Friday morning skate — welcome to the season

Mavericks captain Rylan Galiardi (Pat Christman photo)

Good morning! It's game day — for real this time, and the Mavericks are set to take on St. Lawrence at the Verizon Wireless Center tonight. Minnesota State will have its veterans who watched Monday's exhibition game out of the stands and onto the ice.

That veteran group includes senior captain Rylan Galiardi, who has embraced his leadership role. One of two Canadians on the team, Galiardi talked about bringing together a group of players from a variety of locales, including Minnesota (of course), Canada, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Massachusetts, Oklahoma Arizona and Alaska (am I missing anyone?)

Meanwhile, you can check out The Free Press' series preview here. Phil Cook will get the start in goal tonight, and all six defensemen have had college experience, but there's a freshman on each of the forward lines.

As for the Saints, according to the Watertown Daily Times, they are happy to get senior Sean Flanagan back from a serious hip injury suffered two seasons ago.

Eleven of the 12 WCHA teams are in action tonight. Here's a look around the leauge:

St. Cloud State is playing in Nebraska-Omaha's Maverick Stampede. The Huskies will play RIT and Clarkson, while the Red Mavericks get those teams in reverse order. The St. Cloud Time has several preseason stories on its Husky Hockey page, including a look at arguably the best 1-2 punch of any WCHA team in goal. ... While the tournament is a nonconference affair, this weekend officially marks the first time UNO is representing the WCHA. Read more about the Mavericks' start to the season and a Stampede preview here.

With coverage of the Twins, the Randy Moss saga and the Wild opener, the Start Tribune did find a way to squeeze in some news about the Gopher hockey team, which will host Massachusetts tonight. Minnesota captain Jay Barriball, who is a fifth-year senior after missing most of last season with a knee injury, feels like it's a slap in the face that the WCHA coaches picked the Gophers to finish fifth.

Denver is starting off the year with a home game against Vermont. For the Pioneers, expectations from the outside are high, but they have to replace a lot of departed talent, especially in goal where sophomore Adam Murray and a freshman will split time to try to fill the pads of Marc Cheverie.

Minnesota Duluth and Michigan Tech will be playing in the Superior Showcase, which matches up  the Lake Superior teams from the WCHA against those from the CCHA, Lake Superior State and Northern Michigan. Duluth will play at Lake State tonight and at Northern on Saturday, while Tech plays the opposite schedule. For The Bulldogs, goalie Kenny Reiter has emerged as the No. 1 goalie on a team that returns some great talent and is poised to be a top-three team in the conference. ... As for the Huskies, they will be trying to dig their way out of the conference basement this season. One player eager to help is Houghton native Blake Hietala, a walk-on forward.

Alaska-Anchorage is hosting the Kendall Hockey Classic and will kick things off with a nonconference game against WCHA-favorite North Dakota. Alaska and Air Force are the other two teams in the tournament. For the young Seawolves, playing the Sioux means the chance to start the season "with a bang" according to senior Tommy Grant. ... Meanwhile, North Dakota is giving a goalie not named Brad Eidsness the start tonight — meet Aaron Dell. Perhaps this as good a time as any to do that since Anchorage has its own worries in net.

Wisconsin gets to play in this year's Icebreaker in St. Louis, taking on Boston University tonight and either Holy Cross or Notre Dame on Sunday. The Badgers have been hit as hard as any team with offseason losses. Senior center Sean Dolan has become the team's leader almost by default, as last spring's chosen captains turned pro. Expect Wisconsin to have plenty of newcomers in the lineup this season.

Colorado College will open the season against Rensselaer (RPI), and the Tigers also have to fill some voids left not by early departure as much as by graduation. Their freshman class does include WCHA preseason rookie of the year Jaden Schwartz.

Off the beats, you can also read conference previews by INCH, USCHO and This is the WCHA.

Lastly, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that the Minnesota State women's hockey team will begin its season tonight at Mankato's All Seasons Arena against Niagara. The Mavericks are young and are led by a junior defenseman whose surname is quite familiar to followers of women's hockey in southern Minnesota.

If you made it this far on the post, be sure to check back later today for PucKato's live blog coverage of tonight's MSU-St. Lawrence game.

Rink wars

The WCHA preseason coaches conference call took place on Tuesday, and while much of the discussion centered around the league's two newest teams, Bemidji State and Nebraska-Omaha (no Penn State/Big Ten questions, please!), conference officials were obsessed with talking about the league's new rinks.

