Saturday, January 30, 2010

MSU 3, MTU 2



Saturday was Minnesota State's night to break a losing streak, as it snapped a five-game slide with a 3-2 victory over Michigan Tech. The win, erased the bad feelings from Friday night's "embarrassment" (Rylan Galiardi's word).

Galiardi had a goal and an assist, while Eriah Hayes and Kael Mouillierat scored the other MSU goals.

No cushion was safe, though, as Tech's Brett Olson scored twice, once on a 2-on-1 that made it 2-1 with 10 seconds left in the second period, and again on the power play with 3:46 left in regulation.

Minnesota State put a season-high 45 shots on goal, and goalie Phil Cook stopped 30 shots for his fourth win of the season.

The Free Press game story can be found here.
The Daily Mining Gazette's gamer can be found here.
The Free Press Monday rewind can be found here.

(Daily Mining Gazette photo)

Minnesota State at Michigan Tech, Game 2 live blog

A couple of lineup moves for the Mavericks: Mouillierat and Mosey are in; Thompson and Canzanello are out. Cook will get the start in goal. ... Tonight's lines can be found below.


MINNESOTA STATE
Irwin-Stewart-Mouillierat
Zuck-Harrison-Jokinen
Dorr-Pitlick-Hayes
Mueller-Galiardi-Louwerse

Youds-Elbrecht
Boe-Davis
Cooper-Mosey

Cook
Lee

MICHIGAN TECH
Royer-Olson-Gwilliam
Baker-Kattelus-Dobson
Vlaisavljevich-Pietila-Bunger
Reddick-Witt-Lickteig

Kivisto-Nielsen
Doriott-Seigo
Cousens-VanWagner

Genoe
Robinson
Cramer


Friday, January 29, 2010

Tech 4, MSU 1

Michigan Tech may have the worst defense in the country, allowing 4.29 goals per game, but that didn't cure Minnesota State's scoring issues.

The Mavericks fell to the Huskies 4-1, seeing Tech snap a 15-game winless streak that included 14 straight losses at one time. It was Tech's first win since Nov. 13.

Rylan Galiardi scored MSU's lone goal, a short-handed tally, late in the game, ending Kevin Genoe's shutout bid. But that goal did not come until after the Huskies had a 4-0 lead.

Malcolm Gwilliam scored two goals and assisted on another for the winners, while Drew Dobson and Brett Olson had the other Tech Goals.

The Mavericks, who have now lost five games in a row and six straight conference games, outshot the Huskies 31-28.

Saturday's series finale will be a 4:07 p.m. start (5:07 p.m. EST).

MSU at Michigan Tech, Game 1 live blog

Line charts listed below the blog box:


Tonight's lines (starters in bold):

MINNESOTA STATE
Irwin-Stewart-Thompson
Zuck-Harrison-Jokinen
Pitlick-Dorr-Louwerse
Mueller-Galiardi-Hayes

Youds-Elbrecht
Boe-Davis
Cooper-Canzanello

Lee
Cook

Extra players: Mouillierat, Mosey

Back in Kato: Gaulrapp, Murdock, Peterson, Sackrison, Schiller, Wiley

MICHIGAN TECH
Baker-Kattelus-Dobson
Royer-Olson-Gwilliam
Schooley-Pietila-Lickteig
Vlaisavljevich-Witt-Bunger

Kivisto-Nielsen
Doriott-Seigo
Cousens-VanWagner

Genoe
Robinson
Cramer

From the Bourbon St. to the U.P.

I have to credit MSU's Scott Nelsen for this title, but with Chad Courrier in New Orleans last week and me in Houghton, Mich., today, The Free Press is covering sports 1,400 miles apart. Pretty cool.

Anyway, I just arrived in northern Michigan and will be heading to the rink soon. In today's Freep, I mentioned that Channing Boe was unlikely to make the trip. As it turns out, I'm told that he and fellow defenseman Tyler Elbrecht are both in town and in the lineup tonight. Good news for the Mavericks, who looked like they might be without one or both players before they left Mankato.

That means the Mavericks will only be missing forward Kael Mouillierat, who is out after getting a game DQ for elbowing in MSU's last game.

Lines will be posted when I get to the rink shortly as part of the live blog.

