Saturday, December 28, 2019

Huskies 7, Mavericks 2

Freddy's three thoughts of the game ...

1. Total system failure: It's hard to find anything that went right for Minnesota State in that game. St. Cloud State was the better team in all three zones and at all three positions. "I thought they played in groups of five," coach Mike Hastings said. "It didn’t matter what five were out there." And it didn't seem to matter which five MSU players were on the ice. It wasn't like the Huskies just took advantage of one bad matchup. Then again, who would have expected freshman Zach Okabe, who had no points going into the game, to end up with four goals, including the first three of the game?

2. Injury report: Minnesota State played without junior defenseman Connor Mackey, their best D-man, as he is out with a lower-body injury. Wyatt Aamodt took his place in the lineup, getting his fourth game of the season after missing time with his own injury. He actually ended up with a team-high four shots on goal. Not sure how much difference Mackey would have made with the way things went, but the Huskies found ways to get behind MSU's defense to take control of the game. Junior center Jared Spooner was also out with an illness. He participated in warmups but ended up not playing.

3. Losing streak: The Mavericks have now lost two games in a row after winning 10 straight. The last time they lost two in a row was this time last year when they dropped three straight, two at Bowling Green and one against Minnesota Duluth at Arizona State's tournament. The last time they gave up seven goals in a game was a 7-4 loss at Ferris State on Nov. 7, 2015. The last time they allowed seven with none being an empty-netter (like Saturday's game) was March 21, 2013 against Wisconsin in the WCHA Final Five when they lost 7-2. The Mavericks will try to break the losing streak against either Minnesota or Bemidji State on Sunday,

Read my game story here.

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