It's Sunday, Nov. 22. The first day of the college hockey season? Well, for Minnesota State it is.
With COVID, we should just be happy that there's a season starting at all and cross our fingers that it will continue and last.
The fifth-ranked Mavericks are opening the season with a nonconference series at No. 16 Bemidji State, playing at 5 p.m. today and 3 p.m. on Monday. The two teams will play again in Mankato next weekend. They're scheduled to play a home-and-home series Feb. 25-27 for conference points to close out the regular season.
"Exciting time," ninth-year MSU coach Mike Hastings said during his Wednesday press conference. "We've been waiting since March to get back to having a date to play, if we were going to play, when we were to be playing, who we were going to be playing. ..."
Hastings said COVID restrictions made for a much different offseason and preseason, from communications to practices and workouts. He added that, until recently, the team had to be split into separate locker rooms on opposite sides of the rink.
"That locker room's a special place," he said. "What you miss the most in the locker room is the bonding. We're already starting to see some progress now that they're all in the locker room."
He said the team has played four intrasquad scrimmages during the run up to opening day and is ready to play a real opponent.
With the graduation of seven lineup staples and the early departure of another, Minnesota State's going to look so much different this season and be young in some areas. Still, it it has plenty of experience in its lineup, most notably junior All-American goaltender Dryden McKay, the WCHA preseason player of the year..
"One of the best things about Dryden McKay is his mental makeup," Hastings said. "He's a calm young man. ... Excited about where he's at and what he can continue to accomplish. He's going to be busier this year than he was a year ago. ... But I think Dryden's prepared."
The senior class includes five players who have played in more than 100 games. The group includes forwards Jake Jaremko (30 goals, 74 points, 101 career games), Reggie Lutz (27 goals, 67 points, 113 career games), Jared Spooner (20 goals, 65 points in 112 career games), Dallas Gerads (27 goals 60 points in 97 career games) and Walker Duehr (15 goals, 34 points in 74 career games); as well as defensemen Riese Zmolek (6 goals, 27 points in 111 career games) and Jack McNeely (5 goals 29 points in 103 career games).
"They're our foundation; they're our rock," Hastings said of the senior class. "As a group, not as a single player. ... I look forward as the glue that keeps us together when things get hot."
"The majority of guys that we're talking about have played an awful lot of minutes," Hastings said. "I think we're going to have to be team that beats you with our depth."
As experienced as MSU, Lutz is the only returning player who reached double digits in goals, and its top two returning point producers were freshmen last season — Lucas Sowder (6-25—31) and Nathan Smith (9-18—27). Sowder was the WCHA rookie of the year last year, and Smith, a third-round pick of the Winnipeg Jets is one of two draft choices on MSU's roster (the other is grad-transfer Todd Burgess who had been at RPI).
"Both of them had outstanding summers," Hastings said of Sowder and Smith, both Florida natives. "I like where they're at right now. They've showed me they're not satisfied. They've come in with a hunger. They're trying to be our best players every day, and if they continue to do that, I think they'll have great sophomore seasons."
As of Wednesday, Hastings and MSU had not yet announced the Mavericks' captains.
Here are some stories you might be interested in as we set forth on the 2020-21 season:
The Mankato Free Press put out its Mavericks season preview today.
The Rink Live's Rochester guy, Jason Feldman, looks at a couple of MSU players — both senior defensemen — from his neck of the woods, Rochester's Zmolek and Lakeville's McNeely.
In Bemidji, there's been a last-minute change on the coaching staff, but head man Tom Serratore has brought in a familiar, very experienced face to his staff. The Rink Live has a preview of the MSU-BSU series and rivalry.
FloHockey has a story on this week's goaltending matchup between McKay and the Beavers' Zach Driscoll, as well as an MSU preview.
On Saturday, Michigan Tech and Lake Superior State skated to a 0-0 tie, and Alabama Huntsville fell to Robert Morris 5-2. Both of those series will continue today. Also Saturday, Bowling Green beat D-III Adrian 5-0.
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