Coming at you a bit early since I'll be boogying off to Bemidji in the morning as Minnesota State gets its first peek at the Sanford Center when it plays Bemidji State.
The Mavericks are hoping to win a Friday-night game for the first time since Dec. 9. They are 5-5-0 since then, but all of the other wins have come on Saturdays. Included in the losses are a pair of 2-1 overtime defeats, one to Colorado College and one a week ago against Nebraska Omaha.
Minnesota State's lines should look like they did on Saturday when it beat Omaha 5-4 in OT. That means Eriah Hayes will stay on the top line with Matt Leitner and Jean-Paul LaFontaine. Max Gaede, then, moves to play with Zach Lehrke and Michael Dorr.
Phil Cook will start in goal, which is no surprise, but Austin Lee remains out with injury, so Evan Karambelas will be the backup. The extras skaters on the trip are F-Charlie Thauwald and D-Brett Stern.
Read more on The Free Press' gameday package here.
Meanwhile, I also have a feature on last week's overtime hero, Johnny McInnis. He may be a Boston boy, but he feels right at home in Minnesota. Actually, MSU has players from all over the country. Test your geography skills then check the story to see how you fared.
As for the Beavers, the Bemidji Pioneer's Eric Stromgren always does a fantastic job on his Up North Sports blog. The blog should have most of his coverage, but he did a nice piece on Lehrke, a Park Rapids native whose brother played for BSU. You can also watch some video of Beavers coach Tom Serratore talking about this weekend's series here.
Here are this weekend's WCHA matchups (for updated stories, check out the blog roll on the right of this page. Also, the Grand Forks Herald's Brad Schlossman always does a great job with his Friday roundup):
Michigan Tech at Minnesota Duluth ... St. Cloud State at/vs. Minnesota ... Wisconsin at North Dakota ... Denver at Alaska Anchorage.
More later, including a full lineups and my live blog, when I get to Bemidji.
No comments:
Post a Comment