Saturday, January 8, 2011

MSU 5, American International 2

Freddy's three thoughts of the game:

1. No Joke: Justin Jokinen had a goal and two assists to lead the Mavericks to the win -- their eighth victory in their last 10 games. Four other players scored goals (Kurt Davis, John McInnis, Chase Grant and Michael Dorr), too. McInnis' goal was the first of his career. Dorr's goal was an empty-netter. Grant's goal made it 4-2 with about 10 minutes play and allowed the Mavericks to breathe easy for the first time in the series (the Mavericks eked out a 1-0 win on Friday). "We all relaxed at that point," Grant said. "We knew we had to protect that lead, but it took some of the weight off our shoulders."

2. No more nonconference: The Mavericks closed out their nonconference schedule with a 6-0-2 record. "That's obviously good, to not lose in nonconference," coach Troy Jutting said. "It will really help with the Pairwise (rankings) and stuff. ... Those things help, and they're good for our league. It's nothing but WCHA play from here on out, starting with No. 6 Denver coming to Mankato on Friday night.

3. Getting a chance: Jutting mixed up his lineup on Saturday, putting in McInnis, Corey Leivermann, Brett Peterson and Danny Heath. McInnis' goal was a twisted wrister from the right circle that went in at the far post. Heath, a defenseman playing for just the third time this season, got his first collegiate point with an assist on Jokinen's game-opening goal at 1:25 of the first period. Peterson played for just the second time in his career and, likely, his last. You can read more about his experience in Monday's edition of The Free Press. Finally, Austin Lee got the start in goal and stopped 23 of 25 shots.

See the box score here.

2 comments:

Sam said...

I'm guessing this was discussed at some point, but I didn't get a chance to follow the Live Blog this weekend. Thus, I've got to ask. Is Richard Leitner of AIC related to Matt Leitner? It appears as though they're both from the same town in CA. Sorry if this has already been discussed.

hockey25 said...

Yep, they're brothers.