A night at Gustavus

Pat Christman/The Free Press

Pretty cool moment tonight at the Don Roberts Ice Rink. With the Minnesota State men's hockey team idle this weekend, most of the Mavericks players made the trip up the road to St. Peter to watch their old teammate, Corey Leivermann, play in an MIAC playoff game for Gustavus Adolphus.

Pat Christman/The Free Press

Leivermann transferred from MSU to the Division III program at Christmastime after 2 1/2 seasons with his hometown Mavericks. He has played in 11 games, including Friday's 3-2 victory over St. Olaf, scoring two goals and assisting on seven others. He was held off the score sheet on Friday but delivered a few big hits along the boards (the picture above is of the MSU players cheering on one of those hits).

Asked about the Mavericks showing up in the stands of the Don Roberts Ice Rink, Leivermann said, "It's awesome. I still live with some of the guys on the team; we're still great friends. They had an off week and said they were going to come down to watch. I wish I would have scored for them, so I could give them a salute."

Leivermann said he's fitting right in with the Gusties, and coach Brett Petersen agreed, saying his relationships in the locker room look like they've been built over three years not two months.

"They welcomed me right away," Leivermann said.

Look for more on this story later in my Tuesday column in The Free Press.

Leivermann will have one more season of college hockey after the current one but will try to keep this season going beyond Saturday as the Gusties will head to the Twin Cities to take on top-seeded St. Thomas in the MIAC semifinals.