MSU vs. CC — Game 2 live blog

Lines are posted below the live chat. The only change for MSU is on the fourth line where Corey Leivermann will play in the place of Mike Louwerse, who was hurt in the first period on Friday.



MINNESOTA STATE
23-Dorr     14-Jokinen     22-McInnis
15-Burkemper     19-Lehrke     25-Hayes
12-LaFontaine     18-Leitner     8-Gaede
24-Mueller     29-Zuck     11-Leivermann

3-Cooper     26-Schiller
7-Palmquist     16-Elbrecht
17-Mosey     2-Nelson

1-Lee
31-Karambelas
30-Cook

Scratches: Grant, Heath, Knoll, Louwerse, Stern, Thauwald

COLORADO COLLEGE
12-Skalbeck     13-Schwartz     27-Rapuzzi
16-Krushelnyski     22-Dineen     15-Hamburg
9-Eveland     11-Civitarese     21-Collett
18-Wamsganz     23-Hall     19-Morin

10-Guentzel     7-McDermott
5-Harstad     4-Marciano
6-Stoykewych    28-Bovin

39-Thorimbert
31-Howe

Tigers 2, Mavericks 1 (OT)

Pat Christman/The Free Press

Freddy's Three Thoughts of the Game ...

1. No Howe, no matter: Colorado College goalie Joe Howe has scored 1-0 victories over Minnesota State in Mankato (the town of his birth) in each of the last two seasons. But he was on the bench Friday night, as Josh Thorimbert got the nod. Thorimbert did a pretty good impression of Howe, holding a 1-0 lead until 4:34 remained in regulation. Mavericks freshman Matt Leitner tied the game then and that eventually forced overtime where CC's David Civitarese scored the game-winning goal at 1:28. Thorimbert stopped 37 shots for the win, including 15 of 16 in the third period.

2. Slowing CC: The Tigers went into the series as the nation's top-scoring team but dropped to second after Friday's game after being held to their lowest offensive output of the season. Jeff Collett scored on a back-door play from Dakota Eveland at 12:51 of the second period, and Civitarese walked out of the corner dangling the puck and ripped a wrister for the game winner in OT. Mavericks goalie Austin Lee was rock-solid, making 27 saves. Minnesota State simply couldn't cash in on its opportunities — just six days after putting nine goals on the board against Alabama Huntsville.

3. Quick whistle? The Mavericks very nearly scored their first goal of the game with about three minutes remaining in the second period. That's when Zach Lehrke made a nice move cutting to the inside and firing a tricky shot on Thorimbert from the slot. Lehrke must have seen the puck not yet secure and darted toward the goalie. But the referee behind the net lost sight of the puck and blew his whistle. Moments later, Lehrke was tapping the puck into the goal, but it was clearly after play was blown dead.

Deep thought: Want a better idea of how small a crowd 2,395 is at the VWC? Well, about an hour or so after the game, the arena's clean-up crew found a puck that had been shot into the stands and tossed it on the ice. Apparently, there wasn't anyone in that area around during the game to grab it four a souvenir.

Quote of the night: "I definitely wish we would have won the game for as well as our team played. Tomorrow we have to play the same game but execute on our chances." MSU senior forward Justin Jokinen.

Around the WCHA: Northern Michigan 4, Michigan Tech 1 ... Bemidji State 3, Alabama Huntsville 0 ... Denver 3, St. Cloud State 2 (OT)

MSU vs. CC — Game 1 live blog

Lines are posted below the live blog ...

MINNESOTA STATE

23-Dorr     14-Jokinen     22-McInnis
15-Burkemper     19-Lehrke     25-Hayes
12-LaFontaine     18-Leitner     8-Gaede
24-Mueller     29-Zuck     9-Louwerse

3-Cooper     26-Schiller
7-Palmquist     16-Elbrecht
17-Mosey     2-Nelson

1-Lee
31-Karambelas
30-Cook

Scratches: Grant, Heath, Knoll, Leivermann, Stern, Thauwald

COLORADO COLLEGE

12-Skalbeck     13-Schwartz     27-Rapuzzi
16-Krushelnyski     22-Dineen     15-Hamburg
9-Eveland     11-Civitarese     21-Collett
19-Morin     23-Hall     17-Taft

10-Guentzel     7-McDermott
5-Harstad     4-Marciano
6-Stoykewych     28-Boivin

39-Thorimbert
31-Howe

Referees: Tom Sterns, C.J. Beaurline. Linesmen: Chris Olson, Sterling Egan

Friday Morning Skate

The Mavericks will close out the first half of their WCHA schedule this weekend when they host seventh-ranked Colorado College (last weekend marked the halfway point of the regular season). Minnesota State is hoping that injuries were indeed the biggest factor to their slow start (even a sweep of the Tigers ensures of them of no better than equalling their worst first-half conference record) and that they can build off a solid outing at Minnesota and a sweep of Alabama Huntsville.

The lineup shouldn't be much different than last Saturday against the Chargers, with the exception of Eli Zuck's return from injury. More from the Freep's gameday package: MSU might have caught a break with CC's Jaden Schwartz and Scott Winkler out to play in international competition. But goalie Joe Howe will be here. Born in Mankato, he has a pair of 1-0 shutouts at the Verizon Wireless Center, one in each of the last two seasons.

From the Tigers side, however, it looks like goaltender Josh Thorimbert might have the edge over Howe right now after Howe struggled last weekend in a home loss to Alaska Anchorage. Check out The Gazette's series preview here. Also, like many coaches, CC's Scott Owens says Minnesota State is much better than its record shows.

Going around a quiet weekend in the WCHA ...

Denver at St. Cloud State: The Pioneers will have Jason Zucker in the lineup tonight before heads off to practice with Team USA before the World Junior Championships. For the Huskies, Nick Oliver is starting to score, and St. Cloud hopes that can help it separate itself from a clump of teams in the middle of the WCHA.

In nonconference action, Bemidji State hosts Alabama Huntsville for two games, and Michigan Tech will play at Northern Michigan tonight.

Meanwhile, Nebraska Omaha is off this weekend and before coach Dean Blais headed out to coach the U.S. junior team, he had to dismiss senior and one-time captain Alex Hudson.

More coverage from USCHO and a midseason WCHA review from Inside College Hockey.