Not only will Bemidji be moving into a new arena to kick off its first year in the WCHA (see pictures from last night's season-ticket holder event here) but Minnesota Duluth will be moving into the new Amsoil Arena on Dec. 30. Omaha coach Dean Blais told the call that UNO soon will be announcing a new on-campus arena that the Red Mavs will move into in three years, while St. Cloud State is in the midst of a major overhaul ($31 million) to the National Hockey Center.

Bemidji's building sounds nice: 4,200 seats, 25 suites, 250 club seats. Duluth's building will have 6,732 seats and 16 suites. Blais said the new UNO arena will have between 7,200 and 8,000 seats.

Minnesota State is beginning its 12th season in the WCHA, but the Mavericks will be playing in the eighth-oldest building in the league (once UMD moves out of the DECC). Here's a look at all of the teams and when their arenas were built:

Bemidji State, Bemidji Regional Events Center, 2010
Minnesota Duluth, Amsoil Arena, 2010
Nebraska-Omaha, Qwest Center, 2003
North Dakota, Ralph Engelstad Arena, 2001
Denver, Magness Arena, 2000
Wisconsin, Kohl Center, 1998
Colorado College, World Arena, 1997
Minnesota State, Verizon Wireless Center, 1995
Minnesota, Mariucci Arena, 1993 (suites added in 2001)
St. Cloud State, National Hockey Center, 1989 (renovation planned)
Alaska-Anchorage, Sullivan Arena, 1983
Michigan Tech, MacInnis Student Ice Center, 1972 (recent renovations, including suites in 2009)

The Verizon Wireless Center seats about 4,800 and can fit more than 5,000 with standing room tickets. It has, I believe, 10 suites. Mankato has made a few upgrades to its arena recently, updating the scoreboards and the press area. There are been plans to get new seats (purple, perhaps) in the future, and there has long been talk of putting in a club room for years. The Mavericks themselves have also made nice upgrades to their locker room area over the last few years.

Attempts to get state funding for arena upgrades have been shot down several times in recent years, despite the fact that taxpayer money is helping fund the new rinks in Bemidji and Duluth, as well as the upgrades in St. Cloud. No state funding as gone into the Verizon Wireless Center, just local taxes.

MSU 1, British Columbia 0

The Mavericks get the exhibition win, thanks to a short-handed goal by Eli Zuck (during a 5x3!) and a combined 40 saves by Phil Cook and Austin Lee.

Read The Free Press' game story here.

Scoring one goal isn't necessarily pretty, especially against a team that gave up 12 to two other WCHA teams the previous two nights. But there's bound to be be a little better offensive flow this weekend when Rylan Galiardi, Michael Dorr, Eriah Hayes, Ben Youds and Kurt Davis return to the lineup, especially on the power play (the Mavericks were 0 for 4 with the man advantage, getting five shots on goal).

Interestingly, Monday's game did indeed experiment with the controversial rule banning penalty killers from icing the puck. This was supposed to take place in all exhibition games but apparently did not. It certainly seemed strange to hear a whistle blow in that situation and have a stoppage. Watching it take place, it probably wasn't as bad as people feared. However, that rule would make the games last much longer because penalty killers are still going to ice the puck, especially if they're tired and have the chance to do it after a long shift.

Looking ahead to the weekend and St. Lawrence, the USCHO.com preview on the Saints can be found here.

MSU vs. British Columbia (exhibition) - live blog

It's back! Minnesota State is taking on British Columbia in an exhibition game at the Verizon Wireless Center. Lines can be found below the Cover It Live box.

MINNESOTA STATE

Andrew Sackrison — Eli Zuck — Zach Lehrke

Adam Mueller — Joe Schiller — Corey Leivermann

Chase Grant — Mike Louwerse — John McInnis

Brett Peterson — J.P. Burkemper — Justin Jokinen

Josh Nelson— Tyler Elbrecht

Channing Boe — Danny Heath

Cameron Cooper — Evan Mosey

Phil Cook

Austin Lee

Evan Karambelas

Scratches: Kurt Davis, Michael Dorr, Rylan Galiardi, Eriah Hayes, Ben Youds

Referees: C.J. Beaurline, Brad Shepherd. Linesmen: Matt Anderson, Jarod Moen

Seven WCHA teams ranked

The first USCHO.com Division I men's rankings were released on Monday, and defending national champion Boston College is ranked No. 1, getting 45 of 50 first-place votes (including PucKato's).

Seven WCHA teams were ranked in the top 20 and two others also received votes. North Dakota is ranked second (with three first-place votes), St. Cloud State is fourth, Minnesota Duluth is eighth, Denver is ninth, Wisconsin is 13th, Minnesota is 15th and Colorado College is 20th. Bemidji State and Nebraska-Omaha also got votes, leaving Minnesota State, Alaska-Anchorage and Michigan Tech on the outside looking in right now.

