Yale at MSU

Minnesota State's line-up is the same as the other night... even the line combos.

Stay tuned for updates.

1st Period Scoring Summary
14:23 -- Wiley (Sackrison, Gaulrapp) 1-0 MSU
17:26 -- Kalinski (Irwin, Canzanello) 2-0 MSU
18:01 -- Wiley 2 (Sackrison, Kilburg) 3-0 MSU

2nd Period Scoring Summary
None

3rd Period Scoring Summary
5:39 -- Backman (Dagnard, Engasser) PPG, 3-1 MSU
19:25 -- Bruess (Hanson) ENG, 4-1 MSU

MSU vs. Princeton: In-Game

We are underway at the Alltel Center... I will provide scoring updates and some occasional thoughts along the way.

1st Period Scoring
6:05 -- Mouillierat (Hanson, Bruess) 1-0 MSU
10:47 -- Hanson (Bruess) 2-0 MSU

2nd Period Scoring
8:00 -- MacIntyre (Wilson, Jubinville) 2-1 MSU
16:30 -- Berge (Canzanello), 4x4, 3-1 MSU
17:06 -- Hanson (Harrison, Youds), 4x4, 4-1 MSU

3rd Period Scoring
17:13 -- Wiley (unassisted) 5-1 MSU
18:20 -- Wiley (Canzanello, Sackrison) 6-1 MSU

MSU vs. Princeton PRE-GAME

About an hour from face-off and I can count the number of fans inside the Alltel Center on two hands... literally. I guess Princeton doesn't have quite the draw of a Minnesota or a Wisconsin...

Here are the line-ups for both teams. Starters are in italics:

MINNESOTA STATE
Irwin-Kalinski-Berge
Hanson-Bruess-Mouillierat
Galiardi-Harrison-Stewart
Gaulrapp-Sackrison-Wiley

Davis-Kilburg
Youds-Friesen
Linder-Canzanello

Zacharias
Tormey
Lee

PRINCETON
Wilson-Jubinville-MacIntyre
Lohry-Magnowski-Arhontas
Kushniruk-Kaiser-Pridham
Beachell-Stankievech-Kramer

Moore-Fedun
Pederson-Ritchie
Godlewski-Schroeder

Kalemba
Sychterz
Reynolds

For those that don't know much about Princeton, its players to watch offensively would all be on the first line - Cam MacIntyre leads the team with seven goals, Lee Jubinville leads the team with nine assists and both are tied for the team lead with 14 total points. The Tigers are 5-7-0 overall this season and four of the wins have come with Zane Kalemba in net.

NEW JERSEYS ARE IN!

I know I said I was done for the week, but I do have one small bit of news...

People on various message boards have been asking about where to get the Mavericks new jerseys. I was told three weeks ago that they were unavailable because of troubles with the manufacturer, Gemini.

But sure enough, the new jerseys are in at Maverick Bookstore on Stadium Road about a block east of campus. They have the home whites as well as the away purples (my personal preference). The cost is a bit steep at $95.99 (or if you are a husky guy or gal, XXL's are $96.99) but if you are stuck in your Christmas shopping efforts for the Maverick fan on your list, well, here you go.


OK, now I'm really out.

Happy Holidays!

I will be out of town for the next few days and barring any unforeseen breaking news, will not be writing on the blog.

I will be in town for the Princeton and Yale games, however, and will be providing my typical game-night content for anybody that can not make it to Alltel Center.

Have a very Merry Christmas and I will talk to you next week!

MSU sweeps Bemidji

The Mavericks escaped with a pair of wins this past weekend in Bemidji, but did sweep the Beavers with 4-3 and 1-0 wins at John Glas Fieldhouse.

It was a big sweep for the Mavericks - last season, BSU swept the Mavs at the Alltel Center. It was losses like those that kept the Mavericks from being mentioned among the at-large teams come NCAA Tournament time. Not to say this weekend puts MSU into post-season play, but it won't hurt in March - especially if Mike Zacharias continues playing as well as he has.

