ST. CLOUD, Minn. — The St. Cloud State men's hockey team has had an active week in the transfer portal.
On Friday, Union College (Schenectady, N.Y.) defenseman Dylan Anhorn announced that he plans to transfer to St. Cloud State and play for the Huskies in the fall.
Anhorn tied for third on Union's roster for goals (seven), was third in assists (13), fourth in points (20), tied for fourth in plus/minus (minus-1) and had 28 blocks in 29 games for the Dutchmen in 2021-22. Union finished seventh out of 11 teams in the ECAC, had a 14-19-4 overall record and changed coaches during the season.
Head coach Rick Bennett resigned on Jan. 28 after a week-long investigation into how he coached the team. Bennett coached Union to the NCAA Division I title in 2014 and had been the team's head coach since 2011. Also on Friday, Union announced that Josh Hauge, who spent the last seven seasons as an assistant coach at Clarkson University (N.Y.).
"There's a lot of uncertainty here and I was recruited by coach Bennett and (associate) coach (John) Tapp, who unfortunately ended up leaving the program," Anhorn said. "They have been big influences on my life and I thanked them greatly for the impact that they had on me as a player and a person.
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"It just felt like I needed a change of scenery to push myself for my personal growth and I think St. Cloud is going to be a terrific place to do that."
How he picked SCSU
Anhorn, who entered the transfer portal on "about a week ago," talked to a handful of schools before deciding to play for the Huskies.
"It was a lot of factors," he said of what tipped his decision to SCSU. "The coaching staff was absolutely fantastic with me through the entire process. It's an opportunity for me to reach some of my personal goals, which was a big one for me.
"From what I hear, the environment is going to push me to be my best and be surrounded by players who love the game, eat, breathe and sleep it. The last thing was an opportunity to pursue a national championship and be in a situation where there was a legitimate chance to come to the rink every day with the ambition of achieving that goal."
Anhorn, a 23-year-old from Calgary, Alberta, also knows one of the St. Cloud State players. He played some against Zach Okabe growing up and had some conversations with him during the process.
"I've played against Zach Okabe a fair amount and have skated with him during the summers," Anhorn said. "I reached out to him and he was super helpful through the process. He, obviously, spoke very highly of the program and I'm excited to play with him and the other extremely talented players on the roster."
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What he brings to SCSU
Anhorn's freshman season was in 2019-20 and he had six goals, 16 points (third on the team), 22 penalty minutes, was a plus-3 and had 46 blocked shots in 37 games. Union did not play during the 2020-21 season due to the pandemic.
Anhorn, who is listed at 6-foot and 183 pounds, said that he played on both the power play and the penalty kill units for Union. With the graduation of Seamus Donohue and the pro signing of Nick Perbix , the Huskies lost two defensemen who both played on the power play and the penalty kill.
"I feel like my skating ability and my hockey IQ can help a team win in addition to my competitiveness and my character," he said. "I pride myself on being a team-first guy and every time I'm on the ice, I'm competing to win. I think those are some of the aspects that make me an effective player and I'm really excited to help St. Cloud compete for a championship.
"I feel like one of the strengths of my game is (on special teams) and, 5-on-5, I feel like I'm a very versatile player."
Undrafted, Anhorn also said that he wants an opportunity to be able to show pro scouts what he is capable of while playing in the NCHC, which has had a team play in the national championship game each of the last six years it was played. It was one of three factors that helped sway his decision.
"An opportunity to showcase myself to evaluators at the next level, opportunity to be on a highly competitive team that I feel has the ability to win a national championship and relationship with the coaching staff," he said. "From Day 1, coach (Brett) Larson and St. Cloud's coaching staff were incredible to me. They made the process really easy to me. I couldn't be more excited to be a Husky."
Anhorn is the third player in five days to announce that he plans to transfer to St. Cloud State. Colorado College goalie Dominic Basse made his announcement on Monday . Center Grant Cruikshank, who played last season for the University of Minnesota, announced his commitment on Thursday .
With the addition of Anhorn, the roster of defensemen looks to be set with graduate students Brendan Bushy and Spencer Meier both back for their fifth seasons, Ondrej Trejbal will be a senior, Brady Ziemer will be a junior, Josh Luedtke and Jack Peart will be sophomores and Mason Reiners and Cooper Wylie of the Waterloo Black Hawks (United States Hockey League) will be freshmen.
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St. Cloud State typically dresses seven defensemen for games.
Anhorn was majoring in cognitive neuroscience and was named to the ECAC Hockey All-Academic Team twice at Union.
Before getting to Union, he played his last two seasons of junior hockey for the Prince George Spruce Kings in the British Columbia Hockey League. In those two seasons, he helped Prince George reach the championship series in 2017 and win the Fred Page Cup title in 2018. In 152 BCHL games, he had 14 goals, 73 points and 72 penalty minutes.
