It's gameday!

Minnesota State will begin the 2010-11 season today with an exhibition game against the University of British Columbia at the Verizon Wireless Center. Gametime is 7:37 p.m.

To get geared up for the game, you can read The Free Press' season preview, which focuses on the Mavericks' three senior defensemen — Channing Boe, Kurt Davis and Ben Youds — here. Also, you can read my first-day-of-practice story, which takes a look at MSU freshman and Mankato native Corey Leivermann here.

British Columbia played WCHA teams Nebraska-Omaha and Minnesota, losing 6-1 to the Red Mavs on Saturday and 6-0 to the Gophers on Sunday. Both UNO and Minny had significant shot advantages. Here's the Omaha World-Herald story. Read more about Sunday's game here. As for tonight's game, Mavericks coach Troy Jutting said on Saturday that several veterans will sit this one out (see post below) in order to get all of the freshmen acclimated to the college game.

Tickets for tonight's game and all other single-game seats for this season will go on sale at 10 a.m. today at the Verizon Wireless Center and through Ticketmaster outlets.

There was some Twitter discussion (follow me!) on Saturday regarding the controversial new rule that was nearly passed and then scrapped this summer that would have banned short-handed teams from icing the puck and making personnel changes. Word was that the rule was going to be tried during exhibition games. As it turns out, that idea was tossed aside, too.

Tonight's game is the final exhibition game of the preseason for the WCHA, whose teams went 9-1 over the weekend, playing Canadian colleges and the U.S. Under 18 Team. The league's only loss came on Sunday when Lethbridge defeated Denver 5-2. Meanwhile, St. Lawrence, MSU's first regular-season opponent this Friday and Saturday, won its exhibition game on Saturday.

Be sure to check back on PucKato tonight for my live blog. I'll also try to post game updates on Twitter.