MSU's comeback kids sweep SCSU

Mavericks rally to overcome late, early deficits, beating Huskies twice

by Pat Ottum
Issue date: 1/29/08
Section: Mens Sports

SCSU 3 vs. MSU 5 Friday, January 26th
SCSU 3 vs. MSU 5 Saturday, January 27th

With just under 10 minutes to go in the final period last Friday, the Minnesota State men's hockey team (11-10-4, 5-9-4 WCHA) looked to be dead in the water and on the verge of suffering their third straight home loss, this time at the hands of No. 13 St. Cloud State.

"We came out slow the first two periods, our physical play was nonexistent," senior defenseman R.J. Linder said. "Then, it was just one of those things - there's something you have to do."

Trailing 3-0 with about eight minutes to go in the third period, Linder, the St. Cloud native and typically stay-at-home defenseman, gave the Mavericks just the spark they needed.

MSU got five third-period goals to complete an unbelievable comeback and win the game 5-3. Head coach Troy Jutting thought it was time for his team to make a comeback.

"I told the guys after two periods that two Friday nights ago [at Minnesota-Duluth], we lost a game we should have won," Jutting said. "I told them that tonight was our turn to come back."

The Huskies found themselves ahead 2-0 when they scored two back-door goals just 24 seconds apart. In the third, SCSU made it 3-0, capitalizing on a turnover by the MSU defense and seemingly had the game fully in control.

Then, with just over eight minutes left, Linder made his first goal of the season, giving the Mavericks the boost they had been looking for all game. After that goal, the team seemed to transform and was outplaying SCSU in every aspect of the game. Under a minute later, Trevor Bruess cut the Huskies' lead to 3-2 with his sixth goal of the year. Just like that, the Mavericks were alive.

"(Bruess') goal was huge," Jutting said. "I knew it was a hockey game then."

Jason Wiley tied the game at three to complete the comeback, and Mick Berge put the Mavericks up for good with under two minutes to go. Defenseman Brian Kilburg sealed the game with an empty-net goal and the Mavericks won the game by a score of 5-3.

The Mavericks, carrying their newly acquired energy and momentum, went into the National Hockey Center in St. Cloud on Saturday looking to complete the sweep at one of the toughest venues in the country for road opponents.

The Mavericks kept the sellout crowd silent for the majority of the game as they never let the Huskies get any of that momentum back and won the game, again by the score of 5-3. The win was MSU's sixth straight at the National Hockey Center.

Trailing 2-0 in the first, the Mavericks got a goal from Wiley, which was his second of the weekend, and again refused to let St. Cloud get comfortable. Kael Mouillierat took a nice two-on-one feed from Bruess and made it 2-2 just into the second period. Then, freshman Andrew Sackrison's power-play goal a few minutes later made it 3-2 MSU, and Berge's second game-winning goal of the series gave MSU a 4-2 lead. The goal upped Berge's team-leading total to 14.

SCSU cut the lead to one in the third period, but Geoff Irwin put the Mavericks up by two again at 5-3 to close out the scoring, giving MSU its first WCHA sweep of the season

The sweep put the Mavericks in a three-way tie for seventh place in the WCHA standings. They now stand only three points away from being in the top five in the standings, which would give them home ice advantage in the first round of the WCHA playoffs.

The Mavericks are in action at home again this weekend against No. 4 Denver. The puck drops at 7:37 p.m. on Friday and 7:07 p.m. on Saturday.

 

Pat Ottum is a Reporter staff writer