had five assists for 7 points on 28 shots while blocking 13 shots for the Huskies this season.
In the season opener against St. Thomas on Oct. 2, Brand had a power-play goal and a shorthanded goal to go along with an assist in SCSU’s 12-2 win. Brand had assists in four other games. Brand set up goals in the Huskies’ 4-1 win over Bemidji State on Dec. 31, 8-0 win over Miami Ohio on Jan. 22, 3-3 tie with North Dakota on Jan. 29 and 5-5 tie with Western Michigan on Feb. 11.
SCSU went 10-10-4 for 35 points in National Collegiate Hockey Conference play to earn the No. 4 seed for the conference tournament. Denver went 18-6 for 53 points to win the regular season title. North Dakota finished second with a 17-6-1 record and 53 points and Western Michigan finished 14-9-1 with 42 points. Minnesota Duluth (10-10-4 for 34 points), Nebraska-Omaha (11-13-0 for 32 points), Colorado College (6-17-1 for 18 points) and Miami Ohio (4-19-1 for 17 points) rounded out the conference standings.
The Huskies were defeated by No. 5 Minnesota Duluth 5-2 and 4-3 in overtime in the first round of the NCHC tournament on March 11-12. Duluth defeated Western Michigan 3-0 in the championship game on March 19.
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Despite those losses, SCSU earned a trip to the NCAA Division I Tournament as the No. 3 seed in the Midwest Regional at Allentown, Pennsylvania. That marked the fourth time in the last five years and the 16th time in program history that the Huskies advanced to the national tournament.
No. 2 Quinnipiac ended the Huskies’ season with a 5-4 win in a regional semifinal on March 25. SCSU, which was rated No. 11 in the nation, closed the season with an 18-15-4 record.
Brand had five goals and seven assists for 12 points in 31 games as a freshman and had four goals and four assists for 8 points in 26 games as a sophomore as SCSU advanced to the Frozen Four. Brand repeated as an Academic All-NCHC and NCHC Scholar Athlete.
