Monday, October 4, 2010

MSU 1, British Columbia 0

The Mavericks get the exhibition win, thanks to a short-handed goal by Eli Zuck (during a 5x3!) and a combined 40 saves by Phil Cook and Austin Lee.

Read The Free Press' game story here.

Scoring one goal isn't necessarily pretty, especially against a team that gave up 12 to two other WCHA teams the previous two nights. But there's bound to be be a little better offensive flow this weekend when Rylan Galiardi, Michael Dorr, Eriah Hayes, Ben Youds and Kurt Davis return to the lineup, especially on the power play (the Mavericks were 0 for 4 with the man advantage, getting five shots on goal).

Interestingly, Monday's game did indeed experiment with the controversial rule banning penalty killers from icing the puck. This was supposed to take place in all exhibition games but apparently did not. It certainly seemed strange to hear a whistle blow in that situation and have a stoppage. Watching it take place, it probably wasn't as bad as people feared. However, that rule would make the games last much longer because penalty killers are still going to ice the puck, especially if they're tired and have the chance to do it after a long shift.

Looking ahead to the weekend and St. Lawrence, the USCHO.com preview on the Saints can be found here.

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