Answering your questions

It's been awhile since we've had a You Want Answers post, so here's a stab at your questions from this week.

Don Lucia can't seem to handle last weekend's sweep and is now complaining about alcohol being served at "certain arenas" and is going to talk to the WCHA about it. Thoughts? I haven't heard those comments and would be curious to see what he said exactly. However, I'd have a hard time thinking the WCHA would have any say over whether or not a city-run building would be able to serve alcohol during a college sporting event. I think that would have to come down from the NCAA and apply to all sports. I know there are many on-campus arenas and stadiums that do not allow alcohol to be served. Mankato's not the only rink in the league that sells it. North Dakota, Colorado College (Lucia's former team) and Denver also play in rinks that serve beer at least. Was it an issue last weekend? I don't know for sure, except to say that plastic beer bottles were thrown on the ice a couple of times. That's happened from time to time at the Alltel, and it's embarrassing and annoying. There have been some well-documented alcohol problems in Mankato and involving MSU students in recent years that have prompted both the city and the university to make policy changes. Yet in what appears to be the biggest joint venture between the two -- hockey -- alcohol remains a big part of the draw.

Why don't the Mavericks have 3rd jerseys? Many WCHA teams do. Also, why haven't the Mavericks auctioned off game worns in a couple of years? It seems like a good way to make some money for the program. Heck, they could even to a raffle every game for a jersey, like Michigan Tech does. By doing it every game, the tickets are just $1-- not the $5 like when MSU did it at the Gopher series. What's the word on a jumbotron being added to the Alltel Center? The Mavericks have had third jerseys in the past, some pretty good ones, too, in my opinion. The throwback jerseys honoring the 1980 national champions were rock-solid. Last year, MSU got new home and road jerseys, which I also think are great uniforms. I wouldn't be surprised if they added a third next year, although I have no inside information about that. St. Cloud had a retro jersey this year and held a silent auction for them with a minimum $100 bid to raise money for the athletic department. ... As for the jumbotron, I've heard rumblings that officials are looking into getting a center-ice scoreboard, but I don't know the timeline.

Where ... is Jason Wiley? I know he's out on injury, but is it still unspecified? Do we have to wait for a miracle to get him back in the lineup, too? I saw Wiley skating this week in practice. I'm not sure what that means for the North Dakota series yet. It seems like he has had injury issues throughout the season. He's missed 12 games, including the last five. Otherwise, the only other injury issues right now are Channing Boe and Cameron Cooper, which leaves the Mavs a little thin on defense.

What ever happened to Peter Lompado? I don't believe he's at Minnesota State anymore. Last year, he was a redshirt defenseman who also played baseball for the Mavericks. I think he was recruited primarily as a baseball player but was thought to be someone who could be an extra D who could play in a pinch for the hockey team.

Any insight into Andy Sackrison's (sophomore) slump? His performance this year reminds me of Jerad Stewart last year. This is one of the more perplexing issues on the team. Sackrison had a rock-solid second half of his freshman year, which prompted many -- myself included -- to think he'd be a go-to guy this year. He has just one goal and four assists in 22 games. Last year, he finished with six goals and 14 assists. Like Wiley, he's had some injury issues, but he's also been in and out of the lineup because of performance. Last Friday against Minnesota, Sackrison was on the fourth line but he centered the top line with Mouillierat and Irwin on Saturday because of Trevor Bruess' suspension.

Do you know how much recruiting the Mavericks do in Canada? More specifically the BCHL & AJHL? They do some. Irwin (BCHL) and Mouillierat (AJHL) are the only players from those leagues on this team. There have been many others in the past, and I know assistant coaches have made trips to Canada this year. As for incoming freshmen (see next question), none are from Canada.

Should the Mavericks be getting some more commitments soon? Since there are 13 Jr's and Sr's not to mention Bruess who might as well be a senior. I guess I'm just wondering when the commitments are going to come in to fill the gap of that huge Jr class? I know this is a hard question so just give me the information that you can: Just this week MSU got a commitment for defenseman Tyler Elbrecht from St. Louis of the North American Hockey League. He's a 6-foot-5, 220-pound 20-year-old. Also coming in next year are goalie Kevin Murdock, defenseman Danny Heath and forwards Eli Zuck and Eriah Hayes of the USHL and forward Tyler Pitlick from Centennial High School. They'll bring in another goalie, too. That class should cover the losses of both senior goalies, both senior defensemen (Friesen and Kilburg), senior forward Mick Berge and any other losses (Bruess, perhaps, although he told me last week he's not considering anything until after the season ends). Brett Peterson, who likely wasn't going to play anyway, appears to be done after undergoing back surgery, which opens another roster spot. I'm sure they could also redshirt one of the incoming forwards for the following season when they lose a large class of forwards. As for 2010, they currently have commitments from forwards Josh Berge (Mick's brother), Zach Lehrke (Minnesota's top high school scorer last year) and Mankato's own Core Leivermann. They'll have to get more, obviously.

There has been some discussion on the USCHO board as to Jutting's contract. Can you clarify if it is or isn't up for extension at the end of the season? Thanks Shane. Jutting signed a two-year contract extension after the 2006-07 season. Last year, after he won the WCHA coach of the year award, athletic director Kevin Buisman said they could begin talking about a possible extension/new contract in the summer, meaning starting last July. From what I understand, Jutting's next contract must be a four-year deal, so the university has a big decision to make after the season.

Thanks to everyone who asked questions.

Mouillierat, Zacharias earn WCHA honors

Mavericks forward Kael Mouillierat and goaltender Mike Zacharias were named WCHA players of the week this week for their performances in the sweep of Minnesota. The WCHA release can be found here.

Mouillierat was named offensive player of the week, and Zacharias shared defensive player of the week honors with Minnesota Duluth goalie Alex Stalock.