The Mavericks are hoping to break a five-game WCHA losing streak. Meanwhile, the Huskies, who were also off last week, have not won at all since Nov 13., and still seem to be stinging from a disallowed goal in their last game against MSU on Nov. 28.

This is one of those rare weekends when all 10 WCHA teams are in action against each other. Other matchups include: Denver at North Dakota, St. Cloud State at Colorado College, Wisconsin at Minnesota Duluth and Minnesota at Alaska-Anchorage.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

En route to Houghton ...

Just a note that some of my usual Friday blog stuff will be online a little late. I'm leaving for Houghton on Thursday night and staying with some family. So I may not post until I get to Michigan Tech on Friday afternoon. Be sure to go to The Free Press website Friday morning for my weekend preview.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Pitlick a first-rounder?

Hockey analyst Bob McKenzie of TSN — Canada's ESPN — recently gave his mid-season stab at the first round of next summer's NHL draft and predicted Minnesota State freshman Tyler Pitlick to go 20th overall.

The list also included four WCHA recruits including No. 14 Nick Bjugstad (Minnesota), No. 18 Derek Fobort (North Dakota), No. 25 Brock Nelson (North Dakota) and No. 29 Jaden Schwartz (Colorado College).

The full list can be found here.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Mavericks get another commitment

Shattuck-St. Mary's forward J.P. LaFontaine has committed to play at Minnesota State, according to various online reports. LaFontaine is the nephew of former NHL great Pat Lafontaine and son of Shattuck bantam coach John LaFontaine.

J.P. is a 5-foot-9, 170-pound senior who is tied for third place on Shattuck's scoring list with 19 goals and 23 assists for 42 points. It appears that he's expected to play on year of junior hockey before joining the Mavericks in 2011.

Here is an update on MSU's other recruits:

2010
J.P. Burkemper, F, Des Moines (USHL) -- 22 GP, 3 goals, 5 assists, 8 points, 6 PIM, -14
Chase Grant, F, Fargo (USHL) -- 35 GP, 15 goals, 12 assists, 27 points, 92 PIM, +2
Matt Leitner, F, Fargo (USHL) -- 30 GP, 16 goals, 20 assists, 36 points, 68 PIM, -4
Josh Berge, F, Lincoln/Tri-City (USHL) -- 35 GP, 4 goals, 16 assists, 20 points, 30 PIM, -4
Zach Lehrke, F, Cedar Rapids (USHL) -- 37 GP, 14 goals, 25 assists, 39 points, 40 PIM
Corey Leiverman, F, Fargo (USHL) -- 35 GP, 10 goals, 23 assists, 33 points, 33 PIM, +3
Danny Heath, D, Des Moines (USHL) -- 26 GP, 5 goals, 8 assists, 13 points, 16 PIM, -4

2011
Brett Stern, D, Centennial HS -- 16 GP, 6 goals, 10 assists, 16 points, 32 PIM, +16
Max Gaede, F, Woodbury HS -- 17 GP, 13 goals, 12 assists, 25 points, 20 PIM, +8
Zach Palmquist, D, Waterloo (USHL) -- 28 GP, 6 goals, 15 assists, 21 points, 38 PIM, +7

Thursday, January 21, 2010

You want answers: uniforms, playing time and quotes

Good morning. No Friday-morning skate today, as I have the day off. But I did get a chance to answer most of your questions. Here we go:

From Sam: 1) Any chance the Mavericks would consider replacing their regular uniforms for their regular uniforms for their current Saturday-night alternates? They are so much better. All of my non-MSU friends comment about how impressive and professional they look. 2) Has Jutting had anything to say about Kevin Murdock's status lately? Any plans for him to get a shot again sometime soon? 3) How about those Vikings?

Sam, I also like the Saturday-night unis. They designed them for the 40th anniversary of MSU hockey. They're not replicas, though, just an old-school look. The uniforms they wore in 1970 had the word Indians on them, since that was the college's nickname then. There was no way they were bringing that back. I'm not sure if they'll try to wear them fulltime or not. I believe they are auctioning off those jerseys every weekend and will be giving them away to the winners after the season. ...

Jutting hasn't had much to say about Murdock, except to say that there probably won't be a clear-cut No. 1 this season. Murdock was listed as Lee's backup on the line chart Friday and Saturday against Duluth. That might have been because of Cook's injury the week before (although Cook did practice starting midway through the week). I'll be curious to see which two go to Michigan Tech next week.

