Freddy's three thoughts of the game ...
1. Hockey's back in Mankato: On Dec. 18, Minnesota State was back playing a game in its own building for the first time since March 7. There were no fans in the stands, just several dozen cardboard cutouts of MSU faithful. Crowd noise that sounded like a muzzle of bees droned over the ice, hardly replicating the real thing, which surely would have been fun given how close things got when Bemidji State made it a one-goal game with under 5 minutes to play. But this is the reality for now. Hopefully the vaccine along with, in the meantime, some smart, safe behavior — especially over the holidays — will eventually lead to getting some people back in the building.
2. Waiting for his turn: A lot of new players had to sit tight last season, knowing their chance to get a lot of game action might not come until their second year of college hockey because of MSU's senior-laden squad. Cade Borchardt played in just 10 games as a freshman and had no points. But on Friday, he proved that patience pays off. The forward from Burnsville had two goals and two assists. That included a goal and an assist on the power play. He also had to do some late penalty killing to help preserve the win. Julian Napravnik finished with two goals and an assist, and Ryan Sandelin had goal.
3. Different sport, different scoring: Bemidji State's Ethan Somoza scored two goals late in the second period to tie the game at 3-all. His second goal was a breakaway. The first, he didn't put in himself. He fired a hard shot off goalie Dryden McKay's left shoulder, and the puck went to MSU's Jared Spooner near the right post. Spooner couldn't clean up the rebound, though, and the puck bobbled off his stick and went in to the net. In hockey, Somoza gets the credit. In soccer, it would have gone down as an own goal. McKay gave up four goals for the first time since allowing five in a 7-2 loss to St. Cloud State last Dec. 28 at the Mariucci Classic.
Around the WCHA: Michigan Tech 4, Northern Michigan 3 (OT) ... Bowling Green 4, Quinnipiac 1
No comments:
Post a Comment