Lucia defends Schack again

Gophers coach Don Lucia said Monday that Brian Schack crossed the line "a little bit" when he went after Minnesota State's Channing Boe during Friday's game in Mankato but also defended Schack by saying on his radio show Monday, "That’s not the way we like to play. But in some of our kids’ defense, Brian Schack included — and I’ve said it, at some point, we got to protect our own players, too. Brian did that and that’s to his credit."

Boe had checked Jay Barriball from behind when Schack chased him down and tackled him from behind, inciting some fisticuffs in the corner. Schack continued to pound on Boe who was lying defenseless on the ice before referee Todd Anderson finally broke it up. Somewhere in the pileup, Boe broke his leg and is out for the season.

"There were some vicious hits," Lucia said of the game. "The elbowing, the five-minute majors, the disqualifications, the checks from behind. It shouldn’t be part of the game. Especially — you don’t see it very often where the team that is winning like that is initiating some of the things that went on."

Apparently, the WCHA was reviewing the incident. We'll see if there will be any more punishment handed down tomorrow. Meanwhile, you can read more about it on Roman Augustoviz's blog here.

Idle questions

With the Mavericks off this week, this might be a good time for PucKato to take your questions. So go ahead and ask away over the next couple of days, and I'll try to answer them on Thursday.

Boe out for season

I just realized that I didn't post this earlier. For the record, Mavericks defenseman Channing Boe is out for the season, barring "a miracle," coach Troy Jutting said. Boe broke his leg during a melee in Friday night's game against Minnesota. For more on the story, go here.

Mavs miss top 20, Gophers fall

Following Minnesota State's sweep of Minnesota, the Mavericks got more votes for the USCHO.com poll but not enough to get into the top 20. Meanwhile, the Gophers fell four spots.

1. Boston University (33)
2. Notre Dame (17)
3. Northeastern
4. Michigan
5. Cornell
6. Denver
7. Vermont
8. Miami
9. Minnesota
10. Princeton
11. New Hampshire
12. Boston College
13. North Dakota
14. Yale
15. Ohio State
16. Wisconsin
17. Minnesota Duluth
18. Colorado College
19. Dartmouth
20. St. Lawrence
Other receiving votes: St. Cloud State, Minnesota State, RIT, Alaska, Air Force, Nebraska-Omaha, UMass, UMass-Lowell, Niagara

Historic sweep

Here's the story from Sunday's Free Press:

By Shane Frederick
Free Press Staff Writer

MINNEAPOLIS – For nearly 15 minutes, the Minnesota State men’s hockey team could not ignore history.

Preserve a one-goal lead, and they’d secure the program’s first-ever weekend sweep of Minnesota. Hold on, and they’d win a game in Mariucci Arena for the first time in a decade.

“It’s nervous. It’s exciting. It’s so many things,” said junior forward James Gaulrapp, whose short-handed goal in the first period ended up as the game-winning goal in the Mavericks’ 3-1 Western Collegiate Hockey Association upset over the fifth-ranked Gophers.

“It’s a great feeling. You don’t want to let it go. It’s pretty awesome.”

Following Friday night’s 6-2 win in Mankato, the Mavericks opened up a 2-0 lead on goals by Kurt Davis and Gaulrapp in the first period. Goaltender Mike Zacharias stopped 29 shots, and Zach Harrison sealed the win with an empty-net goal with 12.7 seconds left in the game.

While the win – just the fifth over the Gophers since the teams first played in 1997 – had historical significance, the Mavericks (13-13-3, 9-11-2 in WCHA) called it more important for the current season.

“I think (history) is for the fans,” coach Troy Jutting said. “We come out and try hard to beat everyone we play. This was four points in the league right now. It’s more important that the kids are starting to understand how to play and do what they need to do to be successful.”]

The Mavericks moved back into the Pairwise Rankings and within one point of the Gophers in the league standings. The sweep followed a stretch in which they won just three of 13 games.

“The biggest thing was for us to get back on track,” Gaulrapp said.

Saturday’s game followed a raucous series opener that had more than 90 minutes worth of penalties, including four majors, and two ejections.

But the Mavericks maintained a physical, yet disciplined game. Jutting said that was emphasized before the opening faceoff.

“We came here to win a hockey game,” Jutting said. “That other stuff wasn’t important.”

The Mavericks took eight penalties, and the Gophers took 10, including two more majors.

Davis’ goal came on the power play at 11:24 when he fired the rebound of a Geoff Irwin shot behind goalie Alex Kangas (28 saves).

Gaulrapp scored while killing a penalty, poking the puck out of the defensive zone and fighting off Gophers Jake Hansen and Patrick White before shoving a backhanded shot behind Kangas.

“I was going to go as hard as I can no matter what,” Gaulrapp said.

Early in the second period, two Gophers –Nico Sacchetti and captain Ryan Stoa – received major penalties and game misconducts for checking from behind less than two minutes apart. The Mavericks failed to score but didn’t allow Minnesota to grab too much momentum from the partisan crowd of 10,187.

The Gophers ended Zacharias’ shutout bid at 5:09 of the third period when Patrick White put in his own rebound after a nice feed from Ryan Flynn.

From there, the Mavericks held on to history. They were outshot 12-5 in the period and killed off a penalty along the way.

“It’s fun. It’s why we play – for those pressure situations,” Zacharias said.

Irwin had two assists, including a nifty feed to Harrison for the empty-netter. The Mavericks won the regular-season series over the Gophers with a 2-1-1 mark.

“This is really special,” senior defenseman Brian Kilburg said. “It’s something we haven’t done – not only to get the sweep but to do it in their barn. It’s a memory I’ll always cherish.

The Mavericks will be idle next weekend and will return to action Feb. 13-14 at North Dakota.