ST. PAUL, Minn. — After its leading scorer was carted off the ice on a stretcher, it looked like it was only a matter of time before St. Cloud State surrendered its third-period lead.
Freshman Mike Lee made sure that didn’t happen.
Ryan Lasch poked in the winning goal late in the second period and Lee stopped 37 shots to lead the Huskies to a 2-0 win over Wisconsin in the WCHA Final Five semifinals Friday.
“He’s shown this before,” St. Cloud State coach Bob Motzko said. “But he’s also shown in moments that he’s a freshman. When he can stand tall in the first period, he gets stronger as the game goes on.”
Lee needed to be strong after teammate Garret Roe was injured early in the third. Roe crashed headfirst into the boards, diving to stop Wisconsin’s Brendan Smith from reaching the puck.
Wisconsin seized momentum after the injury and outshot the Huskies 20-5 in the third. However, it wasn’t able to slip one past Lee.
“It may have looked like the ice was tilted, but our emotions picked up after the injury,” Motzko said. “There was chatter on the bench. Guys were standing up. It felt like we came together.”
Motzko didn’t have an update on Roe after the game. Roe was moving his arms and legs before being loaded onto the stretcher, and Motzko said Roe wanted to try to leave the ice on his own.
It was Lee’s second shutout this season and came one month after surrendering seven goals to Wisconsin in their last regular-season meeting.
The freshman’s strong play helped keep the Badgers scoreless in six power-play opportunities.
“We just couldn’t solve the riddle of Mr. Lee,” Badgers coach Mike Eaves said.
Before coming to life in the third, Wisconsin struggled to get into a rhythm on offense and had only five shots on goal in the second. When the Badgers finally got going, a combination of Lee and bad luck prevented them from tying the game.
Smith appeared to have Lee beat late in the third, but his slap shot clanked off the post before being cleared.
“It wasn’t like we were terrible,” Eaves said. “We just didn’t have that edge.”
Smith said Lee was better than he was a month ago, but good fortune was on his side.
“I could tell a difference. I think he played really well,” Smith said. “But sometimes lucky is part of the game. He seemed to stop whatever we shot, whether he saw it or not.”
Travis Novak added an empty-net goal for St. Cloud State late in the third.
The Huskies will play in the championship game for the first time since 2006.
