MSU 2, Bemidji St. 1, OT

Pat Christman photo

Freddy's three thoughts of the game:

1. Boe knows: Channing Boe, the Mavericks' Bemidji native was the hero of the night, blasting a blocked shot into the goal from the blue line with 2:28 remaining in overtime. It was the first-game-winning goal for the senior. While such a goal against his hometown team would have been a cool thing a few years ago, he instead put it in perspective of the end of his final season in Mankato. "It couldn't have come at a better time," he said. "We needed a goal. We needed these two points (for the WCHA standings)." Still, Beavers coach and Boe family friend Tom Serratore congratulated Boe as he was being interviewed outside the MSU locker room, saying, "Nice job Chan. I could tell (it was a goal) when it left your stick."

2. What are they doing in OT? Credit Bemidji goalie Dan Bakala for making a career-high 41 saves but it felt like a game that had no business going into extra time. The Mavericks outshot the Beavers 43-19, including a dominant 16-2 advantage in the first period period when they scored their first goal. They also had a five-minute major in the third to work with. On the major, the Mavs mustered just three shots on goal as they clung to their 1-0 lead. Jordan George made them pay for its goal-scoring shortcomings, taking advantage of a bad giveaway in the MSU end and putting a rebound behind Phil Cook (18 saves) with 2:25 left in regulation.

3. Doing it with the D: Minnesota State's forwards were held without a point on Saturday. Defenseman Ben Youds scored the game's first goal at 13:19 of the first period, getting a lone assist from Tyler Elbrecht. It was a nice play on a 4-on-2, with both D getting in deep and Elbrecht passing across the slot to Youds who scored from the inside of the left circle. It was Youds' sixth goal of the season. Boe's overtime goal, meanwhile, was unassisted. "Our forwards have to bear down," coach Troy Jutting said. "They have to."

Read the box score here.

Extra shout-out: Congrats to MSU equipment manager Scott Rideout and his wife, former MSU women's player and assistant coach Mandy, on the birth of their first child, a girl, Jaydee, on Thursday.

MSU vs. Bemidji State - Game 1 live blog

Lines can be found below the Cover It Live box ...



MINNESOTA STATE
23-Dorr   21-Sackrison   25-Hayes
20-Grant   12-Galiardi   19-Lehrke
15-Burkemper   29-Zuck   14-Jokinen
24-Mueller   26-Schiller   9-Louwerse

28-Boe   22-Davis
16-Elbrecht   5-Youds
3-Cooper   2-Nelson

30-Cook
1-Lee
35-Karambelas

Scratches: Heath, McInnis, Leivermann, Mosey, Peterson

BEMIDJI STATE
16-Billberg   19-Read   22-Lowe
17-MacQueen   28-George   11-Walters
18-Illo   14-McLeod   15-Cramer
7-Orban   13-Fisher   6-Findlay

8-Areshenko   29-Hunt
20-Rendle   3-Adams
5-Carlson   25-Wacker

33-Bakala
35-Dugas

Referees: Jon Campion, Brian Thul
Linesmen: Tony Czech, Dan Dineen

Morin's up and other news

MSU wasted no time putting up a banner honoring their latest alum to make it to the National Hockey League. When I arrived at the Verizon Wireless Center tonight for the Mavericks' game against Bemidji State, Travis Morin (right) was hanging on the wall along with Ryan Carter, Grant Stevenson, Jon Kalinski, Tim Jackman, David Backes and Steve Wagner. There isn't much room left, given the size of those banners, though. ...

As was discussed on an earlier post, the Mavericks indeed got a commitment from goaltender Stephon Williams of the USHL's Sioux Falls Stampede. Williams, a 17-year-old from Fairbanks, Alaska, is 14-3-4 with a .915 SV% and a 2.37 GAA. He has won his last seven starts, stopping 93.9% of the shots he's faced over that time. Read more here. 

The stories don't say when Williams is heading to Mankato, but my guess is that he'll be taking Austin Lee's spot following next season. Phil Cook will be a senior then, and Evan Karambelas will be a junior.

Friday morning skate

The Mavericks are back home this weekend to take on Bemidji State and try to keep what is now a two-game unbeaten streak going. Six of MSU's final eight games are at home, and the Mavs believe they still have an outside shot at a top-six finish in the WCHA standings.

Among this weekend's storylines is MSU defenseman Kurt Davis, who is tied atop the program's Division I-era scoring list for defensemen with 91 points (last week at St. Cloud, it appeared he grabbed the record outright but had an assist taken away from him). He also ranks third all-time among D-men. While it's highly unlikely that Davis won't catch the top two on that list (Mike Weinkauf with 125 points and Dave Saatzer with 124 both played with Davis' dad, Carl, at MSU in the late-70s), "He has a chance to be a 100-point college defenseman," coach Troy Jutting said. "There aren't many players around anymore who can say that."

