Mavericks ranked 14th

With nine wins in their last 10 games, including two over the weekend to capture the UConn tournament championship, Minnesota State moved up four spots to No. 14 in the lastest USCHO.com rankings, which were tallied on Monday.

Here are the rankings:

1. Minnesota (35 first-place votes)

2. Boston College (5)

3. Notre Dame (9)

4. New Hampshire

5. Quinnipiac

6. Miami

7. North Dakota

8. Dartmouth (1)

9. Boston University

10. Western Michigan

11. Denver

12. Cornell

13. Union

14. Minnesota State

15. St. Cloud State

16. Nebraska Omaha

17. Yale

18. Niagara

19. Robert Morris

20. Holy Cross

Others receiving votes: Colgate, Ferris State, Providence, Harvard, Michigan Tech, UMass, UMass-Lowell, Northern Michigan, Colorado College

Mavericks 3, UConn 1

Minnesota State photo

Johnny McInnis, playing just a couple of hours from his hometown of Boston, scored two second-period goals and was named tournament MVP as Minnesota State defeated Connecticut 3-1 to win the UConn Hockey Classic on Sunday night in Storrs, Conn.

McInnis, a junior forward, now has 10 goals, which is a career high (eight was his previous high) and is tied for the team lead.

McInnis; goalie Stephon Williams, forward Jean-Paul LaFontaine and defenseman Tyler Elbrecht were named to the all-tournament team.

The Mavericks trailed 1-0 after one period, but McInnis scored two goals in a span of about 3 1/2 minutes early in the second. Defenseman Zach Palmquist added an empty-net goal in the final moments of the third.

Minnesota State (12-6-2) will return to Mankato on Monday and will prepare for its final nonconference series of the season Friday and Saturday against Providence at the Verizon Wireless Center.

See the box score here.

Mavericks 3, Bears 1

Jean-Paul LaFontaine scored two third-period goals, and Minnesota State defeated Brown 3-1 in the first game of the UConn Hockey Classic on Saturday in Storrs, Conn.

The Mavericks led 1-0 through two periods after Zach Palmquist's first-period goal. LaFontaine made it 2-0 at 9:02 of the third period with a power-play goal from Matt Leitner and Zach Lehrke.

After Brown scored a short-handed goal to make it 2-1 with 6:44 to play, the Mavericks held off the Bears the rest of the way before LaFontaine's empty-netter with 4 seconds to go.

Freshman goalie Stephon Williams won his eighth game of the season, stopping 18 shots, including 11 in the first period. MSU outshot Brown 27-19 and controlled play in the third period with a 9-4 shot advantage.

The first assist on Palmquist's goal was by Taylor Herndon, the freshman from Oklahoma City who was playing in his first career game.

Minnesota State (11-6-2) will play Connecticut at 6:15 p.m. on Sunday. UConn defeated American International 7-2 in Saturday's second game.

The MSU-Brown boxscore can be found here.

Minnesota State vs. Brown

I didn't make the trip to Connecticut for this weekend's tournament. I'll post updates on Twitter during today's and will have a postgame recap right here later.

Meanwhile, here are the Mavericks' lines for today's game against Brown:

Margonari—Leitner—Lehrke
Knowles—LaFontaine—Hayes
Grant—Zuck—McInnis
Gervais—Herndon—Gaede

Elbrecht—Nelson
Palmquist—Mosey
Stern—Jutzi

Williams
Cook

With Teddy Blueger playing at the World Junior Championship, Eli Zuck has moved up to the third line center spot, giving freshman Taylor Herndon his first action of the season as the fourth-line center. ... On defense, senior Evan Mosey is back in the lineup, replacing freshman Nick Buchanan.

Leivermann leaving

Pat Christman/The Free Press

The first Mankato native to play for the Minnesota State men's hockey team will not finish his college career as a Maverick.

Corey Leivermann, the school announced on Friday, is leaving the program and will continue his playing career elsewhere. Leivermann confirmed via text message that he will transfer down the road to Division III Gustavus Adolphus where he will be able to play immediately (once enrolled) and play his final season and a half of college hockey.

Leivermann, the former Mankato West High School standout, played in 42 career games for the Mavericks but just two this year — MSU's first two of the year. As a freshman, he scored three goals and had four assists in 19 games. Last season, he scored one goal in 21 games.

The writing might have been on the wall as far as playing time was concerned when Leivermann was moved to defense for practice in recent weeks.

In MSU's press release, coach Mike Hasting said: "We appreciate and recognize Corey's contributions to Maverick Hockey during the past two and a half years. We wish him the best as he moves forward in his future endeavors."

Minnesota State is playing in the UConn Hockey Classic in Storrs, Conn., this weekend. Gustavus' next game is Friday at St. Scholastica, but Leivermann said he won't be able to play until after Jan. 7. Gustavus will play Jan. 11 at St. John's.

Back from vacation

I'm back on the blog after a few days away for Christmas. I hope everyone had a good holiday.

The Mavericks took off on Thursday for Connecticut where they will be playing in the UConn Hockey Classic on Saturday and Sunday. Minnesota State will face Brown at 3 p.m. Saturday and either host UConn or American International on at 3 p.m. or 6:15 p.m. Sunday. I'm not on the trip but will be monitoring both games from Mankato.

As for the rest of the WCHA, here is the weekend schedule:

Thursday
RPI 4, St. Cloud State 3

Friday
RPI at St. Cloud State
Minnesota Duluth vs. Maine (Florida College Classic)

Saturday
Nebraska Omaha at Quinnipiac
Boston University at Denver
Minnesota Duluth vs. Ferris State or Cornell (Florida College Classic)
Michigan Tech vs. Michigan (Great Lakes Invitational, Detroit)
Minnesota vs. Air Force (Mariucci Classic)

Sunday
Nebraska Omaha at Quinnipiac
Michigan Tech vs. Western Michigan or Michigan State (Great Lakes Invitational, Detroit)
Minnesota vs. Boston College (Mariucci Classic)
Bemidji State vs. UMass (Ledyard Bank Classic, N.H.)

Monday
Bemidji State vs. New Hampshire or Dartmouth (Ledyard Bank Classic, N.H.)

Mavs move up

Despite losing their first game since before Thanksgiving and splitting a series at Nebraska Omaha, Minnesota State moved up in the latest USCHO rankings. The Mavericks are ranked No. 18, up two spots from No. 20. See the entire poll here.