Catching a Break
MSU men's hockey get a break from its grueling WCHA schedule, beating UNO 6-3.
by Brad Wheeler
November 29, 2005
The Minnesota State men’s hockey team had a nonconference showdown with Nebraska-Omaha last Tuesday on the road for its third game in four days. The two teams will play again Jan. 3rd at the Midwest Wireless Civic Center.
Freshman Mike Zacharias got the start in goal for the third time this season and played well for MSU getting his first win. Zacharias also played well and stopped 36 shots while Dan Tormey got the night off for MSU.
“Three games in four nights is a lot for a guy,” head coach Troy Jutting said. “We wanted to keep Zach game-fresh too.”
MSU scored three times on the power play in the second period with goals by Brent Cummings, David Backes and Brock Becker.
“I thought our power play worked really well,” Jutting said. “We got some key goals when we needed them.”
For Cummings, it was his first career goal and it tied the game at 1-1. UNO was held scoreless during the second period but scored twice to make it interesting in the third period. Mick Berge also scored his first career goal at the end of the game with an empty netter.
“We need those guys to continue to get better for us to be successful,” Jutting said.
MSU added three goals in the third period including the game-winning goal from junior Travis Morin. It was Morin’s fifth goal of the season.
MSU went three-for-six on the power play and held UNO to one power play goal from eight attempts. Sophomore Ryan Carter scored shorthanded for MSU in the third period, as well.
UNO out-shot MSU 39-22 but the Mavericks were finally able to capitalize on their quality chances.
“It’s nice to see us put up six goals,” Jutting said. “We’ve had some missed opportunities the last couple weekends where we haven’t been able to put it away.”
Junior defenseman Kyle Peto had three assists in the game — two of which came on the power play.
MSU will host Minnesota-Duluth this weekend in WCHA competition. The Bulldogs are coming off a weekend sweep at home against Yale. UMD hadn’t swept a team at home since it swept MSU in October last season.