Check out the rest of The Free Press' weekend preview here.

As for the Beavers, they may be in their first season in the WCHA, but they want to snap a six-game losing streak to Minnesota State. Coach Tom Serratore called MSU the fastest team in the league.

As for the rest of the WCHA ...

Minnesota at Minnesota Duluth: It's always a big weekend in Duluth when the Gophers are in town, but the Bulldogs are the better team right now. UMD's Jack Connolly, a Duluth native, was picked by the WCHA coaches as preseason player of the year, and, so far, he's living up to those expectations. ... For Minnesota, freshman defenseman Mark Alt is glad he chose college hockey instead of football. The Gophers feel like they have to start winning -- now. ... Also, longtime Gophers radio analyst and beloved ex-hockey coach Glen Sonmor says he's retiring from broadcasting after this season.

St. Cloud State at Nebraska-Omaha: St. Cloud faces a tough final stretch with nothing but games against top-tier opponents on its schedule. The disappointing Huskies have found a few positives, including the play of young freshman defenseman Kevin Gravel, who has not yet turned 19. ... Omaha, meanwhile, is coming off a bad nonconference loss to Alabama-Huntsville. Fortunately for the red Mavs, it was a nonconference game, and they're still in the thick of the race for an upper-division finish in the WCHA.

Michigan Tech at Alaska Anchorage: The Seawolves must be licking their chops this weekend. Not only are the Huskies on a 22-game winless streak but Anchorage is just two points out of a top-six finish. It has never hosted a WCHA first-round playoff series before. Anchorage has had improvement all over, but sophomore Mitch Bruijsten credits his offseason workout regimen for his own betterment. ... As for Tech, it's simply not making plays.

Denver vs. Colorado College (home and home): It's Gold Pan time as the Rocky Mountain rivals take on each other. The second-ranked Pioneers are playing some pretty good hockey since losing 9-2 to the Tigers on Nov. 6, going 12-1-3. ... CC, meanwhile, says the traveling trophy is important but not as important as getting points for the league standings and staying in home-ice position. Many eyes will be on the Tigers' lineup to see the status of goalie Joe Howe, who was injured last Saturday. Howe practiced this week but the starter would not be determined until today, coach Scott Owens told The Gazette.

North Dakota is off this weekend, which is probably a good thing considering its rash of bad news this week (although it all ended up not as bad as previously feared). Captain and star defenseman Chay Genoway was injured last Friday and will be out 3 to 5 weeks, while sophomore forward Danny Kristo says he's feeling better while recovering from frostbite at a St. Paul hospital. ... Wisconsin is also idle this weekend.

Don't forget to check back later for the live blog during tonight's MSU-BSU game.

MSU against the ranked

Grand Forks Herald hockey scribe Brad Schlossman has some time on his hands since the Sioux aren't playing this week (I thought he was on vacation!). So he put together a interesting blog post about WCHA teams' records against ranked opponents. North Dakota has the league's best record against ranked teams. The worst? Michigan Tech. But Minnesota State is 11th in that category. You can read Schloss' blog for complete results (and other great college hockey fodder), but here's what it says about the Mavericks:

• MSU has played 13 games against teams in this week's USCHO top 20. Only Alaska-Anchorage (15) and North Dakota (18) have played more. Bemidji State and Tech have also played 13.

• MSU's record against ranked teams is 2-10-1 (.192).

• The Mavericks' record against unranked opponents is 9-1-5 (.766), which bodes well for this weekend against Bemidji State. BSU is 5-6-0 against the unranked.

What does it all mean? It means that MSU is a .500 team that has been close but also has trouble closing out the better teams -- something we've known for awhile. Of the 10 losses to ranked teams -- all WCHA opponents -- six were one-goal losses and a seventh was a one-goal game until an empty-netter was added late in the game.

Dorr, Davis earn WCHA honors

Two Minnesota State players earned Western Collegiate Hockey Association awards for their play in the Mavericks' three-point weekend at St. Cloud State.

Junior forward Michael Dorr was named offensive player of the week after assisting on three goals Friday and scoring two goals on Saturday. He was also +4 for the weekend. It was the second time Dorr has received the award this season.

Senior defenseman Kurt Davis took defensive player of the week honor for his three-point weekend against the Huskies. Davis scored a goal on Friday, had two assists on Saturday and was +2 for the series.

Alaska-Anchorage goalie Chris Kamal took rookie of the week honors.

Backes plays, Morin misses out

David Backes -- who was almost, but not, picked last on Friday night -- recorded three assists in Sunday's NHL All-Star Game. You can read more about his experience and see a nice photo gallery of his weekend on the St. Louis Blues' website.

Meanwhile, Travis Morin was supposed to be a starter in the AHL All-Star Game on Monday but he was called up again by the Dallas Stars, so he was at an NHL practice rather than the minor league's big game. Morin, though, said he'd gladly take that trade.