Mavericks 3, Engineers 3 (OT)

Pat Christman/The Free Press

Freddy's three thoughts of the game ...

1. It's how you finish: The first 50 minutes of Friday's game were pretty ugly for the home team, as Minnesota State trailed 2-1 and was getting outshot 20-12 after the first two periods and then fell behind 3-1 at 7:19 of the third. But the Mavericks woke up and scored a pair of late goals to salvage the tie. Johnny McInnis (pictured) scored a goal with 9:22 to play, and freshman Bryce Gervais tied it up with 3:04 to go. McInnis had a solid game, as he also assisted on rookie Teddy Blueger's first-period power-play goal and had a team-leading four shots on goal.

2. A bit boxed up: Against Alabama Huntsville last week, Minnesota State committed just six penalties in the series. Against a strong, defensive RPI team, they went to the box eight times. Nothing horrible (RPI did the same) but certainly less than ideal. Chase Grant was called for three penalties, including two that negated MSU power plays. The Engineers scored two power play goals and got robbed on a couple of other Grade A chances by goaltender Phil Cook. Cook finished with 26 saves, including 11 the second period.

3. Hastings' home debut: The game, of course, was the first official home game for new MSU coach Mike Hastings. Hastings hasn't lost yet (1-0-2), but he didn't seem too pleased with the way Friday's game went overall, especially in front of the home crowd (announced at 3,266). "It's not a rainy day, it's not gloom and doom," he said. "But we have to be better and take responsibility — from the head coach on down."

Deep thought: Speaking of third-period heroics, the MSU women's team came from behind to tie Minnesota Duluth and then claim an extra WCHA point with a shootout win on Friday at All Seasons Arena. Trailing 3-0, the Mavericks got goals from Casey Hirsch, Tracy McCann and Kathleen Rogan in the final 9:14. Rogan's game-tying goal came with an extra attacker on the ice with 11 seconds to play. MSU is now 3-2-2.

Read The Free Press game story here.

Up next: The Mavericks and the Engineers play at 7:07 p.m. Saturday.

Around the WCHA: Michigan Tech 5, Minnesota 3 ... Notre Dame 4, Minnesota Duluth 1 ... St. Cloud State 8, Alabama Huntsville 3 ... Lake Superior 2, Bemidji State 0 ... Nebraska Omaha 5, Northern Michigan 2 ... Colorado College 6, Air Force 2 ... North Dakota 5, Alaska Anchorage 0 ... Denver 5, UMass-Lowell 1

MSU's off! ... Leitner's in ... Notre Dame decides

The Minnesota State men's hockey team left town early Thursday for their season-opening series at RPI in Troy, N.Y. The Mavericks have never played the Engineers before, but it shapes up to be a competitive series (more on that on Friday). ...

One of the players on the trip is freshman Matt Leitner, who missed all of last season while getting his academics in order. He was a student at MSU but did not practice or work out with the team. Monday's exhibition game against British Columbia was Leitner's first game action in almost 18 months, he said.

Leitner said he achieved a 3.2 GPA in his first year of school, which is great for him and the Mavericks. He has a chance to be the kind of top-line center MSU has lacked in recent years.

You can read more about his thoughts and other MSU happenings (like Mavs women's standout Kathleen Rogan being named WCHA offensive player of the week) in The Free Press' weekly college hockey notebook here. ...

Meanwhile, Notre Dame made it official on Wednesday, announcing that it will join Hockey East in 2013-14. The Irish also announced that all of their home games will be broadcast nationally on Versus (now the NBC Sports Network), a move that, ironically, caused the National Collegiate Hockey Conference to back away from its desire to get Notre Dame.

(This all begs the question: If the NCHC didn't get Notre Dame and didn't get a national TV contract, what the heck did it get to make it worth breaking up the WCHA this summer?)

For now, that appears to be the final domino to fall since Penn State's announcement that it was adding hockey a little more than a year ago — at least in the West. There is speculation that we might see some shuffling in the East, as Hockey East looks for a 12th team. RPI could be a possibility or maybe a new D-I team. Stay tuned. ...

As for the WCHA, I wrote on Wednesday that it and MSU needs to start selling the future. But Kevin Gordon of the Bowling Green Sentinel-Tribune has already started looking into it. WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod told him that the league is no hurry to expand further (although 10 teams would be preferable to nine/check out the poll to the right) and will continue to play a 28-game league schedule.

McLeod also said the league is looking into how to fit two Alaska teams into the schedule.

Here's where the western teams will be in 2013-14 (as of right now):

WCHA
Minnesota State
Bemidji State
Michigan Tech
Northern Michigan
Lake Superior State
Ferris State
Bowling Green
Alaska-Anchorage
Alaska

BIG 10
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Michigan
Michigan State
Ohio State
Penn State

NCHC
North Dakota
Denver
Colorado College
Minnesota Duluth
St. Cloud State
Nebraska Omaha
Miami
Western Michigan

Notre Dame to Hockey East ... Air Force in Atlantic Hockey ... Alabama-Huntsville still independent