Friday morning skate

Pat Christman/The Free Press

Big weekend for the Mavericks. Not only is it a home-and-home with No. 2-ranked Minnesota (starting tonight at Mariucci Arena), but it's a chance to get back on track after a tough WCHA-opening weekend at St. Cloud State.

That weekend may have exposed some things that Mike Hastings didn't know about his team in nonconference play, and the new coach is trying to nip that in the bud ASAP. No easy task against the Gophers.

"Our compete," Hastings said when asked where MSU needs the most improvement. "I liked where it was for 40 minutes on Saturday (at St. Cloud)."

Hastings said senior Phil Cook (pictured) likely will get the start in goal tonight. Cook has had his ups and downs throughout his career. Yep, some high highs and a couple of low lows. But the last time he played against Minnesota, he was as good as he's ever been. That was two years ago, an MSU sweep in Mankato when he earned WCHA's defensive player of the week honors.

I'll post the Mavericks' official lines later today, but expect them to be mixed up a bit from last week. From there, who knows what may change in the game, Hastings said. Lines changed daily in practice but it appears the top group will be Matt Leitner between Chase Grant and Johnny McInnis. Other groupings from Thursday: Jean-Paul LaFontaine, Dylan Margonari and Bryce Gervais; Eli Zuck, Brett Knowles and Eriah Hayes; and Teddy Blueger, Max Gaede and Zach Lehrke (we'll see if it stays that way). J.P. Burkemper is out with an injury.

"Until we get some consistency, I don't think you'll see consistency in the lines," Hastings said. "We're searching for answers. ... We're trying to come up with some combinations where we get good offensive production without abandoning the defensive side of things."

Read more on The Freep's College Hockey Gameday.

Checking in on the Minnesota coverage, the Star Tribune's Michael Russo wrote about Hastings, who spent one season on the Gophers bench as an assistant coach. Meanwhile Roman Augustoviz predicts a Gophers sweep. At the Pioneer Press, Gophers player Tom Serratore (the son of Hastings' old coach Frank) is featured.

Going around the WCHA ...

Nebraska-Omaha at Michigan Tech: The red Mavs hit the road for Houghton with some hope for their offense after James Polk (any relation to our 11th president?) scored his first goal. The Huskies, meanwhile, are hoping to bounce back after getting swept at Denver last weekend.

Colorado College at Wisconsin: The only team yet to have played a WCHA series, the Tigers hope to start conference play strong in Madison. For the Badgers, everyone knows that Mark Zengerle is more than pretty good, but he thinks he can make himself even better.

St. Cloud State at Denver: Fresh off their sweep of MSU, the Huskies will head west without star forward Ben Hanowski, who was injured in last week's series opener. For the unbeaten Pioneers, much was made about their goaltending and defense in the preseason, but they've scored five goals in each of their first four games.

Boston University at North Dakota: What a treat of a nonconference series in Grand Forks between two national powers. It's the first time since 1996 that the Terriers have played at UND, but with the changes coming to college hockey, it may not take that long to happen again.

Other coverage from USCHO and College Hockey News.

Check back on the blog later today and tonight for more on the Minnesota State vs. Minnesota game from Minneapolis.

Weekend reaction

With the Mavericks playing at St. Lawrence, I ended up covering some Mankato East basketball and Gustavus Adolphus men's hockey over the weekend (check out my story on the Gusties' 6-foot-8 goaltender — yes, 6-foot-8 — John McLean, here ... he's helped Gustavus to a seven-game winning streak).

Anyway, I wasn't able to get reaction to Minnesota State's split with the Saints until after what appeared to be a pretty hard-skating practice on Monday (MSU has today off). You can see some of coach Troy Jutting's comments in this story.

Jutting said his team played five good periods against a fast-skating St. Lawrence team that has a real stud player in Kyle Flanagan. The one not-so-good period, however, was not the one in which they allowed two late goals. It was the first of the weekend when the Mavericks took some time to adjust to the small rink. Jutting said the Saints' game-winning goal was a combination defensive breakdown/soft goal.

The Mavericks bounced back to win on Saturday, thanks in part to a spectacular outing by Phil Cook in goal. Jutting said Cook got back to playing "like Phil" and that Austin Lee did a fine job on Friday night.

Now, it's back to WCHA action. If you want a jumpstart on what's going on with Wisconsin, this weekend's opponent, you can read the transcript of coach Mike Eaves' Monday press conference here.

In other WCHA news, St. Cloud State forward Cam Reid is leaving the team to play in the Western Hockey League. Reid has 15 points in 22 games for the Huskies, so that's a bit of a blow for St. Cloud.

WCHA honors Cook (and Bakala)

As expected, Mavericks goaltender Phil Cook was named WCHA defensive player of the week for his efforts in last weekend's sweep of Minnesota. Also, as expected, he's sharing the award with Bemidji State goalie Dan Bakala, who helped the Beavers sweep Nebraska-Omaha.

A couple more nuggets on Cook's performance, courtesy of MSU's sports info staff: Cook's 49 saves are the most by an MSU goalie in WCHA regular-season action and the most since Des Christoper had 54 saves on 57 shots in a 3-1 loss to Colorado College on Dec. 12, 1997, before the Mavericks joined the WCHA. ... Cook has started 11 of the last 12 games for MSU.

Other WCHA awards went to CC forward Jaden Schwartz, who had seven points against Michigan Tech, and Denver forward Jason Zucker, who helped the Pioneers in a split at Minnesota Duluth.

UPDATE: Meanwhile, Bakala did one better on Cook today, getting named national player of the week by  Inside College Hockey Online.

Cook's got some competition

After getting swept by Minnesota State, Minnesota coach Don Lucia on Saturday night declared, "I think we know who the player of the week is."

He was referring to Phil Cook, Mavericks goaltender, who stopped 49 of 50 shots in Saturday's win. But Bemidji State pulled off home sweep of a ranked team, too, beating Nebraska-Omaha twice thanks to goaltender Dan Bakala. Bakala shut out the Red Mavericks 3-0 on Friday.

So who will win WCHA defensive player of the week honors this week? The league often gives co-winners, and I'm betting that's what happens this week. But if only one could get it, who would it be? Let's compare goalies:

Phil Cook: defeated 17th-ranked Minnesota 3-2 and 3-1. He stopped 33 of 35 shots in the opener and 49 of 50 shots (including 22 of 23 in the third period) on Saturday for a weekend save percentage of .965. The Gophers were scoreless on 10 power plays.

Dan Bakala: defeated fourth-ranked Nebraska-Omaha 3-0 and 3-1. He stopped 25 shots in the shutout and 39 of 40 shots the next day for a weekend save percentage of .985. Omaha was scoreless on nine power plays.

Tough call.

Meanwhile, here are a few more notes from this weekend's series.