Friday Morning Skate

Photo by Pat Christman

The Mavericks will finish off a three-game road swing to start the season tonight in Duluth before both they and the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs come back to Mankato for MSU's home opener on Saturday.

(Friday's game will be televised on Fox Sports North-Plus; Saturday will be on Charter 826 and Comcast 999.)

It's marathon weekend in Mankato, so the town should be packed Saturday night. There will be a Hockey Night in Mankato celebration 4:30-7 p.m. in City Center outside the Verizon Wireless Center. Also, MSU will celebrate its WCHA Final Five championship with a banner unveiling before the game.

One of the heroes of the Final Five was Brett Stern, who scored what would stand is the game-winner in the title game. It was his only goal of the season. Stern is in his second season as a captain and he leads by example, as he's the top shot blocker on the team.

Mavericks coach Mike Hastings expects the series to be a fast, up-and-down-the-rink series, not unlike the last two times the teams played, which was a 5-4 overtime win over UMD in the first game of the North Star College Cup last January at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. Read more in The Free Press' Gameday Preview.

Meanwhile, the Duluth News-Tribune's Matt Wellens (you may remember him from his coverage of Northern Michigan last season in Marquette), takes a look at this weekend's goalie situation for both teams. Both played two last weekend. 

Hastings didn't name a starter before leaving Mankato for Duluth, but the smart money seems to be on Williams getting the nod after his solid relief appearance on Saturday in Omaha.

Going around the WCHA ...

• There is just one league series this weekend as Bowling Green visits Alabama Huntsville. The Falcons are eager to get started with the WCHA season after splitting with Miami last week.

• A week after winning the Kendall Hockey Classic in Anchorage, Alaska Fairbanks will host the Alaska Goal Rush with the hopes of starting the season 4-0. Anchorage, Air Force and Penn State are the other teams in the event, and the latter is coached by old Nanooks coach Guy Gadowsky.

• Anchorage will be without senior captain Brett Cameron, who was suspended one game by the WCHA for his seemingly legal hit on Wisconsin's Tim Davison last Saturday. The Seawolves, however, do have Austin Azurdia playing after suffering a broken leg last April.

• Northern Michigan will play a nonconference series against Wisconsin, with the teams meeting about halfway in Green Bay, Wis. It will be the Wildcats' first game action of the season.

• In other action, Ferris State goes to St. Lawrence, playing its first game since beating Michigan on Oct. 4.

• Read Jack Hittinger's and my USCHO notebook here and check out our picks for the weekend here.

Up and down

The Mavericks, following their season-opening split at Nebraska Omaha, moved up in one national poll and down in another and are now ranked 12th in both polls.

Considering that there were so many splits, upsets and questions over the first two weeks of the season, it wasn't easy to put together a top 15 or top 20. In fact 44 teams -- including Alabama Huntsville! -- received votes in the U.S. College Hockey Online rankings. There were 29 teams listed in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll.

Minnesota State, which was 13th last week, is one of three WCHA teams in the USCHO top 20. Ferris State is fourth, and Alaska is 19th (Michigan Tech, Alaska Anchorage, Bowling Green, Bemidji State and Huntsville also received votes).

In the other poll, MSU fell from 11th to 12th. Ferris State is sixth (Michigan Tech, Alaska, Bemidji State and Alaska Anchorage also got votes).

Minnesota remained No. 1 in both polls.

Meanwhile, the WCHA, hoping to have a better nonconference showing this season, has gotten off to a better start than last year. The league is 8-7-0 so far outside the WCHA, including four victories among 10 away-from-home games.

A year ago, the league went 8-11-3 outside the WCHA in the first two weeks of the season with three wins in 17 road games.

MSU 4, Omaha 2

Freddy's three thoughts of the game ...

1. Important comeback, Part I: Minnesota State trailed 2-0 at 11:07, and Cole Huggins was yanked after allowing two goals on three shots. But coach Mike Hastings said he didn't mind the way his team was playing overall in the first period, and both he and captain Chase Grant said they didn't sense any panic in the locker room between periods. "I didn't see guys start pulling apart at the seams," Hastings said. "That's a positive." MSU went out and scored four unanswered goals in the second period and shut down Omaha's power play six times to win the game, showing a little early-season resolve.