Next up is a non-conference game tomorrow against Nebraska-Omaha at the Qwest Center in Omaha. I wouldn't be surprised to see Dan Tormey get the start. Following the game, MSU will be off for 10 days when Yale and Princeton come to Mankato for a Friday-Sunday series just before the new year.

A new staffer

Sorry for the lack of coverage last week... I graduated on Saturday, and am in the process of figuring out exactly where to go next with the blog. The new Maverick men's hockey writer for The Reporter will be former MSU baseball captain and new Reporter staffer Pat Ottum. Look for him to take over much of the coverage come second semester...

UW at MSU: Game Two

Like kissing your sister... Mavericks and Badgers tie in game two of the series. I will have more on this series on Monday or Tuesday. Check out USCHO.com for my write-up.

Thanks for reading!

Final scoring summary

1st Period Scoring
3:41 -- Hanson (Bruess, Youds) (1-0 MSU)

2nd Period Scoring
None

3rd Period Scoring
3:37 -- McBain (Turris, Street) PPG (1-1)

Overtime
None

Wisconsin at MSU: Game One

Mavericks win game one 3-1... more to come...

1st Period Scoring
1:07 -- Turris (Street) (1-0 UW)
1:20 -- Berge (Irwin, Linder) (1-1)

2nd Period Scoring
5:58 -- Irwin (Galiardi, Canzanello) (2-1 MSU)
9:38 -- Galiardi (Linder, Harrison) PPG (3-1 MSU)

3rd Period Scoring
None

Wisconsin at MSU: Pregame

About 15 minutes or so here from face-off... no surprises from Troy Jutting. Here are the line-ups for both teams, with the starters in intalics.

Minnesota State
Irwin-Kalinski-Berge
Hanson-Bruess-Mouillierat
Galiardi-Harrison-Stewart
Gaulrapp-Gunderson-Wiley

Davis-Kilburg
Friesen-Canzanello
Linder-Youds

Zacharias
Tormey
Lee

Wisconsin
Street-Turris-Davies
Engel-Geoffrion-Johnson
Mitchell-Dolan-Grotting
Bohmbach-Bendrickson-Turnbull

Smith-Klubertanz
Drewiske-Goloubef
McDonagh-McBain

Connelly
Gudmandson

Wisconsin Week

In my column this week, I wrote about Mavericks goaltender Mike Zacharias and his rock-solid start so far this season.

MSU is in for a nice test this weekend as the No. 10 Wisconsin Badgers come to town. I know for a fact that Friday's student section is already sold out, and I expect the same for Saturday's game as well. I meant to go to the box office and find out the status of general public tickets, but it completely slipped my mind. I wouldn't be surprised to see a couple 4,500+ attendance numbers this weekend. Should be fun.

MSU head coach Troy Jutting said today that he will play the same line combinations as he did in last Saturday night's win over UMD. That includes sophomore Ryan Gunderson, who Jutting put into the line-up first time this season.

"I thought he did a very nice job," Jutting said. "He played within himself and did everything we asked him to do."

The same line-up also means freshman defenseman Channing Boe will find himself in the press box - at least for Friday. Jutting made no promises for Saturday's group.

Wisconsin, meanwhile, comes to Mankato riding the momentum of a pair of comeback wins over St. Cloud State last weekend in Madison. The Wisconsin State Journal's Andy Baggot wrote a good article today on sophomore forward Blake Geoffrion. Capital Times beatwriter Todd D. Milewski has a story on goaltender Shane Connelly.

PREDICTION
I'll go with a Wisconsin victory on Friday 3-2 and a Minnesota State win Saturday 4-1.

In other WCHA action...
- Minnesota at North Dakota UND SWEEP
- Alaska-Anchorage at Minnesota-Duluth UMD SWEEP
- Denver at St. Cloud State SPLIT

I will be at Alltel Center for both games with scoring updates and intermission commentaries. Thanks for coming by!

Mavericks beat UMD

It wasn't pretty, but Minnesota State came away with a 2-1 Saturday over No. 12 Minnesota-Duluth.

Mick Berge scored the game-winner with just under 15 minutes to play off a face-off win by fellow junior Jon Kalinski.

