Minnesota State vs. Arizona State, Game 2

The Mavericks will go for the series sweep against the Sun Devils

MINNESOTA STATE
21-Sowder, 20-Michaelis, 9-Gerard
16-Lutz, 5-Jaremko, 17-Duehr
19-Van Os-Shaw, 11-Spooner, 14-Sandelin
22-Gerads, 26-French, 15-Napravnik
6-Tuomie

2-Mackey, 3-McNeely
25-Zmolek, 18-Scheid
4-Carroll, 24-Hookenson

29-McKay
1-Stauber
31-Berger

Scratches: Aamodt, Bukes, Borchardt, Rivera, Malinowski, McMahan, Smith

ARIZONA STATE
8-Jenuwine, 61-Sanchez, 7-Walker
23-Koumontzis, 19-Sandhu, 16-Lemieux
10-Busch, 27-Gruber, 28-Pasichnuk
21-Zhong, 20-Buncis, 29-Knierim

39-B. Pasichnuk, 24-Maniscalco
60-Gourley, 4-Wilson
17-Semik, 22-Judson
2-Stuart

30-Debrouwer
31-Robbins
45-Prawdzik

For in-game updates, be sure to follow me on Twitter.

Mavericks 4, Sun Devils 1

Freddy's three thoughts of the game ...

1. What are you doing here? Who had Riese Zmolek scoring the first goal of the season for Minnesota State? Not many, probably. The junior defenseman entered the season with just three career goals, but he got things going on Friday, jumping into the rush, taking D partner Ian Scheid's pass and going right to the net with it in the first period. Marc Michaelis said he wasn't surprised to see Zmolek around the goal mouth: "He's more known for his dirty work, but he doesn't get enough credit for other things he does. To get rewarded for it is nice." Zmolek still did the dirty work, blocking four shots. Said coach Mike Hastings: "He was good tonight. Offensively, defensively, blocking shots. He has a warrior-type mentality, and I thought he was really good tonight."

2. Good in goal: Dryden McKay stopped 25 of 26 shots, including a couple of breakaways, showing no rust after the offseason. McKay, who won 24 games as a rookie, allowed a lone goal to talented ASU junior Johnny Walker during 4-on-4 play in the first period. "I like seeing a young man be rewarded for his work," Hastings said. "He had a great summer. He came in in better shape than when he left. You want to see him have some success, not only for our team but for the work that he’s put in. … I thought he was sharp when we needed him to be."

3. Hey, rookie! Freshman forward Lucas Sowder had two assists in the game, his first two collegiate points. The Florida native played left wing on the top line with Michaelis (two goals) and Charlie Gerard, filling the spot normally occupied by Parker Tuomie, who was out with an injury. Tuomie, who did not practice most of the week, said he's feeling better and probably could have played if it was a late-season game or playoff game. First-year forwards Ryan Sandelin and Cade Borchardt also played, and Jaxson Stauber dressed as a backup goalie.

Read my game story here.

Highlights from tonight’s 4-1 victory over the Sun Devils 😈 pic.twitter.com/NvmHby7sN0

— Minnesota State Hockey (@MavHockey) October 12, 2019

Around the WCHA: Alaska 3, Michigan Tech 2 ... Bemidji State 4, St. Cloud State 4 (OT) ... Michigan State 5, Northern Michigan 3 ... Maine 7, Alaska Anchorage 1 ... Denver 3, Lake Superior State 1 ... Omaha 6, Alabama Huntsville 1 ... RIT 3, Bowling Green 2 (OT)

Minnesota State vs. Arizona State

Tonight's lines:

MINNESOTA STATE
21-Sowder, 20-Michaelis, 9-Gerard
16-Lutz, 5-Jaremko, 17-Duehr
19-Van Os-Shaw, 11-Spooner, 14-Sandelin
22-Gerads, 26-French, 15-Napravnik
28-Borchardt

2-Mackey, 3-McNeely
25-Zmolek, 18-Scheid
4-Carroll, 24-Hookenson

29-McKay
1-Stauber
31-Berger

Scratches: Aamodt, Bukes, Rivera, Malinowski, McMahan, Smith, Tuomie

Notes: Rivera and Smith were also scratches during the exhibition game and are still dealing with injuries. Tuomie did not practice late in the week due to an injury.

ARIZONA STATE
23-Koumontzis, 61-Sanchez, 7-Walker
8-Jenuwine, 19-Sandhu, 16-Lemieux
10-Busch, 27-Gruber, 29-Knierim
37-Garcia, 28-S. Pasichnuk, 25-Marrocco
20-Buncis

39-B. Pasichnuk, 24-Maniscalco
17-Semik, 22-Judson
60-Gourley, 4-Wilson

30-Debrouwer
31-Robbins
45-Prawdzik


Be sure to check out Twitter for updates from tonight's game.

Friday Morning Skate

Happy opening day!

The No. 3 Mavericks start the regular season tonight with the first of two games against Arizona State at the Mankato Civic Center. The two teams have played each other just once, tying last December in Arizona (the Sun Devils won the shootout).

Among Minnesota State's seniors is Ian Scheid, who has been the mark of consistency over his first three seasons. He's racked up 75 points, scoring 24, 26 and 25 points. He believes that offensive production comes from some advice his late father gave him when he was a young player.

