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Minnesota State University, Mankato
Minnesota State University, Mankato

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Page address: https://web.mnsu.edu/sports/bluelineclub/news/html/fp_excel_022705.html

Mavericks fall to No. 1 DU

Not this time

By Shane Frederick
Free Press Staff Writer

MANKATO — This time, the lead held up.

The Denver Pioneers played every bit the part of No. 1 team in the nation, opening up a four-goal first-period lead on Minnesota State.

But the latest game in a Western Collegiate Hockey Association series known for wild comebacks was rather normal, as the Pioneers beat the Mavericks 5-2 Saturday at Midwest Wireless Civic Center.

Even so, the Pioneers were never quite comfortable with their lead, senior Kevin Ulanski said.

"(Minnesota State) is a team that gets one or two goals and can pile on a couple more," said Ulanski, who scored one goal and set up two others.

A crowd of 4,091 showed up for Minnesota State's WCHA finale a night after the Mavericks thwarted a Denver comeback for an 8-5 upset. It was the second-largest crowd of the season.

But the only thing the Mavericks piled up were penalty minutes - in all, 39 on 14 infractions and giving Denver 11 power-play opportunities.

Denver thanked them by scoring three power-play goals - including one on a 5-on-3 advantage - to go ahead 4-0 after the first period.

"I'm disappointed in some of the penalties we took in that game," MSU coach Troy Jutting said. "I thought there was a frustration factor with some of the penalties that were called. It affected the kids."

The Pioneers led 1-0 on an even-strength goal just 84 second into the game. Jeff Drummond took a pass from Ulanski and beat goalie Chris Clark on the stick side.

At the 6-minute mark, Ulanski made it 2-0 on the power play.

With less than six minutes left in the first period, the Mavericks got their first power-play opportunity of the game.

But it as nullified about a minute later when David Backes was whistled for a pair of penalties.

Rob Rankin put the Mavericks two men short when he bumped goalie Peter Mannino behind the net.

Denver, the highest-scoring team in the WCHA, had it easy. The Pioneers scored a pair of goals 20 seconds apart - Luke Fulghum 5-on-3 and Drummond's 5-on-4 - and were up 4-0 with 1:32 left in the opening period.

"The first period, we made a lot of stupid plays," MSU sophomore Travis Morin said. "We took some penalties that were not very smart. Credit to (the Pioneers), they took advantage of the opportunities."

Clark saved 10 of 14 shots in the first period, so Jutting put Jon Volp in goal at the start of the second period. Seeing his first action since Feb. 4, Volp stopped 16 of 17 shots in 40 minutes.

But Mannino was much improved over his Friday-night performance, stopping 32 shots, including 22 in the final two periods.

Brad Thompson scored the Mavericks' first goal at 17:39 of the second period, and Morin scored a power-play goal at 5:54 of the third to make it 4-2.

"They hurt us in the first period," Jutting said. "After that, it was 2-1 us. But you can't go down four goals right away to a team like that."

Denver defenseman Matt Carle made it 5-3 at 7:38 of the third period.

A comeback was not in the cards, MSU picked up three more penalties - including a 5-minute major/game misconduct on Backes for checking from behind - the rest of the way.

The Mavericks (11-17-6) finished the WCHA season with an 8-16-4 record. They can still finish as high as seventh and as low as 10th in the league standings.

They will play a nonconference game at Nebraska-Omaha Thursday and close out the regular season Saturday with a home game against UNO.

Denver 4-0-1-5

Minnesota State 0-1-1-2

First Period

Scoring

1. DU-Drummond 13 (Ulanski 16, Larson 2) 1:24
2. DU-Ulanski 8 (Drummond 17) ppg 4:27
3. DU-Fulghum 19 (Stastny 23, Skinner 30) ppg 18:02
4. DU-Drummond 14 (Ulanski 17, Paukovich 10) ppg 18:28

Penalties

  • Dubel, MSU (hooking) 4:27
  • Morin, MSU (cross-checking) 6:00
  • Thomas, Du (cross-checking) 14:38
  • Backes, MSU (roughing, cross-checking) 15:40
  • Rankin, MSU (checking the goaltender) 17:23

Second Period

Scoring

5. MSU-Thompson 10 (Carter 8, Kisio 12) 17:39

Penalties

  • Thomas, DU (roughing) 6:19
  • Dubel, MSU (hooking) 9:03
  • Paukovich, DU (interference) 10:52
  • Helgason, DU (hooking) 13:20
  • Carter, MSU (elbowing) 19:55

Third Period

Scoring

6. MSU-Morin 12 (Peto 23, Thompson 7) ppg 5:54
7. DU-Carle 12 (Corbin 17, Halme 10) 7:38

Penalties

  • Becker, MSU (roughing) 3:19
  • Stastny, DU (tripping) 4:43
  • Becker, MSU (interference) 11:36
  • Gauthier, DU (tripping) 12:34
  • Wagner, MSU (interference) 13:00
  • Backes, MSU (major/game misconduct-checking from behind) 16:11
  • Foster, DU (roughing) 16:11

Summaries

Shots on goal

  • DU 14-10-7-31
  • MSU 10-14-10-34

Penalties

  • DU 10 for 20 minutes
  • MSU 14 for 39 minutes

Power-play opportunities

  • DU 3 of 11
  • MSU 1 of 6

Goalies

  • DU Mannino 10-13-9-32
  • MSU Clark 10-x-x-10, Volp x-10-6-14

Attendance

  • 4,091

Referee

  • Randy Schmidt

Assistant referees

  • Michael Heichert
  • Tony Lancette Jr.

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