Blake Friesen scored the other Maverick goal - the game's first with under a minute to play in the second. UMD responded with a short-handed goal just 1:27 into the third period.

The win keeps alive a seven-game unbeaten streak against UMD, but ends a five-game winless streak overall this season.

Check USCHO.com and the Minnesota State page for my full game write-up...

UMD at MSU: Part Deux

For the second night in a row, a long stretch of whistle-less hockey ends with a Maverick goal. Both teams skated around for the better part of what seemed like five or six minutes with no stoppages. For the most part, the hockey really wasn't that great. Stalock and Zacharias didn't help their teams out much either. Numerous times when it looked like the teams could use a stoppage, the goalies kept the puck moving. Finally, defenseman Blake Friesen gained control of the puck near the blueline, skated towards the slot and waited out Stalock, who committed early. Friesen fired the wrister over Stalock's glove to score the only goal of the game thus far...

After two, UMD is outshooting MSU 18-14... Should be an interesting third period...

1st Period Scoring Summary
None

2nd Period Scoring Summary
19:17 -- Friesen (Harrison, Galiardi) (1-0 MSU)

3rd Period Scoring Summary
1:27 -- McKnight (Kemp, Meyers) SHG (1-1)
5:31 -- Berge (Kalinski) (2-1 MSU)

UMD at MSU - Pregame

Only one major line-up change from a night ago... Jason Wiley is in - Andy Sackrison is out.

Here are the lines, with starters in italics:

MSU Mavericks
Irwin-Kalinski-Berge
Hanson-Bruess-Mouillierat
Galiardi-Harrison-Stewart
Gaulrapp-Gunderson-Wiley

Davis-Kilburg
Friesen-Canzanello
Linder-Youds

Zacharias
Tormey
Lee

UMD Bulldogs
Gergen-Sharp-Kemp
Carroll-Fulton-Fontaine
Greer-McKNight-Curry
Danberg-Akins-Montgomery

Meyers-Gawryletz
Garrison-Palm
Ryan-Huttel

Stalock
Reiter

The day after and a look at tonight...

Anyone see scores from around the WCHA last night? A pair of 3-2 scores, a pair of 1-0 scores and a 2-2 tie. Not much is separating teams in this conference right now, that's for sure. But if you look at those standings, you see one thing: Colorado College pulling away.

The Tigers have a four-point edge on Denver, which if things go the way they have, will lose to North Dakota tonight. UMD and Tech are both right behind with 12 and 11 points.

The bad news for the Mavericks was their tie last night. A win would have been huge for this team, because they would have leap-frogged UAA in the standings and would have been in position to jump Minnesota and Wisconsin tonight. At the very least, they would have pulled even with SCSU, which its in sixth place. If MSU wins tonight and Wisconsin loses, next weekend's series is critical. After starting the season so well, the Badgers have really come back to the pack. Shane Connelly is not Brian Elliott, so if you can shut down their first line and take your chances, you have to like your odds.

But first, there is tonight. Troy Jutting and Scott Sandelin are both expecting more of the same. Although he wouldn't commit to it for sure, it sounds like Mike Zacharias will get he start in net for MSU. Alex Stalock has started every game so far this season for UMD, so there is no reason to think he won't play again tonight. I wasn't overly impressed with either goaltender last night; both played well, but didn't have to make any fantastic, game-saving saves. They made the saves they had to. Zacharias didn't have a chance on UMD's second goal as it was deflected to the net.

That is something I feel MSU needs to do more of. Far too many times last night, a Maverick player was shooting the puck from the outside and there was no traffic around Stalock. The MSU power-play was a bit conservative, too. Although it moved the puck well and maintained possession, it didn't fire many quality shots on Stalock. UMD did a good job of shutting down shooting lanes.

Should be a fun game tonight! Hopefully the snow doesn't keep any of you from the arena, but if it does, check out the blog, as I'll keep scoring updates coming and try to offer intermission thoughts. The game is on Charter Channel 14 as well...

Talk to you all in a few hours!