From BIGhkyfan: 1) And what about those Vikes? ... 2) As confidence is vital to any position, yet goalies most of all, how do you feel the three very qualified goalies are handling being juggled? 3) Like above, the same for players like Schiller, Cooper, Mosey, Gaulrapp. Not just dressing, yet limited playing time? Can this hurt going into the playoffs and next season? 4) Dorr transferred to MSU for playing time. Do we have any players that would consider doing what Dorr did in reverse?

BIGhkyfan, It seems like the goalies are handling that just fine right now. They understand that the decision is the coach's and that they're all competing for the job. Interestingly, Jutting told the North Dakota booster club during a lunch up there before the UND series that Cook was not handling very well his not playing early on and needed a bit of an attitude adjustment. To the goalie's credit, Jutting said, Cook turned that around pretty fast. It's a tough position. Only one can play. Traditionally, Jutting, like many other coaches, has stayed with the hot goalie. Most goalies understand that, I think. ...

Same thing should go for other players. This is Division I college hockey. If you want to play, you need to compete and win a job and then hold that job when you get it. You can't pout. The good news for the Mavericks is, at least from my perspective, is that none of those players seems to be pouting. Three of the players you mention are young defensemen. The other is a senior forward. The Mavericks have one senior D graduating and three juniors. There are going to be opportunities for those guys. ...

I don't get the impression that there are any players on this team thinking of transferring. Dorr was told by a lot of teams that he would be stepping in and playing right away. The team he chose, Minnesota, didn't play him, and he realized early that it was a poor fit. Minnesota State must have thought he could play right away because they put him in the lineup as soon as he was eligible. With three goals and three assists in nine games, he certainly hasn't disappointed.

From Joe: 1) What has happened with Kael Mouillierat and Geoff Irwin this season? I expected these guys to lead the Mavs forward, not Stewart and Harrison, agree? 2) You had mentioned that Eriah Hayes was doing well earlier in the year, but he hasn't been on the scoring charts lately. Has he been in a slump? 3) Is Andy Sackrison close to coming back?

Joe, There's no question that Stewart and Harrison are having career seasons. If you had told me they'd be producing like this before the season, I would have expected the Mavericks to be one of the better teams in the WCHA because I would have assumed Mouillerat and Irwin would be putting up bigger numbers. It's certainly not for a lack of effort. In my opinion, both have played well but they haven't put up the big numbers I and many others have expected. ...

Hayes really surprised everybody by his play early on. His production in terms of numbers has dropped, but he has stayed in the lineup and even got a few weeks on the top line. He might have hit that rookie wall a bit but they're certainly letting him play through it.

As for Sackrison, he's been skating. He told me when he first started skating that he was shooting for the Wisconsin series. That would give him an extra bye week (the Mavs are off again the week after the Tech series) to get back into shape and get his wind.

From Zeb: 1) The preseason poll had MSU at #8, if I recall correctly. They are currently 9th, but have played a lot of close games. I haven't been able to watch too awful close, but is this team REALLY close to being a "winner" or is it just pretending? How does 9th place bode for the future in your opinion? ... 2) Troy Jutting has made the following comments in the last two weeks: "we won the last 55 minutes of the game" regarding game 2 at Grand Forks, ND and "we killed x minutes of PP against UMD's top PP" regarding the contest last weekend (obviously paraphrased because I don't want to look up the exact quotes, but we all know the ones). To me, these sound like excuses from someone that is NOT trying to adjust the game plan even though the team is losing. Last time I checked, winning the game on the scoreboard is what matters. Am I out of line for demanding more? Your thoughts? ... 3) If you feel like you can comment, how do you feel the player leadership is being received this year? Any prognostications on the player leadership for next year? ... Extra Credit: I'm also interested in your opinion on where Pitlick goes in the draft and how long he might stick at MSU.

Zeb, Yikes, that's a lot but here goes ... The Mavericks were picked to finish eighth, and it looks like that's where they'll probably end up. I picked them sixth, I believe. They're ninth now, but I have a hard time thinking they'll finish behind Anchorage. They have lost seven one-goal games in conference play. They have hung with the WCHA's best teams -- Denver, CC, NoDak and Duluth. They split a series with Wisconsin. They swept a red-hot Bemidji State team on the road. They seem like they're close, but they have some deficiencies. The good thing is that if they can find a way to finish strong, there's always a chance for a first-round upset in the playoffs. ...

