Update: Alex Kangas picked up his third career shutout and second in three games as the Minnesota men’s hockey team completed a WCHA First Round sweep over St. Cloud State with Saturday night’s 3-0 win. After a shaky start to the game, Kangas came back strong and was dominant in the third period. He stopped all 34 shots he faced. Even when Jay Barriball took a penalty at 18:40 and Weslosky was pulled for the extra attacker at the same time, Kangas and the Gophers weathered the storm to move onto the WCHA Final Five next weekend in St. Paul. Ryan Stoa scored his second empty netter of the weekend to make it 3-0. Rundown: Attendance: 9,932 13:16 Minn pen, Hoeffel for hooking. 18:40 Minn pen, Barriball for slashing. 19:28 Minn EN goal, Stoa (34) from Fairchild (24). Second: Jay Barriball scored his second goal of the weekend to put Minnesota up 2-0 after two periods. The junior forward slipped a top-shelf shot past Weslosky after Schroeder fed him a cross-ice pass. So far tonight, Minnesota’s line of Stoa-Schroeder-Barriball is in the spotlight over the Huskies line of Christian-Roe-Lasch. It’s actually interesting to watch the two top lines play against each other as they have the last two nights. There’s a lot of talent on the ice at one time, but as it stands, Minnesota’s got the game in control. Despite being down two goals, the Huskies are pressuring. Travis Novak should have made it a 2-1 game during SCSU’s lone power play of the night but the winger missed the open net by a mile. The Huskies still lead in shots 20-15 overall and 12-11 in the second period. Rundown: 4:04 SCSU pen, Olson for cross checking. 6:42 SCSU pen, Carlisle for hooking. 7:44 Minn PP goal, Barriball (11) from Schroeder (30) and Stoa (22). 9:05 Minn pen, Fischer for cross checking. First: Sorry for the lack of a pre-game blog. I was at a family get together and didn’t make it back in time to throw something up.