Elbrecht likely to play against Gophers

Minnesota State junior defenseman and co-captain Tyler Elbrecht survived his first full-contact practice since early October on Monday, as well as the rest of the week, and it appears he'll be in the lineup Friday against fifth-ranked Minnesota.

The Gopher series was Elbrecht's target weekend since breaking his arm in the first game of the year against RPI, even if doctors, trainers and coaches were a little skeptical that it might happen.

Even Wednesday, coach Troy Jutting said he would have liked to have given Elbrecht another week of practice to get his legs ready for game action. But 1) the Mavericks need him in the lineup (see below) and 2) this is a pretty important WCHA weekend.

Elbrecht's return will be a huge boost for the Mavericks. For one thing, it will be the return of the team's emotional leader. But also all still is not rosy on the injury front as defenseman Brett Stern re-aggravated  his upper-body injury and likely is out until after Christmas, and defenseman Danny Heath remains out indefinitely with an upper-body injury.

As for other injuries, forward Adam Mueller practiced this week and appears set to play again after missing Saturday's game against Alaska Anchorage.

A few other items ...

Minnesota's hockey sports information guy Paul Rovnak asked me to contribute to a little Q&A about this weekend's series. You can read that here.

Later today or tomorrow you should check out Star Tribune beat writer Roman Augustoviz's blog where, once again, he has challenged me in a WCHA pick-'em contest. Currently, Roman has some notes on this weekend's series from Wednesday's media session at the U.

Thursday notebook

You can read my Thursday hockey notebook in The Free Press right here.

Among the highlights:

• Troy Jutting talks about Teddy Blueger and the 2012 recruiting class. The Latvian will be MSU's first European player and the first player associated with the program to play in the World Junior Championships.

• Tyler Elbrecht and Brett Stern get back on the ice. Just skating now, but Elbrecht is pretty excited about it.

• Gustavus Adolphus women's standout Mollie Carroll was named MIAC player of the week.

Elbrecht to have surgery, Lee honored

Tyler Elbrecht

Had a chance to talk with Tyler Elbrecht today. He had an old-school plaster cast on his left arm that went from his hand, past his elbow and halfway up his upper arm. The junior defenseman and co-captain broke both bones in his lower arm (the ulna and radius) when he was hit into the boards in the first game of last weekend's series at RPI. "Snapped them both," he said.

Elbrecht will have surgery on Friday to repair the broken arm, getting metal plates put on the bones. He said he hopes to be out 6-8 at weeks but said he will not rush it. He wants to be fully healed before he gets back in a game. Six weeks would be the Minnesota series on the first weekend of December. Eight weeks would get him games before Christmas. But since he hasn't had the surgery yet no one was giving a specific timeline for his return.

"When he's healthy and ready to go, that's when we'll get him back," coach Troy Jutting said. "It's not going to be tomorrow."

Elbrecht said he'll play the part of the "so called pom-pom guy" and be the team's top cheerleader until he can play again.

Mavericks coaches and players talked about how physical the RPI series was, and they came out of it pretty banged up. Besides Elbrecht, forwards Max Gaede and J.P. Burkemper and defenseman Danny Heath suffered upper body injuries and will not play in this weekend's games against UMass-Lowell. Coach Troy Jutting said the lineup is still being tweaked for the weekend but forwards Eli Zuck and Charlie Thauwald were getting some work on defense. The Mavericks are thin and experienced back there, that's for sure. Stay tuned.

Austin Lee

Meanwhile, I should have had this on Tuesday but better late than never: Goaltender Austin Lee was named WCHA co-defensive player of the week for his 36-save shutout performance on Friday. It was the second time Lee has been honored by the league in his career.

Lee shared the award with Minnesota goaltender Kent Patterson. Offensive player of the week went to Alaska-Anchorage's Mickey Spencer, and the rookie of the week was Michigan Tech's Blake Pietila.

More hockey stuff in Thursday's hockey notebook in The Free Press.

Big win, tough loss

Minnesota State opened the season with a 1-0 victory at No. 18 RPI on Friday night. Austin Lee stopped 36 shots for his first career shutout, and defenseman Cameron Cooper scored the lone goal with 1:22 remaining in the third third period.

All was not well afterward, though, as Tyler Elbrecht, the junior defenseman and co-captain, suffered what the radio broadcast described as an apparent arm injury late in the second period and did not return. Reached by phone after the game, MSU coach Troy Jutting would not detail the injury but did say that Elbrecht is "out for awhile."