Your thoughts on Jutting's comments are interesting. What he said didn't sound like "excuses" when I was interviewing him. To me, he was just trying to emphasize what he thought were the positives in those close games. Would I have appreciated a little more candor? Sure. But I don't think he was patting himself on the back and bragging about losses. I'm not sure what you want him to say when, in his mind, his team played well but just came up short. When he expressed some frustration the previous night at NoDak, I got comments from readers saying those were unnecessary, too. ...

Player leadership is hard to quantify for me. I'm not in the locker room or behind the scenes. However, it is one area I thought would be strong this season because there are so many seniors and they were trying some different things at the beginning of the season -- team-building excursions like paintball and work with the ROTC, etc. As for next year, it's probably too early to say. Channing Boe is an assistant captain this year and could very well get the "C" next year. ...

As for Pitlick, I'm going to guess late first round/early second round. Who knows how long he'll stick around. It may depend on who drafts him. Some teams seem to have a greater respect for the college game than others. I agree with the college coaches who say players should wait until they're ready to be on the big club and not leave college to be a minor-league player. Pitlick's got a lot of talent, that's for sure. I say it every game.

Duluth highlights

Minnesota State has posted its highlight video from last weekend's games against Minnesota Duluth. They can be found here. The package includes Kael Mouillierat's big hit from the second period on Saturday. It can be seen around the 1:14 mark.

'Final Five' name likely to stay

I'm not going to take credit for this because I think it was an obvious solution, but I'm pretty sure I floated this idea on the blog last summer:

The WCHA Final Five likely will not change its name next year when the league expands to 12 teams and will have six first-round winners playing in the conference's showcase event. Instead of referring to the final five teams still standing, it will refer to the final five games before the NCAA tournament.

Nothing has been finalized as of yet, according to Todd Milewski's article.

A change in format will mean getting rid of the always-controversial third-place game and playing two play-in games on Thursday to get to the Friday semifinals instead of one. That would give the top two remaining seeds a bye into the semis.

Apparently, the notion of keeping the same format but dropping the bottom two teams in the final standings out of the tournament all together was a nonstarter.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Idle talk


No games this week, as Minnesota State is off.

If you need to get your college-hockey fix in the Mankato area, the MSU women are hosting fifth-ranked Minnesota Duluth on Friday and Saturday at All Seasons Arena. The Gustavus women will host St. Benedict on Saturday afternoon. And the now-10th-ranked Gustavus men will host St. John's on Friday night and then play the Johnnies on Sunday morning at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

Also, the second-annual Anthony Ford Memorial Pond Hockey Tournament will take place on Saturday at Lake Washington. Read more about that here and here.

Finally, let's do another You Want Answers?!?! this week. Post your questions in the comments below, and I'll get to them by Friday morning.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

UMD 4, MSU 3 - OT


A heartbreaker for the Mavs, who tied the game with 18 seconds left in regulation on a goal by Jerad Stewart but fell in extra time when Mike Connolly intercepted a pass a neutral ice and went in on a breakaway.

Minnesota State dominated the third period despite losing Zach Harrison and Kael Mouillierat to misconducts (after the game Mouillierat's penalty was changed to a DQ). Duluth scored goals on each major penalty and led 3-1 late in the second period.

Michael Dorr's 5x3 power-play late in the second made it 3-2, and the Mavericks outshot the Bulldogs 12-4 in the final frame. Stewart's goal came with Austin Lee (26 saves) out for an extra attacker. Kurt Davis made a game-saving play at the blue line to keep the play alive.

Crazy, crazy game.

Read The Free Press story here. Read the Duluth News-Tribune account here.

MSU vs UMD, Game 2 live blog

Lines can be found below. ... Notes: Austin Lee will start in goal again for the Mavericks, and Kenny Reiter will get the nod again for UMD. ... Anchorage defeated Michigan Tech tonight and is currently ahead of MSU in the league standings.


