FARGO, N.D. – Despite an advantage in shots, 10th-ranked Minnesota State (25-13-1) was unable to get a puck past Jaxon Castor, as the goalie for sixth-ranked St. Cloud State (25-12-3) posted his second consecutive shutout with a season-high 34 saves, as the Huskies advanced to the NCAA Fargo Regional with a 4-0 win.
 
Through 32 minutes of play, the teams were scoreless, but the last eight minutes of the second period saw the Huskies take a 2-0 lead into the second intermission.
 
Veeti Miettinen got St. Cloud State on the scoreboard when he scored his 12th goal of the season with seven minutes, 30 seconds to play in the middle stanza while on the power play. Five minutes later, it was Jack Peart taking a pass at the left point from Jack Rogers. He took a couple of strides to the top of the circle and, with momentum, blasted a shot off the left post and into the back of the net with 2:37 to play before the teams went to the locker room.
 
Minnesota State held a 23-14 advantage in shots on goal at that point but Castor, who came into the game 10th nationally goals against average and 14th in save percentage, kept his team in front.
 
Zach Okabe helped preserve the shutout with 6:57 to play after Ondrej Trejbel made a play in his team's crease to keep the puck out of the net, after it slip underneath Castor. The Huskies quickly transitioned to offense and after Miettinen and Aidan Spellacy got shots on goal from in close, Okabe chipped in the second rebound off Keenan Rancier for his 18th goal of the season.
 
With 3:28 to play, Akito Hirose blasted a shot from the right point the hit both posts and before bouncing out and getting cleared down the ice, where a Maverick turnover resulted in Micah Miller getting the puck to Grant Cruikshank, who scored into an empty net from the bottom of the right circle.
 
Minnesota State, the regular-season and playoff champions of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, finished the season with 25 wins, having won at least 20 games in each of head coach Mike Hastings' 11 seasons behind the bench.