Freddy's three thoughts of the game:
1. Trouble in River City: This was hardly a way to not only open a home schedule but to get ready to go to league-favorite and third-ranked Denver next weekend. Minnesota State was swept by a team that won just five games a season ago. The Mavericks have scored just five goals in four games and they're 0 for 17 on the power play for the season. Coach Troy Jutting said his team worked harder Saturday than it did on Friday, but it still had trouble creating scoring chances or even getting its offense going at all at times. Like Friday's game Saturday's hinged on a five-minute major penalty. On Friday, MSU failed to score when it had the unlimited power play. Saturday, Lowell scored twice when it had the advantage.
2. M*A*S*H unit: Eriah Hayes was called for cross-checking in the final seconds of the second period and when the third started he was replaced in the penalty box by Charlie Thauwald. Hayes was taken out of the game with an upper body injury, so add his name to the quickly growing list of banged-up players. J.P. Burkemper, Tyler Elbrecht, Max Gaede, Danny Heath, Zach Lehrke and Josh Nelson all were scratched Saturday with various ailments. "That's well over a quarter of a roster not playing now," Jutting said. The Mavericks were also missing Mike Louwerse, who was called for checking from behind — a major and a game misconduct with about five minutes left in the first period. "It's so frustrating because of all the injuries," Jutting said. "You still gotta go out and compete, but when it rains it pours right now.
3. Hello? Veterans? Justin Jokinen scored the Mavericks' lone goal but the other seniors on the team have been invisible through four games this season. Forwards Mike Dorr, Joe Schiller, Mike Louwerse and Adam Mueller have no points. Defenseman Cameron Cooper has one goal. Juniors? Hayes, Eli Zuck and Evan Mosey each have one assist.
Deep thought: Thauwald, a freshman from Rochester, had a good game. The 6-foot-3, 225 pound right wing threw his body around and looks like a player who can wow the crowd with some big hits for the next four years.
Quote of the night: "We know never to underestimate another team. We know we have to come out and play Maverick hockey." – MSU senior forward Justin Jokinen
Around the WCHA: Michigan Tech 3, Wisconsin 2 (ot) ... Colorado College 6, Bemidji State 4 ... Minnesota 5, Minnesota Duluth 4 ... Boston University 4, Denver 3 ... Northern Michigan 3, St. Cloud State 2 ... Alaska-Anchorage 6, Mercyhurst 2 ... North Dakota 3, Maine 3 (ot) ... Nebraska-Omaha at Alaska
7 comments:
Here we go again talking about the past now of the "other" team!
1. "Minnesota State was swept by a team that won just five games a season ago." Yes and that team lost 12 players and added a new coach! Hummmm, a new coach! Perhaps MSU could learn from that.
2. Coach admitted on the radio pre-game that he worked the team to hard this week by saying that with all the injuries, guys had more reps. And we recently heard praise for the strength and conditioning coach? Seems he has done a good job of breaking this team down physically! How much are the visiting teams paying him?
With more guys down and going to the "Mile High", don't expect it to get better to soon.
Especially when the coaches play the same 8 guys during a 5 minute major...
3. Read 1 & 2 before jumping on the Vet's.
Success and improvements come from quality leadership, once MSU has that, they have a chance, otherwise we need to continue supporting these student athletes by coming out to the Verizon Center.
GO MAVS!
I wonder Big where the praise for the coaches was when we beat 18th RPI last week when we had a full team? So what changed after that. Only one thing the players due to injury. Shane is right the vets need to step it up. The best two D this weekend where freshman and the best forwards overall we underclasssman. The vet forwards other than one goal have been horrible. Playing with no emotion. I don't know who else anyone thinks is capable of playing the powerplay. The coaches did put Zuke on the pp and it was the best chances we had all weekend. There is only so much anyone can do when faced with this siutation. Big all last year you wanted our third line D to be given the chance to start or play more. Here is there chance. No excuses. From what I hear Hayes is out for a while with a concussion.
I wish people would stop spinning and stick to the raised points rather than change direction.
hockeyfan does not address 1,2,3.
If you dvr'd the RPI series, watch it and see that when we had some PP chances, it was with 3 forwards and 2 D. That was Friday night. Then Saturday and since then, it has been 4 forwards. Not to mention the forwards hardly use the points and when they do, they wait to long to pass. Then our points have limited options. So they need to work on the PP as special teams can win games which was evident this weekend by the Hawks.
All I wanted last year was a little better distribution of ice so players were not gassed by the third period. Look at the 1 goal losses and you will see that those players (D) were gassed. The last series with Denver.
We have supported all the previous Mav teams and will continue to. Yet you can not overlook 1,2 & 3.
Since this stuff does not help what needs to happen on the ice, let's just continue to get out and support our WCHA team while we still have one as it is good for Mankato.
Let me leave you with this thought - Schiller played D his Fr year. We are short D and Louwerse is the first choice?
Very disappointed with the lack of production so far from Dorr, Grant, and Jokinen. Despite the injury issues with other players these players need to be more productive, no excuses. I hope we can show up in Denver with a better effort or it will be a very ugly weekend.
I completely agree with your thoughts on the weekend series against UMass - Lowell, BIGhkyfan. I also agree with your sentiments Nation.
I was able to make it up to Mankato for the series. The quality of play displayed by the Mavericks this weekend was probably the worst I have seen, dating back to my freshman year in 2004. The team looked slow, lazy, and completely overmatched...and this was against a Riverhawks team that was one of the worst in all of college hockey last season.
Matt Leitner, Zach Palmquist, and Charlie Thauwald were the only players that showed any signs of life this weekend, in my mind. And I couldn't agree more about deciding to play Louwerse on D, while leaving Schiller at forward. Schiller is bigger, much less of an offensive threat, and has spent time on D, yet Jutting decides to roll with Louwerse?!? That was ill-advised, to say the least.
Injuries have taken a huge toll on this squad, but there's nothing the Mavs can do about it. Someone needs to light a fire, and they need to find a way to start competing with the healthy players they have. There is a lot of talent on this team, even if it has been very noticeable the past few games.
I also think Thauwald needs to stay in the line-up. He's definitely not as offensively gifted as most of the guys, but his size and willingness to throw his body around can't be understated. The Mavs need that in their relatively small line-up. Let's hope Schiller gets a chance to move back on D, as well. There are a lot of guys on the team that can skate and potentially score up front, but the defense is dangerously thin. Put Schiller back there to provide a little stability.
Finally, why not throw Grant, Leitner, and Leivermann on a line together? Things definitely need to be mixed up a bit, and those three are awfully familiar with one another. After all, they saw quite a bit of success together during their time with the Fargo Force. I feel like it's worth a shot at this point.
Whatever happens, I just hope the Mavericks can show a little heart this weekend in Denver. Things could get real ugly, real quick, if they play like they did this past weekend.
The Mavericks are better than this. Here's hoping they begin to show that against the Pioneers!
This is laughable. We are picked to be at the bottom of the WCHA by everyone. We now have six or seven players out and you guys think we should win. Big I would also point out you were blasting the team last year for looking tired all the time. So now they get a new training program and thats wrong. We have third line D and freshman about to come up against some of the best players in the country, but it will be the coaches fault.
The only way we get into the tournament is by winning the WCHA tourney at the end of the year. That hasn't changed. Even with all the players in our chances of winning the WCHA outright wasn't going to happen. So while this is going to be frustrating for the next few months it really doesn't change anything. So it wil be a great time to deepen our team with guys getting experience that wouldn't have without the injuries.
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