Tonight's lines (starters in bold):

MINNESOTA STATE
Irwin-Stewart-Mouillierat
Gaulrapp-Harrison-Jokinen
Pitlick-Dorr-Louwerse
Mueller-Galiardi-Hayes

Youds-Elbrecht
Boe-Davis
Cooper-Canzanello

Lee
Murdock
Cook

Scratches: Mosey, Peterson, Sackrison (inj.), Schiller, Thompson, Wiley, Zuck

MINNESOTA DULUTH
M. Connolly-J. Connolly-Fontaine
Fulton-Akins-Henderickson
Bordson-Oleksuk-Grun
Danberg-DeLisle-Flaherty

Olsen-Montgomery
Bergman-Lamb
Kishel-Huttel

Reiter
Hjelle

Friday, January 15, 2010

Bulldogs 2, Mavericks 1

Minnesota State held high-scoring Minnesota Duluth to two goals, but the Mavericks still fell 2-1 in the WCHA game Friday night at the Verizon Wireless Center. The Mavericks have lost three games in a row and four WCHA games in a row.

Kael Mouillierat scored MSU's lone goal. He also had a shot on net just as the game ended.

Final shots on goal were 31-24 in favor of Duluth, who has beaten MSU three times this season. Austin Lee allowed two goals -- the first career goals for both David Grun and first-round draft choice Dylan Olsen.

The Bulldogs are now in a first-place tie in the WCHA with Denver, which was idle this weekend, while Minnesota State is tied for eighth with Alaska-Anchorage, which defeated Michigan Tech 6-2 on Friday.

Here's tonight's box score. Read The Free Press game story here and the Duluth News-Tribune account here.

Check out the replay of tonight's live blog below. Former Mavericks goalie Mike Zacharias chimed in to see what the Mavs were up to and even answered a few questions from MSU fans. Good to hear from him.

Free Press photo by Pat Christman

MSU vs. UMD, Game 1 live blog

Lines found below. Notes: Austin Lee will start in goal for the Mavericks. ... Referees are Don Adam and Chris Welker; linesmen are Jerod Moen and Matt Anderson.



Tonight's lines (starters in bold):

MINNESOTA STATE
Irwin-Stewart-Mouillierat
Gaulrapp-Harrison-Jokinen
Pitlick-Dorr-Louwerse
Mueller-Galiardi-Hayes

Youds-Elbrecht
Boe-Davis
Cooper-Mosey

Lee
Murdock
Cook

Scratches: Canzanello, Peterson, Sackrison (inj.), Schiller, Thompson, Wiley, Zuck

MINNESOTA DULUTH
M. Connolly-J. Connolly-Fontaine
Fulton-Akins-Grun
Bordson-Oleksuk-Schmidt
Danberg-DeLisle-Flaherty

Olsen-Montgomery
Bergman-Lamb
Kishel-Huttel

Reiter
Hjelle

Extra players: Hendrickson, Olson
Not on trip: Ryan, Palm, Seidel

Friday morning skate (updated)

Good morning, hockey fans. Tonight, the Mavericks will begin their final home series until Feb. 19-20. No. 10 Minnesota Duluth brings its high-scoring act to town, specifically the line of Fontaine Connolly and Connolly. Minnesota State, which has not had great success scoring goals -- especially in WCHA play, needs to find a way to slow down the Bulldogs.

Which brings us to today's reading ...

Minnesota State senior center Zach Harrison is arguably having his best season. He's tied atop the Mavericks' scoring chart with a career-high 20 points and he leads MSU with a +10 rating. But he relishes his No. 1 task, and that's to defend the opponents' best offensive weapon. The NFL has its shut-down corners; Harrison considers himself a "shut-down center." That story is only available on The Free Press' e-edition, but here's a sampling:

"It's like a corner back in the NFL," Harrison said. "A great player wants to shut down the big wide receiver who puts up huge numbers. That's a big thing for a team, and it's a big part of our team. It's not just scoring, and it's not just the goalies."
"It's like, 'I either want to cover Randy Moss,' or 'I'm looking for (the coach) to hide me,'" coach Troy Jutting said. "I think the really good hockey players, they want him -- 'Give me the best guy on the team.'"

Jutting said the big key to slowing down the Bulldogs big guns will be staying out of the penalty box. More than half of that trio's points in WCHA play have come on the power play, and the Duluth PP is clicking at a league-best 29.5 percent against conference opponents (MSU's is at 17.5 percent). Minnesota State's penalty minutes have gone down. In league play, the Mavericks rank seventh with 15.9 minutes per game.

As for the Bulldogs, their defense is starting to move out of the shadows of the high-powered offense. Duluth News-Tribune hockey guru Kevin Pates' preview and other info can be found on his blog.

