Mavs 3, Pios 2 - final

The Mavericks not only pulled off the upset sweep over the fourth-ranked Pioneers, but, as of 11 p.m. they were in a four-way tie for 10th place in the Pairwise rankings.

"Without a doubt, they're on a roll," Pioneers coach George Gwozdecky said. "They're vastly improved."

Here is tonight's box score:

FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1. MSU-Andrew Sackrison 4 (Geoff Irwin 7, Nick Canzanello 9) ppg 17:38
Penalties: Boe, MSU (kneeing) 10:47; Testwuide, DU (holding) 14:21; Butler, DU (high sticking) 16:41; Rakhshani, DU (holding) 19:38; Mouillierat, MSU (holding) 19:38
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 2. MSU-Joel Hanson 6 (R.J. Linder 5, Trevor Bruess 16) 1:11; 3. DU-Tyler Bozak 12 (Rhett Rakhshani 10, Chris Butler 12) 6:19; 4. MSU-Jon Kalinski 7 (Zach Harrison 10, Kurt Davis 8) 15:50
Penalties: Wiley, MSU (high-sticking) 4:10; Stewart, MSU (slashing) 7:44; Thomas, DU (tripping) 17:49
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 5. DU-Ostrow 10 (Testwuide 4, Mannino 4) ppg 13:46
Penalties: Kilburg, MSU (holding) :13; DU (bench minor) 1:31; Jackson, DU, double-minor/10-minute misconduct (roughing) 10:05; Youds, MSU, double-minor/10-minute misconduct (roughing) 10:05; Boe, MSU (interfernce) 12:08
SUMMARIES
Shots on goal: DU 5-7-8--20; MSU 5-10-7--22. Penalties: DU 1 for 5 minutes; MSU 1 for 4 minutes. Power-play opportunities: DU 1 for 5; MSU 1 for 4. Goalie saves: DU-Mannino 4-8-7--19 (3 GA); MSU-Zacharias 5-6-7--18 (2 GA)
Denver called its timeout at 18:27 of the third period.
Referee: Bill Mason. Assistant referees: Jarod Moen, Jerome Krieger.
Attendance: 4,234

MSU-DU II

It's an hour until the Mavericks -- alone in 16th in the latest Pairwise rankings -- try to get their second sweep in as many weekends. Minnesota State made no line changes from last night, while Denver switched things around. Here are tonight's lines (with Friday night's scoring totals in parenthesis and starters in italic):

MINNESOTA STATE
Kalinski-Harrison-Berge
Hanson (1G)-Bruess (1A)-Mouillierat (1A)
Irwin (1G, 1A)-Sackrison (1G, 2A)-Wiley (1G)
Gaulrapp-Gunderson-Stewart

Davis (1A)-Kilburg
Youds (1G)-Boe
Linder (2A)-Canzanello

Zacharias
Tormey
Lee

DENVER
Rakhshani (1G)-Bozak-Ruegsegger
May-Martin-Mullen (1A)
Maiani-Ostrow-Jackson
Vossberg-Giford-Glasser

Butler (1A)-Thomas
Nutini-Brookwell
Testwuide-Blom

Mannino
Cheverie

The right mix

Minnesota State coach Troy Jutting has mixed and matched his forward lines all season, experimenting with matchups and looking for the right chemistry.

A week ago, he put freshman center Andrew Sackrison between sophomore wings Geoff Irwin and Jason Wiley.

It's been a combustible combination.

The trio was responsible for the Mavericks' first four goals in a 5-1 Western Collegiate Hockey Association victory over No. 4 Denver Friday at the Alltel Center.

"It's a good combo," said Wiley, who scored his first collegiate game-winning goal. "When it's working it's working."

Before a crowd of 4,102, Wiley had one goal, Irwin had a goal and an assist and Sackrison had a goal and two assists.

Over Minnesota State's last three games -- all wins -- the three forwards have combined for seven goals and 14 points.

"They've got confidence," Jutting said, "and when the puck starts going in the net it's good for everybody."

The win moved the Mavericks up to a tie for 16th in the all-important Pairwise rankings and into sixth place in the WCHA standings.

Irwin gave the Mavericks a 1-0 lead in the first period, and Wiley broke a 1-1 tie at 9:21 of the second. Less than four minutes later, Sackrison scored. Both goals came off R.J. Linder assists.

 "It just seems like the whole team's pretty confident," said Sackrison, who leads all MSU rookies with 14 points. "It started when we came back last week. We're feeding off last week. If something doesn't go your way, just keep your head up and keep going."

In the third period, freshman defenseman Ben Youds scored his first career goal on assists from Irwin and Sackirson at 7:14. Joel Hanson scored the Mavericks' final goal for their third five-goal game in a row.