Here is the poll:

1. Boston College
2. North Dakota
3. Miami
4. St. Cloud State
5. Michigan
6. Yale
7. Maine
8. Minnesota-Duluth
9. Denver
10. New Hampshire
11. Cornel
12. Alaska
13. Wisconsin
14. Boston University
15. Minnesota
16. Michigan State
17. Notre Dame
18. RIT
19. Union
20. Colorado College

Others receiving votes: Vermont, Bemidji State, Northern Michigan, Ferris State, Nebraska-Omaha, Northeastern, RPI, Mercyhurst, Quinnipiac, Merrimack, Ohio State, Colgate, St. Lawrence, Air Force, UMass-Lowell, Robert Morris

Meanwhile, USCHO.com put out its WCHA preview on Monday, while Inside College Hockey ranked all 58 D-I teams and put Minnesota State at No. 39, citing the Mavericks' tough road swing that lasts from Halloween through Thanksgiving.

It's gameday!

Minnesota State will begin the 2010-11 season today with an exhibition game against the University of British Columbia at the Verizon Wireless Center. Gametime is 7:37 p.m.

To get geared up for the game, you can read The Free Press' season preview, which focuses on the Mavericks' three senior defensemen — Channing Boe, Kurt Davis and Ben Youds — here. Also, you can read my first-day-of-practice story, which takes a look at MSU freshman and Mankato native Corey Leivermann here.

British Columbia played WCHA teams Nebraska-Omaha and Minnesota, losing 6-1 to the Red Mavs on Saturday and 6-0 to the Gophers on Sunday. Both UNO and Minny had significant shot advantages. Here's the Omaha World-Herald story. Read more about Sunday's game here. As for tonight's game, Mavericks coach Troy Jutting said on Saturday that several veterans will sit this one out (see post below) in order to get all of the freshmen acclimated to the college game.

Tickets for tonight's game and all other single-game seats for this season will go on sale at 10 a.m. today at the Verizon Wireless Center and through Ticketmaster outlets.

There was some Twitter discussion (follow me!) on Saturday regarding the controversial new rule that was nearly passed and then scrapped this summer that would have banned short-handed teams from icing the puck and making personnel changes. Word was that the rule was going to be tried during exhibition games. As it turns out, that idea was tossed aside, too.

Tonight's game is the final exhibition game of the preseason for the WCHA, whose teams went 9-1 over the weekend, playing Canadian colleges and the U.S. Under 18 Team. The league's only loss came on Sunday when Lethbridge defeated Denver 5-2. Meanwhile, St. Lawrence, MSU's first regular-season opponent this Friday and Saturday, won its exhibition game on Saturday.

Be sure to check back on PucKato tonight for my live blog. I'll also try to post game updates on Twitter.

And they're off!

Minnesota State kicked off the men's hockey season Saturday morning with its first official practice of the new year.

"I was pleased with the intensity level, especially for 9 in the morning," coach Troy Jutting said.

It's hard to say too much about lines at this point, since the Mavericks are preparing for Monday's exhibition game against British Columbia. Jutting said forwards Rylan Galiardi, Michael Dorr and Eriah Hayes (possible No. 1 line?), as well as defensemen Kurt Davis and Ben Youds, will sit out that game in order to get the rookies acclimated not only to game action but the routine of a college game day.

"We need to get the young kids in a game situation so they understand how we do things and know our modus operandi," Jutting said.

That freshman class includes Corey Leivermann, the first Mankato native to play for MSU. His reaction to Day 1: "Nervous." Look for more on his first day and his expectations for this year in Sunday's edition of The Free Press.

In case you missed it, here was Saturday's story leading up to the first practice and Galiardi's reaction to being picked 10th in the WCHA preseason polls. Also, be sure to check out more on this year's team in Monday's Free Press.

The Mavericks will have a second practice in on Saturday evening and another on Sunday before playing Monday night at the Verizon Wireless Center.

Other notes: Defenseman Channing Boe missed Saturday morning's practice due to a family commitment, however, he's expected to be at the evening session. ... British Columbia, MSU's opponent on Monday, is playing Nebraska-Omaha tonight and Minnesota on Sunday. ... There is one college hockey tonight that will count, as Michigan hosts Mercyhurst. ... I've been hearing through the grapevine that Josh Berge will not be following his brother, Mick, to Minnesota State after all, and this story out of Lincoln confirms it. Academics might be an issue.