Friday, November 30, 2007

Getting a point

Much like they have all season, the Mavericks had a very good Friday-night effort in a 2-2 tie with No. 12 Minnesota Duluth before a nice crowd of 4,328 at Alltel Center.

"We've had a couple of heartbreaking losses two Friday nights in a row, losing 4-3 (to Minnesota) and 2-1 (at Denver)," Mavericks coach Troy Jutting said. "(The tie) is not like winning, but it's not like losing, either.. We did some better things tonight."

A few notes from tonight's game:

Senior captain Joel Hanson finally snapped his oh-for-the-season, 10-game scoreless streak when he gave the Mavericks a 2-0 lead just 28 seconds into the second period. You can read more about that in Saturday's Free Press.

Freshman defenseman Kurt Davis scored his first collegiate goal in the first period.

Sophomore Ryan Gunderson played his first game of the season and first game since Jan. 13 of last season. Gunderson, a forward in his high school and junior days, was converted to defense, however, he went back up front in practice this week and centered a line with Geoff Irwin and James Gaulrapp. Jutting said Gunderson has been working hard and deserved to play. "This is a chance for him to prove he belongs," Jutting said earlier this week. Gunderson was even in plus-minus Friday with no shots on goal and was 5-2 on faceoffs.

Minnesota State's hasn't kicked the habit of giving up quick back-to-back goals, allowing both of Duluth's goals in a span of 66 seconds. In the previous four games, the Mavericks have allowed two goals in spans of 39, 86, 22, 69 and 72 seconds.

The Mavericks extended their unbeaten streak against the Bulldogs to six games (4-0-2).

2 comments:

Pugman said...

Glad to see Gunderson get a shot finally. We can use a big kid who skates well in this line-up.

Anthony said...

does it bug anyone else that no in the whole arena (except the student section) was even on their feet for the end of regulation in a tie game? They didn't even bother to stand up until 25 seconds were left in OT.

The crowd can do alot to energize a team. I never feel like the crowd at the alltel center are into the game unless it's the gophers, wisconsin or und.