Mavs goalie Mike Zacharias finished with 22 saves for his 11th win. Denver's Peter Mannino stopped 24 of 29 shots.

Mavericks 5, Pioneers 1, final

FIRST PERIOD

Scoring: 1. MSU-Geoff Irwin 7 (Andrew Sackrison 10) 11:39

Penalties: Ryan Gunderson, MSU (hooking) 9:09; Tom May, DU (slashing) 15:24; Trevor Bruess, MSU (interference) 16:15; Kyle Ostrow, DU (hooking) 16:54

SECOND PERIOD

Scoring: 2. DU-Rhett Rakhshani 9 (Patrick Mullen 13, Chris Butler 11) ppg 4:01; 3. MSU-Wiley 8 (R.J. Linder 3, Davis 7) 9:21; 4. MSU-Sackrison 3 (Linder 4) 13:12

Penalties: Andrew Thomas, DU (interference) 1:19; Irwin, MSU (slashing) 2:44; J.P. Testwuide, DU (cross-checking) 4:15; Ben Youds, MSU (hooking) 7:53; Tyler Ruegsegger, DU (goaltender interference) 8:22; Tyler Bozak, DU (holding) 18:06

THIRD PERIOD 

Scoring: 5. MSU-Youds 1 (Irwin 6, Sackrison 11) 7:14; 6. MSU-Joel Hanson 5 (Bruess 15) 18:15

Penalties: Zach Harrison, MSU (high sticking) :46; Mick Berge, MSU (slashing) 4:27; DU (bench minor) 8:58; Nick Canzanello, MSU (interfernce) 14:30; Ruegsegger, DU (cross-checking) 18:31

Shots on goal: DU 23, MSU 29

Gameday, part II (updated)

About an hour before the puck drops. Here are the lines (starters in italic):

MINNESOTA STATE
Kalinski-Harrison-Berge
Hanson-Bruess-Mouilierat
Irwin-Sackrison-Wiley
Gaulrapp-Gunderson-Stewart

Davis-Kilburg
Youds-Boe
Linder-Canzanello

Zacharias
Tormey
Lee

DENVER
Ostrow-Bozak-Ruegsegger
Rakhshani-Martin-Mullen
Maiani-Gifford-May
GlasserVossberg-Jackson

Butler-Thomas
Nutini-Brookwell
Testwuide-Blom

Mannino
Cheverie

You want answers? 2/1/08

Taking a stab at some of your questions this week:

Is Adam Mueller playing minor hockey anywhere right now? If so what kind of numbers does he have? Also without any major injuries(hopefully) can we also assume that this will be a red shirt year for Brett Peterson? Mueller is playing for Roseville High School and has 24 goals and 17 assists in 20 games. Thursday night against Hastings, he had a hat trick and five assists. It was his second game in a row with at least three goals and fourth of the season. As for Peterson, if he doesn't play the rest of the year I'm sure he'll be eligible for a redshirt season. I'm not sure if that's the plan or if he just hasn't worked his way into the lineup yet. Below, there are some more questions on incoming recruits, and, we're finding out, there will be plenty of competition for roster spots, much less playing time, next season. There was a related question from an e-mailer who wondered about redshirts' eligibility academically. They wondered if a player was done with his degree in four years what happens in the fifth. As long as they have athletic eligibility remaining and stay enrolled in school they can play. In the past, some have taken graduate-level classes, while others will just take an elective or two.

What is the thinking behind Berge never killing penalties or rarely playing 4 on 4? Goal scoring is at such a premium in WCHA and you think you would want your goal scorers on the ice as much as possible especialy 4 on 4. Other teams goal scorers get tons of ice time. I wrote about Mick Berge in today's Freep, and one thing coach Jutting told me was that Berge was recruited as "a points guy," meaning he's offense first. I think the coaching staff would rather give Berge a breather during a penalty rather than put him out there to do something that's not one of his strengths. Keep him fresh for the third period. Although the Mavericks have given up more power-play goals of late, they do have forwards who are excellent killers (Hanson, Kalinski, etc.). To be honest, I haven't charted 4-on-4 ice time to see who's out there every shift but will try to pay more attention to that.

What sort of jump might the Mavericks make in the polls/pairwise rankings should they find a way to split or, dare I say, sweep the Pioneers this weekend? I think it's safe to say this is going to be a huge weekend for our hockey team. A sweep would indeed be huge for the Mavericks, both for the WCHA standings and the Pairwise. They're ranked 20th in the Pairwise now and need to get up to 14 or higher by the end of the year. I'd need to sit down and figure out all of the comparisons and how they work to guess how far they'd move up with a sweep or split. Just how important are the Pairwise rankings? Well, one WCHA writer has decided that, from now on, he only uses those rankings when referring to where a team is ranked nationally. For example, he'd call this weekend's matchup No. 3 Denver vs. No. 20 Minnesota State, as opposed to No. 4 Denver vs. unranked MSU. He, like me, votes in one of the national polls but admits that it is completely meaningless compared to the Pairwise. He probably has something there, and I might consider doing the same now that we're in the final five weeks of the regular season.