"It's a huge loss for us," he said. "We're inexperienced as it is (on defense). Now we're really inexperienced."

Freshman Max Gaede also suffered an injury.

"It was a gutty win," Jutting said. "With the injuries and all of the penalty killing we had to do, it was a gutty win. I'm proud of them."

Yes, the penalties. The Mavericks killed off 10 RPI power plays and were whistled for 11 penalties. The Engineers committed eight penalties. Cooper's goal came in a a 4-on-4 situation. Eriah Hayes had the assist.

Lee had a great night, stopping 17 shots in the third period. The Mavericks finished the game with 20 shots on goal.

You can see the box score here.

Also, check out postgame video (interviews with Lee and Jutting) by The Daily Gazette's Ken Schott here.

Meanwhile, back in Mankato, the Minnesota State women's hockey team improved to 3-0-0 after defeating No. 8 Mercyhurst 3-2 in overtime. Nicole Germaine scored the game-winner in the final minute of OT.

Hockey, hockey, hockey ...

Photos by Pat Christman/The Free Press

Lots of coverage of the Minnesota State men's hockey team in today's Free Press, starting with a feature on the Mavericks' Mr. Twitter, Mr. Mantra and Mr. Positivity — Tyler Elbrecht (pictured), one of the team's two captains (Mike Dorr is the other).

From there, we have a position-by-position look at the Mavericks this season. Coach Troy Jutting says he's not afraid to put any of the forwards on the ice this season, which means, some talented players will have to sit in the stands or not make road trips this season. Competition should be good for a team looking for consistency, especially in scoring. Defensively, there are some holes to fill, but the goaltending (pictured) should be solid with both Phil Cook and Austin Lee returning.

Finally, there's the game story from Monday's exhibition against British Columbia. It was a pretty sparse crowd at the Verizon Wireless Center but they saw some decent play, including goals by Zach Lehrke, Corey Leivermann and Jean-Paul LaFontaine. Unlike regular-season games, the Mavericks could dress everyone for the exhibition and put different lineups on the ice each period. Only Justin Jokinen, who sat out with a minor injury, didn't play. Third-string goalie Evan Karambelas dressed but didn't play. He is returning from injury.

You can see video of Leivermann's goal off the back of the UBC goalie on KEYC-TV's report from last night. Video here.

Back on the ice

With school underway at Minnesota State, the Maverick players are on the ice, doing power skating and captains practices five days a week, according to captain Tyler Elbrecht (pictured).

"We've been working hard, working on team building, making sure we're ready to go at the beginning of the season," the junior defenseman said after a shinny (no checking) game Wednesday at All Seasons Arena.

Starting Sept. 15, coaches can be on the ice with players for two hours a week. The official first day of practice is Saturday, Oct. 1. Two days after that, MSU will play an exhibition game against British Columbia. Then on Oct. 7-8, the Mavs will head east to open the regular season against RPI.

"Everybody's come back in better shape and with something to prove," Elbrecht said. "We took it upon ourselves to get better in the offseason so we're ready to go."

If you followed Elbrecht on Twitter (@Elbrecth16), this summer, you've probably seen his almost daily comments about his workouts, along with the occasional inspirational quote. He said understands that there are people who will hold him accountable for those tweets.

"I enjoy Twitter; I'm not going to lie," he said. "I like to have fun with the boys and use it to keep us motivated. But also a big thing is to use it to stay connected, like with Ben Youds (Elbrecht's former defensive partner) or Kurt (Davis), who is in Europe."

After all of the recent news about the changes coming in college hockey and the WCHA, it was refreshing to take a look at this season, rather than the one coming in 2013. Mavericks coach Troy Jutting seemed to think the same way.

"It's two years away," Jutting said. "I'm worried about this year. We've got a game on Oct. 7."

MSU award winners, captains

Minnesota State announced its 2011-12 captains as well as its '10-11 award winners on Sunday.

Tyler Elbrecht and Michael Dorr will be next season's captains, with the alternate captains rotating monthly throughout the season. Cameron Cooper will be the October alternate captain. Elbrecht, a defenseman, will be a junior next season. Dorr, a forward, will be a senior. Cooper, a defenseman, will be a senior.

As for the awards ...

Most Valuable Player: Kurt Davis, sr. D
Unsung Hero and Star of the Year: Ben Youds, sr. D
Most Improved Player: Cameron Cooper, jr. D
Hustle Award (hardest worker): Tyler Elbrecht, so., D
Don Brose Leadership Award: Rylan Galiardi, sr. F

To see player bios, read the entire MSU release on the awards here.