Minnesota State 7, Lethbridge 1 (exhibition)

Freddy's three thoughts of the game ...

1. A little chemistry: Matt Leitner led the Mavericks in assists and points last season playing most of the year with Jean-Paul LaFontaine and Eriah Hayes. On Sunday, he was placed between Chase Grant and freshman Bryce Gervais (pictured) and showed that he can dish the puck to anybody. Leitner finished with a goal and three assists. Gervais, "a pure goal scorer," according to his new center, finished with two goals and an assist. Grant, back from a medical redshirt season, had two assists. "Obviously when you see a group have some chemistry like 9 (Gervais), 18 (Leitner) and 21 (Grant) had ... it's very positive," coach Mike Hastings said.

2. How good a test? The game was tied 1-1 after one period, but the Mavericks dominated after that. They scored seven unanswered goals and outshot the Pronghorns 65-10 for the game. Goalie Phil Cook stopped five of six shots in the first period. Evan Karambelas got the win, stopping just three shots in the second period. And freshman Stephon Williams had to make just one save in the third, as the Mavericks had a 29-1 advantage over the final 20 minutes. "We have a long ways to go," Hastings said. "I like that we played for 60 minutes, especially the way we finished. Obviously, our power play needs a lot of work." Johnny McInnis scored the lone power play goal. The Mavericks were 1 for 5 with the advantage with 21 shots on net.

3. Quiet crowd: Early October hockey is often a tough sell. Probably tougher when it's an exhibition game at 5 p.m. on a lovely fall Sunday and right in the middle of the now-4-1 Vikings game. No one should be shocked that a crowd of just 1,222 was announced. Still, I thought there would be more students in the crowd as well as more people who wanted to check out Hastings' first game behind the bench. There were a lot of young hockey players there who got free tickets for the game during this weekend's tryouts. The Mavs will be off to Alabama Huntsville next weekend and will return to Mankato Oct. 19-20 to take on RPI.

Deep thought: Freshman Dylan Margonari left the game in the second period with what appeared to be a painful leg injury. Hastings did not have a status report after the game, but Margonari, who scored a pretty goal earlier in the second period, was seen leaving the rink after the game on his own power. It did not appear to be a serious injury.

Read The Free Press game story here.

Moving quickly (and other notes)

Kudos to The Free Press' Mark Fischenich for tracking down some hockey news during his busy day today. Actually, our political writer was covering Wednesday's event to drum up support for state bonding money for the Mankato civic center expansion project, which includes upgrades to the hockey side of the arena. Minnesota State University President Richard Davenport spoke to business leaders and government officials (and media) at the event and had some interesting things to say about the coaching search.

Among his comments:

• "The candidates we have, you're just going to be blown away by. They are just outstanding."

• "We're going to nail down one of them with a contract in just a few days."

• "Right now as I speak — and I have to leave in a couple of minutes — we're entertaining top coaches for our hockey program to put us back into the winning circle where we haven't been for awhile."

I tried to follow up on that last comment and got the impress from those I talked to that he was referring to the process and that there weren't actual candidates on campus — at least at that time — on Wednesday.

If Davenport's "just a few days" comment is accurate, then MSU is moving quite quickly on this, even faster than what athletic director Kevin Buisman suggested last week. Does this mean the university has its guy or at least has its short list made even shorter?

Meanwhile, the new coach now has a full recruiting class for next season as the last of the eight incoming freshmen, defenseman Nick Buchanan, signed his letter of intent on Wednesday, which was the first day of the signing period. Buchanan committed to MSU in mid-December.

Staying on the subject of Buchanan. He and another MSU recruit, Bryce Gervais, were celebrating the BCHL playoff championship on Wednesday night. Their Penticton Vees defeated the Powell River Kings (and future Mav Jon Jutzi) 3-2 in the clinching game.

Mavs get D commit

Minnesota State recently received a verbal commitment for next season from defenseman Nick Buchanan of the Penticton Vees of the British Columbia Hockey League. Buchanan is a 6-foot-3, 205-pound defensive defenseman from the BCHL's top team. He has seven assists in 31 games.

Buchanan, a Victoria, B.C., native, is teammates with another future Maverick, forward Bryce Gervais, who was traded to the Vees from the Salmon Arm Silverbacks. Gervais has 28 goals and 15 assists in 31 games.

The Vees are loaded with future college players, including Minnesota-bound Connor Reilly, Mike Reilly and Ryan Reilly (three brothers from Chanhassen); St. Cloud State-bound Joey Benik of St. Francis; and Notre Dame-bound Mario Lucia, son of Gophers coach Don Lucia.

Mavs get two '12 commitments (updated)

Minnesota State got another commitment for the 2012 season this week when forward Bryce Gervais gave his verbal to the Mavs. MSU appears to be getting back into Canada a bit, as Gervais plays for the Salmon Arm Silverbacks of the British Columbia Hockey League. He was named the top rookie in the BCHL's Interior Conference this season, scoring 29 goals and getting 22 assists in 58 games.

A 1992 birthday, Gervais is 5-foot-8, 155 pounds. He is a native of Battleford, Saskatchewan. Interestingly, he wears number 71 for the Silverbacks (who have a great logo, by the way); I wonder if the Mavs will let him do that.

Read more here.

UPDATE: Click on the above link and you'll also see that Silverbacks forward Brett Knowles has also committed to the Mavericks for '12. Awarded as Salmon Arm's most-dedicated player this year, he had 30 goals and 28 assists in 57 games this season. Read his coach Tim Kehler's quote and he sounds like a typical MSU player: "Brett  has made huge strides in his play this season, moving into an offensive role with our club but still maintaining that physical edge in his game that makes him hard to handle as a power forward."

That's three four players for '12, as Gervais and Knowles join goalie Stephon Williams and forward Dylan Margonari.

The '11 class includes forwards J.P. Lafontaine and Max Gaede and defensemen Zach Palmquist, Brett Stern and Mat Knoll.