ANDOVER, Minn. – Red-hot St. Cloud State Women's Hockey made a statement in Andover, upsetting No. 1 Minnesota 4-1 on Monday evening at the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Face-off Classic.
 
The Huskies earned their fifth-straight win and their first over a No. 1-ranked team since 2007, playing their patented style of hard-nosed, aggressive hockey to take down Minnesota for the first time since 2010.
 
Goaltender Sanni Ahola delivered a masterpiece between the pipes, stopping 34 shots to earn her fourth win of the season. The Helsinki, Finland native made a flurry of incredible saves throughout the night, holding the Gophers at bay.
 
Klára Hymlárová put the Huskies on the board first eight minutes into the first, smashing home a one-timer just left of the slot off a feed from Taylor Lind – scoring her 50^th collegiate point in the process. Addi Scribner would add a tally with less than a minute to go in the first, battling hard down low for the puck and sending it home for the 2-0 lead after one.
 
SCSU began the second on a power play and cashed in quickly. Jenniina Nylund cycled the puck around for Hymlárová at the high point. Bailey Burton skated down to the base of the left circle and pounced on a Hymlárová rebound, sending it home for the 3-0 lead.
 
Minnesota would get one back midway through the second, but St. Cloud State's penalty kill fended off a pair of critical power plays to keep it 3-1 entering the third. Allie Cornelius put the game out of reach eight minutes into the third with a goal off a loose rebound for the 4-1 final as the Huskies dominated possession and minimized mistakes the rest of the way.
 
Quotables – St. Cloud State head coach Brian Idalski
 
"It's pretty darn close to that 60-minute complete effort. A great start coming out of the first, to go up three at the start of the second was huge for us. A couple big kills there at the end of the second, then to be able to push it to four in the third was huge for us – it was almost to as close to a complete game that we can ask for."

"Any time you beat the No. 1 team in the country, you have to feel pretty good about yourself. It wasn't a fluky, hanging-on-by-the-seat-of-our-pants, outshot-by-50…we played legitimate hockey up and down the ice with them. I feel pretty good about that."
 
On Sanni Ahola's masterful night… "She's been playing at a super-high level, and she's taken her game to another level. A lot of that is with her off-ice habits, taking care of herself, and I think she's in a super-good spot mentally. She's playing really well for us, there's no denying that."
 
On snapping the 63-game winless stretch against the Gophers… "That was a pretty big monkey off a lot of people's backs. Beating a quality opponent – not just Minnesota, it's been a while – for them to see their hard work already paying off early in the season, it was a special moment for them, no doubt."
 
On playing three games in four days… "It's a pro schedule. No practice yesterday, a game today, no practice tomorrow, a couple days to prepare then a couple games against Duluth. This is what it looks like to be a pro athlete. That's what we're talking about – how you take care of yourself as a pro athlete, what that looks like. Obviously, a big week for us. Duluth is nationally ranked – those are big points for us this weekend."
 
Quotables – St. Cloud State senior forward Taylor Lind
 
"It's huge, it's exciting – but we want to remember that it's just another win. We want to roll into this weekend and show people we're a top-five team, and we know it. We need everyone else to believe it too, so we're going to keep putting the work in."
 
"Our commitment level is there this year. We want it, we want it more than we've ever had. We're putting the work in away from the rink, at the rink, every single day is a battle. It doesn't matter what you did the day before, no one cares what you did the day before. You have to beat everyone – including yourselves – the next day."
 
"The message was to play our game. Do what we do, flush them down, roll out, be physical – they don't like that. They don't like being pressured. They thought we were going to sit back and let them do what they do in the first five minutes. That's not the game we play, and we showed them."
 
"Looking back to my freshman year, it's been leaps and bounds. I'm so proud of the girls in that room. Every day, the changes that we're making, it's unspeakable. From the coaching staff to the trainers, the equipment staff, everyone is buying in. Everyone believes that we can do something special – and it's coming."
 
What the country should know about Huskies Hockey… "Watch out."
 
Quotables – St. Cloud State senior forward Bailey Burton
 
On her first SCSU goal coming in a critical moment… "It felt so good. Like Mira has said, I just needed to get the monkey off my back – it took some time, we dug as a line, and I got it on the power play. I got lucky, but it felt really good."
 
"Niiners had the puck, it went back up to Klára, and I was just going to the net to screen – no one was covering, so I got the rebound and put it away."
 
On the importance of the Huskies' win… "It's amazing. Our girls earned it. We played hard, fought hard, and it was well-deserved."
 
Notables

• Klára Hymlárová, Addi Scribner, Bailey Burton and Allie Cornelius each scored a goal for SCSU
• Burton and Hymlárová each added an assist for two-point nights
• Hymlárová joined the 50 Point Club with her first period goal
• Taylor Lind, Courtney Hall, Emma Gentry and Jenniina Nylund had one assist each
• Sanni Ahola was simply marvelous in goal, stopping 34 of 35 Gopher shots
• Lauren Tuzik and Regan Bulger each blocked five shots while Olivia Cvar added three
• Bulger and Grace Wolfe skated to a game-best plus-two
• The Huskies were outshot 35-19
• St. Cloud State's five-game winning streak is their longest since they won six in a row from Nov. 13-29, 2015
• The win is the program's first over a No. 1-ranked team since Oct. 19, 2007 when the Huskies defeated then-No. 1 Wisconsin at the HBNHC – current SCSU associate head coach Jinelle Siergiej was still playing for the Badgers
• The win is St. Cloud State's first against Minnesota since February 13, 2010, snapping a 63-game winless drought and standing as the fourth-ever win over the Gophers 

Up Next
The Huskies return to WCHA action with a critical home series against No. 7 Minnesota Duluth, looking to further their distance from the Bulldogs as SCSU enters the weekend in fourth place. Puck drop on Friday is set for 3:00 p.m. CT with a 2:00 p.m. CT start on Saturday.

Information regarding single game and season tickets can be found at scsutickets.com. For all the latest on St. Cloud State Women's Hockey, stay tuned to SCSUHuskies.com and follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.