2. Important comeback, Part II: The win also meant a comeback for a series split, no easy task on the road after dropping the first game. Going 1-1 against a nonconference rival isn't a bad way to open the season, but given the way it wants to start the season, getting at least one win was vital. "Really big," Hastings said. "It's such a process, and (UNO coach Dean Blais) is probably going through the same thing. We learned a lot as a staff about our team. I think we learned a lot about ourselves tonight being down 2-nothing on the road and coming back and having the kind of second period we had."

3. Stephon shines: After Huggins was pulled, Stephon Williams came in and stopped all 10 shots he faced the rest of the way to get the win. Williams, the junior who lost his starting job to Huggins last season, didn't see a lot of rubber, thanks to some stellar defensive work and physical play. However, he did make a couple of key saves to preserve the two-goal lead. There might have been some speculation about Williams starting Saturday's game, but Hastings went with Huggins. "Today when I named Cole Huggings the starter, no pout to (Williams) at all," Hastings said. "He went out and worked, worked his tail off during then the (morning) skate. He deserved to play, and I thought he showed quite a bit of himself tonight."

Deep thought: The Spirit of the Maverick trophy stayed in Omaha after the series, due to the split an the fact that each team scored seven goals on the weekend. MSU needed one more goal to take it back. It's best chance came during a UNO power play with about 6 minutes left in the game. In the Dean-Blais-being-Dean-Blais department, he pulled his goalie for the power play to skate 6 on 4 and try to cut down the two-goal deficit. MSU's kill was excellent, but it couldn't get a sniff at the empty net.

Read my game story here.

Around the WCHA: Robert Morris 3, Lake Superior State 0 ... North Dakota 2, Bemidji State 1 ... Alaska 5, Maine 2 ... Colorado College 4, Alabama Huntsville 3 ... Wisconsin at Alaska Anchorage (late)

MSU at Omaha, Game 2

TO FOLLOW SHANE'S LIVE CHAT, GO HERE..

Tonight's lines:

MINNESOTA STATE
15-Franklin ... 18-Leitner ... 9-Gervais
25-Stepan ... 23-Blueger ... 10-Knutson
12-LaFontaine ... 26-Margonari ... 19-McClure
21-Grant ... 16-J. Nelson ... 8-Gaede

11-Flanagan ... 6-C. Nelson
7-Palmquist ... 22-Schmeisser
27-Stern ... 5-Foguth

34-Huggins
35-Williams

Scratches: Buchanan, Knowles, Huntebrinker, A. Nelson, Thompson

OMAHA
20-Guentzel ... 14-Zombo ... 16-Ortega
7-Peterson ... 10-Vesel ... 23-Gallo
13-Randolph ... 19-Lane ... 18-Davis
17-Nogard ... 27-Pearce ... 9-Polk

4-Snuggerud ... 28-O'Rourke
3-Rideout ... 24-Brady
2-Cooper ... 5-Messner

29-Thompson
1 Crossthwaite

Referees: Brad Shepherd, Tom Sterns. Linesmen: Chad Evers, Nate Stanton.

Omaha 5, MSU 3

Freddy's three thoughts of the game ...

1. So much for exhibitions: Toss 'em out. Minnesota State defeats something called Trinity Western 12-1. Omaha loses to Northern Alberta 4-0. So much for setting up the season-opener. Who know what each of those teams took from their exhibition games. One thing we can guess, though, is Dean Blais was able to get his team's attention. The red Mavs' power play was on fire, thanks to Austin Ortega (2 goals, 1 assist) and Jake Guentzel (1 goal, 3 assists). And after overcoming a very good opening 10-12 minutes by MSU, the home team controlled play for a majority of the rest of the game.  "I thought their best players were their best players," MSU coach Mike Hastings said. Probably couldn't say the same of his team.

2. Boxed in: You can read more about the penalties in my Free Press gamer, but taking seven penalties on opening night, especially when, after the first couple, it was clear that Omaha could really swing the puck around with the man advantage, MSU needed to try to stay out of the box. Couldn't do it. Chase Grant and Teddy Blueger each took two penalties, and Omaha scored three times on the power play, including the game-winner. If you were reading my live chat, there was some confusion about Blueger's second penalty, which led to the GWG. He was called for delay of game on a new rule in college hockey in which the center cannot play the puck with his hand on a faceoff.

