2010-11 roster released

We're still more than two months away from hockey season, but the Mavericks' 2010-11 roster is out and posted on the MSU website. There are a few items of interest ...

Here are the freshmen and their jersey numbers:

2-Josh Nelson, D
7-John McInnis, F
11-Corey Leivermann, F
13-Danny Heath, F
15-J.P. Burkemper, F
18-Matt Leitner, F
19-Zach Lehrke, F
20-Chase Grant, F
35-Evan Karambelas, G

Here are the veteran number changes:

9-Mike Louwerse (he was 11)
23-Michael Dorr (he was 18)

Other roster notes:

Tyler Pitlick and Kevin Murdock are not the only early departures from the Mavericks. It appears forward Tyler Thompson is no longer on the team. Thompson played in 40 games over two seasons, compiling three goals and three assists. Last year, he played in 18 games with one goal and one assist. Thompson was often injured but, when healthy, often got a chance to play on the top line. However, he never really delivered.

There are 27 players on the roster, including 16 forwards (McInnis, Louwerse, Leivermann, Galiardi, Jokinen, Burkemper, Leitner, Lehrke, Grant, Sackrison, Dorr, Mueller, Hayes, Schiller, Peterson, Zuck), eight defensemen (Nelson, Cooper, Youds, Heath, Elbrecht, Mosey, Davis, Boe) and three goalies (Lee, Cook, Karambelas).

The roster has players from 11 different states/provinces, including Minnesota (15-Lee, Cooper, Youds, Louwerse, Leivermann, Jokinen, Lehrke, Sackrison, Davis, Dorr, Mueller, Hayes, Schiller, Peterson, Boe), Wisconsin (1-Nelson), Massachusetts (1-McInnis), Arizona (1-Heath), Missouri (1-Burkemper), Illinois (3-Elbrecht, Mosey, Cook), California (1-Leitner), Oklahoma (1-Grant), Alaska (1-Zuck), Alberta (1-Galiardi) and British Columbia (1-Karambelas).

The two Canadians on the roster -- Galiardi and Karambelas -- both played junior hockey in the U.S. (Alexandria and Topeka, respectively), and there is just one player this year -- McInnis -- whose previous team was from a Canadian junior league (Okotoks, Alberta).