On Wednesday, the Mavericks named their captains for the season. Marc Michaelis and Nick Rivera will wear C's, while Edwin Hookenson will wear an A.

The Sun Devils already have a series under their belts, splitting at home against Mercyhurst last weekend. They know they have a tough task ahead of them on this long road trip to Mankato.

Going around the WCHA ...

Alaska at Michigan Tech: The first and only conference series takes place in Houghton where the Huskies (2-0) take on the Nanooks (0-2).

Alaska Anchorage at Maine: This is quite the road trip for the Seawolves, going cross-continent to take on the Black Bears (0-1)

Michigan State at Northern Michigan: The Wildcats are going to find out quickly what life is like without Atte Tolvanen in goal when they host the Spartans to kick off the season.

Denver at Lake Superior State: A pair of 2-0 teams will go at it this weekend in Sault Ste. Marie. The No. 2 Pioneers swept at Alaska last week and now go the U.P. to take on the Lakers, who swept Merrimack at home last week.

St. Cloud State at Bemidji State: The Beavers will host the No. 7 Huskies for an in-state showdown to start the season. It will be St. Cloud State's first trip to Bemidji since 2014-15.

Alabama Huntsville at Omaha: The 0-2 Chargers will continue a tough start to the season when they go on the road to face the Mavericks. UAH dropped two games at UMass-Lowell last weekend.

Bowling Green in IceBreaker vs. RIT, Ohio State/Western Michigan: The No. 17 Falcons got a win in new coach Ty Eigner's debut against his old boss, Chris Bergeron, and Miami last Sunday. Now they're in Toledo, Ohio, for what should be a competitive tournament.

Previewing the season

The Minnesota State men's hockey season kicked off on Saturday night with an exhibition victory over Mount Royal. It gets real next weekend, though, when Arizona State comes to Mankato for a pair of games (ASU opened regular-season play this weekend, falling to Mercyhurst 3-2 on Saturday; the two teams play again today).

Today's Free Press has a couple of MSU hockey preview stories to check out:

• First, there's a feature on Marc Michaels and how the senior center is approaching a final college season with so much riding on it, both team-wise and personally.

• Then there's a general, position-by-position story, looking at a Mavericks team stacked with returning players throughout the line chart.

• It will be a tough lineup to crack, to be sure, but some of the newcomers sure made a case for themselves on Saturday night.

Mavericks 5, Cougars 2

Freddy's three thoughts of the game ...

1. Welcome, freshmen: Minnesota State's lineup looks like it will be tough to crack with so many returning players, but the rookies made a good first impression on Saturday. Goals from Ryan Sandelin, Tony Malinowski and Cade Borchardt and solid play from Lucas Sowder and Colby Bukes (Nathan Smith and Jaxson Stauber were out with minor injuries) mean tough decisions are coming in making out the lineup for next weekend's regular-season games against Arizona State. Sandelin "was pretty complete from start to finish," coach Mike Hastings said.

2. Goalies looked good: Sophomore goaltender Dryden McKay, coming off an outstanding rookie season, was tested by a solid Canadian college team and stopped 18 of 19 shots over two periods before giving way to sophomore Jacob Berger. "I thought McKay was really good," Hastings said. "He made a couple that he shouldn't have, and we need him to do that. We’re getting used to him doing that." Berger, who didn't play at all as a freshman, gave up a snipe of a shot less than a minute into the third but that was all. "I thought he settled down after that," Hastings said. "When I went in the locker room, I said, 'Great job That first one might have rattled me, but it didn’t rattle you, and I thought you did a real good job the rest of the game.'"

3. Isn't that special? The Mavericks were 1 for 5 on the power play and 2 for 2 on the penalty kill. They did have two long 5x3 power plays, one that was part of a 5-minute major, but managed just the one goal. "There were a lot of special teams tonight, so it was good to work on those and get the dust off," junior Jared Spooner said. Hastings said he didn't really like much about the special teams but put that on himself. "That's on me more than on them," he said. "We didn't spend a tremendous amount of time (on them in practice). We will this week."

Deep thought: Be sure to check out Sunday's Free Press for stories previewing the Mavericks' 2019-20 season.

Read my game story here.

Around the WCHA: Michigan Tech 2, Robert Morris 1 (OT) ... Lake Superior State 6, Merrimack 2 ... UMass Lowell 5, Alabama Huntsville 1 ... Northern Michigan 4, U.S. Under-18 Team 3 (exhibition) ... Denver at Alaska (late)

More preseason accolades

Besides being third in the first USCHO poll of the season, Minnesota State was picked fourth in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine rankings, which also came out this week. The Mavericks are the only WCHA team in the Top 15 of that poll. Bowling Green also received votes. Here's the Top 5:

1. Minnesota Duluth
2. Denver
3. UMass
4. Minnesota State
5. Cornell

Meanwhile over at College Hockey News, the Mavericks are third in the CHN preseason top 10 behind UMD and Denver. The website also picked Mavericks senior forward Marc Michaelis for its All-CHN preseason team.

USCHO also published its WCHA preview this week.