3. Freshman report: The Mavericks erased a 3-1 deficit, tying the game on a 2-on-1 play from Dylan Margonari to freshman forward Brad McClure. McClure finished off the perfect pass nicely. Hastings said he should have gotten McClure more ice because of the way he played when he was out there. McClure was on the third line, and fellow rookie C.J. Franklin was on the fourth. Franklin was being used on the penalty kill, and Hastings said he showed improvement as the game went on (he was on the ice for one of Omaha's three power-play goals. Zeb Knutson was a scratch. Curious to see if he plays on Saturday, and, if so, for whom.

Around the WCHA: Bemidji State 5, North Dakota 1 (!!!) ... Bowling Green 3, Miami 2 ... Robert Morris 3, Lake Superior State 1 ... Alaska 1, Wisconsin 0 ... Colorado College 3, Alabama Huntsville 2 ... Alaska Anchorage 3, Maine 1

Minnesota State at Omaha

It's Spirit of the Maverick time, everybody! Lines are posted below.

TO FOLLOW AND PARTICIPATE IN SHANE'S LIVE CHAT, GO HERE.

MINNESOTA STATE
21-Grant ... 18-Leitner ... 9-Gervais
25-Stepan ... 23-Blueger ... 17-Huntebrinker
12-LaFontaine ... 26-Margonari ... 19-McClure
15-Franklin ... 16-J. Nelson ... 8-Gaede

7-Palmquist ... 3-Thompson
27-Stern ... 5-Foguth
11-Flanagan ... 6-C. Nelson

34-Huggins
35-Williams

Scratches: Buchanan, Knowles, Knutson, Schmeisser, A. Nelson

OMAHA
20-Guentzel ... 14-Zombo ... 16-Ortega
7-Peterson ... 10-Vesel ... 25-Parizek
13-Randolph ... 19-Lane ... 18-Davis
8-Montgomery ... 27-Pearce ... 9-Polk

4-Snuggerud ... 28-O'Rourke
23-Gallo ... 24-Brady
2-Cooper ... 5-Messner

31-Massa
29-Thompson

Referees: Brad Shepherd, Tom Sterns. Linesmen: Chad Evers, Nate Stanton.

Friday morning skate

Photo by Pat Christman

The Mavericks will take on the Mavericks to open the season tonight in Omaha, Neb.. For Minnesota State, it opens a season of high expectations after their most successful year to date but also one in which they came oh-so-close to the MacNaughton Cup and to advancing in the NCAA tournament.

"At lot of these guys (on the team) have been there -- twice -- so we know what to expect, and we have those expectations," senior center Matt Leitner (pictured) said. "It's not just fun anymore. We get to the rink, and we expect to win when we show up. We expect everyone to contribute, for every to do their job. It's more of a business mentality, and I think that's good for us."

Leitner goes into his final season as one of college hockey's top scorers. He's coming off an excellent season but also one in which he started off terribly slow. He's determined not to let that happen again this year.

Read more about the series in The Free Press' College Hockey Gameday preview.

In Omaha, World-Herald writer Tony Boone writes about MSU coach Mike Hastings' return to town and also breaks down the red Mavericks' roster.

Around the web, there's been plenty written about the Mavericks to start off the season, including stories in USCHO and Minnesota Hockey Magazine. College Hockey News profiled MSU's other top returning scorer, Jean-Paul LaFontaine.

Read WCHA previews from USCHO and College Hockey News.

Also, Jack Hittinger of the Bemidji Pioneer and I make our weekly WCHA picks.

Other links of note:

• The Minnesota State women's hockey team also opens the season tonight and will host North Dakota in a WCHA series at All Seasons Arena.

• Bemidji State opens the season against North Dakota and hopes it can get a fast start against the nation's No. 2-ranked team.

• The Grand Forks Herald's Brad Schlossman has an excellent profile on UND coach Dave Hakstol, who has been coaching there for 10 years.

• Alaska Anchorage is coming off its first winning season in more than 20 years, so what can it do for an encore?

• Anchorage hosts the Kendall Hockey Classic, which also has Alaska, Maine and Wisconsin. The Fairbanks News-Miner takes a look at the field.

• Bowling Green plays a home and home against Miami, coach Chris Bergeron's former team as both a player and assistant coach.