For some of Minnesota State’s players and fans, a trip up Highway 169 for a visit to Mariucci Arena was once an intimidating experience. Facing the Golden Gophers on their huge home rink with dozens of championship banners overhead and a hostile crowd creating a din could be a trying time for the Mavericks. But for most, those butterflies are so three years ago.
Forward Mike Louwerse was part of Minnesota State's sweep of Minnesota last January.
On a roster dominated by seniors and juniors and on a team where those same upperclassmen are leading the way to a respectable record (6-7-1) as December’s games begin, there will be few surprises.
“That’s a big help, having a veteran hockey team that’s been around and is not going to be in awe many nights,” Minnesota State coach Troy Jutting said.
The Mavs travel to Minneapolis Friday, then host the Gophers Saturday, mindful that this has been a down year for their opponents and also fondly remembering their last meeting. Last January, the Mavs won 6-2 and 3-1 games for the first weekend sweep of the Gophers in the program’s history.
Leading the way then, as now, were veterans like Zach Harrison and Jerad Stewart, the seniors who are currently atop the Mankato scoring charts. But their coach notes some streaky play that makes the numbers somewhat deceptive. Of Stewart’s team-leading six goals, four came in one game (an 8-2 win at Alaska Anchorage). Harrison has equaled Stewart with a dozen points, but also got four of them in last Friday’s 5-2 win over Michigan Tech. That’s the life, and the hockey, that Mavs fans have come to expect.
“We’re going to play the way we play; fast, aggressive, with very good team speed,” said Jutting. “We try to create mistakes with pressure, and we’re deep, but without some of the top end kids you see elsewhere. We don’t have the kind of kid you’re going to see on the scoresheet every night.”
No-shows by the Mavericks have been rare despite their sub-.500 record. Jutting notes their back-to-back series at Denver and at home with Colorado College. The Mavs lost three times by one goal and tied 4-4 in Denver—”Four games where we played pretty well and had one point to show for it,” the coach said.
With the Gophers and series with future WCHAers Bemidji State and Nebraska-Omaha looming, the Mavs sense a chance to climb above .500 and position themselves a a home-ice contender in January.
No matter what comes next, not much of it will be a surprise for this band of veterans.
ONE LAST ROUND OF HOLIDAY THANKS
With Thanksgiving in the not-too-distant past, it makes sense to compile a quick list of what each of the WCHA’s 10 teams has to be thankful for. Just for fun, let’s flip the current WCHA standings and do them last to first.
Michigan Tech (3-9-0): The Huskies have got to be thankful that the first two months of a rough early season are over. They’re also thankful for thus far decent health (compared to last season’s medical disasters) and the talents of Brett Olson.
Minnesota (5-8-1): The Golden Gophers should be thankful that Nick Leddy’s injury was not the season-ending variety and that after a rough go of things in October and November, they’ve got about a dozen consecutive winnable games looming on their schedule.
Alaska Anchorage (6-10-0): The Seawolves are thankful for Saturday nights, which is when they’ve put up all four of their WCHA wins thus far. And they’re thankful to come home from Colorado College with their first road win of the season.
Minnesota State (6-7-1): The Mavericks are thankful for the ability to fly under the radar just a bit so far and that they’re not too far out of the race for home ice with some important games looming on the schedule. We wonder, should they be thankful for another set of Mavericks (Nebraska-Omaha) set to join the WCHA next season?
Wisconsin (8-5-1): For years, coach Mike Eaves has been telling us that the idea he is defense-first is a myth and he really does like an up-tempo game. With his team scoring nearly four goals per outing so far, Eaves should be thankful that his players are proving him right.
St. Cloud State (6-6-2): These underachieving Huskies should be thankful there are still three-plus months of hockey to be played and they have a chance to put their sluggish start behind them and live up to the promise all of the talent on their roster belies.
North Dakota (8-4-2): The blessings, as always, are many for the Fighting Sioux, who should be thankful for the world’s most opulent hockey rink to call their own. They should also be thankful that, for the time being, they’re still allowed to call themselves the “Fighting Sioux” and wear the colorful image of a proud warrior on their sweaters.
Minnesota Duluth (9-4-1): The Bulldogs and their fans should be thankful for the fact that sometimes talented guys named Connelly come in pairs. They are also surely thankful for the persistent sound of construction coming from what used to be a parking lot outside the rink they’ve called home for more than four decades.
Denver (9-4-1): Ethnic and geographic diversity in college hockey is something to be thankful for if you’re a Pioneers fan. How else could a Persian-American kid raised on the roller hockey rinks of sunny Southern California come to dominate the WCHA as Rhett Rakhshani has thus far?
Colorado College (10-3-1): The Tigers and their army of fans who doesn’t seem to mind high altitude should be thankful that once again (see also: Bachman, Richard) they’ve got a freshman goalie in Joe Howe who looks poised to bring home playoff games, or more, to C-Springs this season.