Going around the WCHA ...

North Dakota at Minnesota: This is a big series for both teams, as North Dakota is trying to find a permanent spot in the top five of the WCHA, and Minnesota is hoping to climb back in there. The Grand Forks Herald takes a look at some of the Sioux freshmen who hail from the Twin Cities and also has some series preview notes. ... As for the Gophers, their newest player, Jacob Cepis, is learning all about the UM-UND rivalry.

Wisconsin at Colorado College: In a battle between two of the better teams in the WCHA, the Badgers head west to take on the Tigers. UW coach Mike Eaves has enjoyed the depth that his team has -- except when he has to fill out his travel roster. For the Tigers, defenseman Gabe Guentzel is getting a lot of ice time is just his second season.

Alaska-Anchorage at Michigan Tech: The conference's cellar dwellers will take each other on in Houghton, Mich. The series will pit the nation's worst power play (Anchorage) against the nation's worst penalty kill (Tech). Something's got to give. Tech tied nonconference rival Northern Michigan on Tuesday, ending a 12-game losing streak.

St. Cloud State at Quinnipiac: The Huskies will step out of league play to take on one of Division I's surprising teams, the No. 17 Bobcats. So who is that team? Kevin Allenspach takes a look.

Here are previews by USCHOINCH and WCHA blog.

Don't forget to check out PucKato's live blog during tonight's games.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Another Olympian



A third athlete with ties to MSU hockey will be playing in the Winter Olympics next month. On Thursday, Minnesota State announced that women's hockey player Nina Tikkinen (right) was named to the Finnish team. She will join teammate Emilia Andersson, who will be playing for Sweden and Mavericks alum David Backes, who will play for the U.S. men's hockey team.

Tikkinen is a junior forward who has 35 points in 71 games for the Mavericks, including six points in 15 games this season.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

MSU gets new commitment

According to various reports, including the USHL website, Minnesota State got a commitment form Des Moines Buccaneers forward J.P. Burkemper. Burkemper, 18, has played in 17 games for Des Moines this season. The 6-foot-3, 190-pound native of St. Louis has three goals and four assists in 17 games this season. After an injury to start the season, he started playing again on Nov. 19. Last season, Burkemper had six goals and 16 assists in 55 games.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Pitlick ranks high on scouting list

Minnesota State freshman forward Tyler Pitlick is ranked No. 21 on the NHL Central Scouting Service's mid-season rankings of North American forwards and defensemen. Pitlick ranks second on the Mavericks with seven goals and he also has 10 points. He is the second current college player on the list, which can be found here.

The rankings also include two future Mavericks: Centennial High School defenseman Brett Stern (a prep teammate of Pitlick's), who is No. 136, and Woodbury High School forward Max Gaede, who is No. 144.

The rankings do not necessarily predict draft order. While No. 21 would be a first-round pick, Central Scouting has separate lists for North American goalies, European goalies and European skaters. Tim Jackman remains MSU's highest-drafted player, taken No. 38 overall by the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2001, following his freshman year. David Backes was selected No. 62 overall -- also a second-round pick -- by the St. Louis Blues in 2003, the summer before he arrived at MSU.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Sioux 3, Mavericks 2

Minnesota State gave a much more honest effort on Saturday but still fell to the fifth-ranked Sioux, this time 3-2.

North Dakota got two goals in the game's first five minutes and that was cushion enough, as the Mavericks had a 2-1 advantage the rest of the way.

Geoff Irwin and Channing Boe scored the Mavericks' goals, and Austin Lee finished with 31 saves.

As he did on Friday, Sioux standout sophomore Jason Gregoire scored two goals, including the game-winner again. Mike Cichy had UND's other goal.

More later ...

MSU at North Dakota, Game 2 live blog

Game notes: Tonight's lines are listed below. ... MSU is making a few lineup changes, benching Rylan Galiardi and Mike Louwerse and playing Eli Zuck and Joe Schiller. Zuck and Schiller will play on the fourth line with Jason Wiley. ... With Phil Cook out with a back injury, goalie Kevin Murdock made it up to Grand Forks in time to back up Austin Lee. Murdock drove up with teammate Cameron Cooper. ... North Dakota is without Friday's No. 1 star Corban Knight, who was injured late in the game and is out at least 4 to 6 weeks.