Do you think with the amount of defensmen MSU will have next year that Cameron Cooper or Baylor Dieter will have an immediate impact on the team? Also Adam Mueller and Joe Schiller for the forwards? One impact those players will bring is depth. The Mavericks will only lose three players to graduation: Joel Hanson, R.J. Linder and Matt Tyree. Tyree doesn't play much, and the other two will leave one opening each at forward and defense. Up front, the Mavs will also have Mike Louwerse back from injury, so there should be good depth and competition there. Same with defense. The Mavs already have seven D -- all of whom they seem to like -- for six spots; they'll have eight next year. Players are going to have to earn their playing time, that's for sure.

Staying on the topic of incoming recruits, can you give us anymore info. on Tyler Thompson, the Mavs latest recruit? I noticed he appears in the NHL's Central Scouting Mid Term Rankings and is 15th in the USHL in scoring. What sort of impact might he have on this up-and-coming Maverick hockey program? Again, the Mavericks could be very deep at forward, not only with the players they're bringing in but with the maturation of their current players, especially the sophomores: Trevor Bruess, Zach Harrison, Kael Mouillerat, Jason Wiley, Geoff Irwin and Jerad Stewart. I don't know much about Thompson, other than he's made a huge jump in scoring from last year to this year. I wish the MSU coaches could talk about him but we'll have to wait until he signs for to get their take. With so few roster spots opening up, I'll be curious to see how many of the freshmen actually come in next year and who might stay back for another season of junior hockey.

What are the chances of Kalinski staying for his senior season? I would guess pretty good. As a mid-level draft pick, the Flyers probably don't have to throw a ton of money at him, and if the organization likes and respects college hockey (which some NHL teams don't), having him play in the WCHA should be as good for his development as playing in the minors would be. I might have thought differently about this if Kalinski was putting the numbers he put up last year. That's what got him noticed. Right now, he has six goals and three assists; last year he broke out with 17 goals and 10 assists. I don't think he's having a bad season, though. He's been tremendous on the kill and is second on the team in shots on goal. He just doesn't have the points right now.

Thanks for your questions this week. Sorry to get to them a few days late and sorry if I didn't get to one of yours. Keep them coming for the future and enjoy this weekend's games against the Pioneers.

Gameday, wee hours edition

There will be a couple of changes in Minnesota State's lineup tonight. Defenseman Brian Kilburg and forward James Gaulrapp will return after being benched last Saturday. Kilburg will go in for Blake Friesen, and Gaulrapp will go back to the fourth line in place of freshman Rylan Galiardi. Coach Troy Jutting put both moves in the "coach's decision" category.

That means the Mavericks' lines should look like this (I'll post any changes during a pregame blog):

Hanson-Bruess-Mouillierat
Irwin-Sackrison-Wiley
Kalinski-Harrison-Berge
Gaulrapp-Gunderson-Stewart

Davis-Kilburg
Youds-Boe
Linder-Canzanello

Zacharias

The Mavericks practiced Thursday at the Alltel Center, and Denver arrived just as practice was beginning. Coach George Gwozdecky and a few players stood outside the glass for a few minutes before leaving the arena. As for Denver, according to the Denver Post, leading scorer Brock Trotter is not on the trip.

As for the Mavericks, junior forward Mick Berge has been on a good roll, and you can read about him in Friday's Free Press. Berge is fourth in the WCHA and first on the Mavericks with 14 goals. His 26 goals over the last two seasons is the best on the team.

For those of you Mankatoans (Mankatoites?) who can't get enough of your hockey fix, the Shattuck-St. Mary's prep team will take on Benilde-St. Margaret's at 2:15 p.m. at the Alltel Center.

A couple more non-MSU hockey notes:

Mankato West and Rochester Lourdes, the sixth- and 12th-ranked teams in Class A squared off in what might have been a Section 1A semifinal or even final preview Thursday night at All Seasons Arena. Lourdes won a great game 4-3. Other top teams in the section include Red Wing, New Prague and Albert Lea, who beat West earlier in the year and will play the Scarlets again next Thursday in Mankato.

A three-bus contingent of Mankato Area Hockey Association folks -- including my 7-year-old son and I -- attended Wednesday's game between the Wild and the Ducks. The Wild put on a great show with a 5-1 win. It was a chance for Mankato fans to see ex-Maverick Ryan Carter play for the Ducks, too. Although he was scoreless, Carter won eight of 10 faceoffs and got significant time on the penalty kill.