0 For 6 October
by Brad Wheeler
November 01, 2005
Unfortunately for Minnesota-State, the jerseys worn by Marty Sertich and Brett Sterling weren’t Halloween costumes. They were the real deal and they have some opponents realizing just how scary they are.
Sertich and Sterling combined for 10 points during the two-game sweep this weekend against the Mavericks.
Early in Friday night’s game, MSU lost captain David Backes 6:06 into the contest when he was called for checking from behind. The hit could have gone either way but referees have been cracking down on calling checking from behind.
“I was surprised they were even calling two minutes and then for them to call a five minute major and a game misconduct, I was pretty surprised,” Backes said.
Already down 2-0, MSU successfully killed off the five-minute major and then got its own chance at the beginning of the second period when they had a five-on-three power play. The Mavericks couldn’t convert on the power play or the rest of the game as they went on to get shutout for the first time in its last 60 games.
“We got beat by a better hockey team tonight,” said head coach Troy Jutting. They have three of the best players in the country on their team.”
The Tigers got off to a good start when Sertich scored 2:25 into the game shorthanded. He later added an assist.
“He’s an unbelievable player,” Backes said. “You can’t give guys like that a lot of chances because they’ll hurt you.”
Thirty-nine seconds later the game was tied and 41 seconds after that, Colorado College took the lead.
“That’s where we’ve been bit in the rear end this year,” Backes said. “We need an even better follow up shift after we score.”
Later in the game, Travis Morin scored to make it 4-2, but the Tigers made it 5-2 just 37 seconds later.
“We’ve got to get better,” Jutting told his team after the game. “There’s no sense in hanging our heads.”
Sterling scored a hat trick and added an assist for Colorado College as they won 7-3.
MSU is now 0-6 with an upcoming road trip to Alaska-Anchorage and then a home series the following weekend against the two-time defending champions Denver.
“I’d like to be 6-0, but am I completely devastated? No,” Jutting said. “This weekend made us better and we still have potential to be a good hockey team.”