Tonight's lines (starters in bold):

MINNESOTA STATE
Irwin-Stewart-Hayes
Mueller-Harrison-Jokinen
Mouillierat-Dorr-Pitlick
Zuck-Schiller-Wiley

Youds-Elbrecht
Boe-Davis
Canzanello-Mosey

Lee
Murdock

NORTH DAKOTA
Gregoire-VandeVelde-Frattin
Trupp-Malone-Kristo
Cichy-Zajac-Toews
Bruneteau-Lamoureux-Rowney

LaPoint-Marto
MacWilliam-Blood
Gleason-Fienhage

Eidsness
Dell
Maris

MSU on TV?

Word from Mankato last night was that the Minnesota State-North Dakota game was being broadcast on Charter cable channel 14. I'm not sure if that will be the case again tonight, but if you're interested, you might want to check and see. Game time is 7:07 p.m.

Oh, and don't forget PucKato's live blog.

Friday, January 8, 2010

North Dakota 4, MSU 1 (updated)

Any momentum the Mavericks had going into the first series of the second half of the WCHA season seemed to get sucked away Friday night, as they fell to No. 5 North Dakota 4-1.

The only bright spot was Ben Youds' first goal of the season and the second of his career. That goes along with his 18 assists this season and 37 for his career.

Other than that, it was all North Dakota, who had a 33-19 shots-on-goal advantage, took advantage of some shaky defensive-zone play and got two goals each from Corban Knight and Jason Gregoire.

MSU goaltender Phil Cook suffered an apparent back injury after UND's second goal at 6:48 of the first period and was replaced with Austin Lee, who stopped 27 of 29 shots.

Mavericks coach Troy Jutting said his team is allowed to bring in an emergency goaltender who is not part of the traveling party in case of injury. So expect Kevin Murdock to somehow find his way to Grand Forks in time to back up Lee on Saturday.

The Free Press' game story can be found here.
The Grand Forks Herald coverage can be found here, and it includes shot charts from last night's game.

MSU at North Dakota, Game 1 live blog


Tonight's lines (starters in bold):

MINNESOTA STATE
Irwin-Stewart-Hayes
Galiardi-Harrison-Louwerse
Mouillierat-Dorr-Pitlick
Mueller-Wiley-Jokinen

Youds-Elbrecht
Boe-Davis
Canzanello-Mosey

Cook
Lee

Extra players on trip: Schiller, Zuck

NORTH DAKOTA
Gregoire-VandeVelde-Frattin
Trupp-Malone-Kristo
Knight-Zajac-Toews
Bruneteau-Lamoureux-Rowney

LaPoint-Marto
MacWilliam-Blood
Gleason-Fienhage

Eidsness
Dell
Maris

Friday morning skate

Good morning. Getting ready to head up to Grand Forks in a bit. But first, here are a few items of note:

Minnesota State is going with the same lineup as it did against RIT last Saturday with one exception. Jason Wiley, who has missed the last seven games with an injury, will return. He'll take Joe Schiller's spot on the fourth line. Schiller, a forward-turned-defenseman who had to move back up front last week, is one of the extra players on the trip, along with Eli Zuck, who played in that fourth-line spot last Friday.

In goal, Phil Cook will start his first WCHA game. It will also be his third consecutive start in goal and his fourth straight Friday-night start.

In today's Free Press, I have a story about the Mavericks beginning the second half of their WCHA schedule. The word around the rink is that the first half was all right but they lost four one-goal games against top-ranked teams, and that has to change against the fifth-ranked Sioux this weekend.

"The first half wasn’t good, but it wasn’t bad,” senior forward Zach Harrison said. “But our second half has to be great. We have to be a lot of games over .500. The second half is going to be important. Our last 14 games are all in conference.”


You can read The Free Press' gameday preview here. In the Grand Forks Herald, you can read a Q&A with freshman Danny Kristo, who is coming off Team USA's thrilling overtime championship win over Canada in the World Junior Tournament. Also, the Sioux are battling injuries. This weekend, they get Darcy Zajac back but Brett Hextall is out. Also, start defenseman Chay Genoway remains out.

I gotta get packed up for the trip north now. No time to get the rest of the WCHA reading and linking in. You might check out Brad Scholssman's North Dakota blog for more. Next time you here from me, I'll be in frigid Grand Forks.

Be sure to check the live blog during the game tonight.