Minnesota State defeats Miami in shootout

Clark, Becker provide late-game heroics

By Shane Frederick
Free Press Staff Writer

Minnesota State goaltender Chris Clark stopped a career-high 43 shots Thursday, but three saves that won't go in the record book made the Mavericks' night.

Clark stopped three of four Miami shots and the Mavericks scored three goals in a shootout to win on the second day of the Ohio Hockey Classic at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.

Officially, the game will go down as a 3-3 overtime tie on the teams' records. The shootout was for tournament purposes only.

"It still feels like a win," Clark said in a phone interview afterwards. "Most importantly, it ended our losing streak."

The Mavericks had lost their previous four games.

Brock Becker scored the clinching goal, and Jeff Marler and Brad Thompson also scored during the shootout, which the Mavericks won 3-1.

Clark described Becker's goal as a "forehand-backhand, five-hole goal," something he said he has seen many times during practice.

"It was an amazing goal," Clark said.

Clark helped the Mavericks kill off eight penalties, including one in overtime, as the Redhawks put more shots on MSU, 46, than any team has this season.

"Clark played great," coach Troy Jutting said. "I felt really good about him going into the shootout."

Clark said he was disappointed he allowed the game to get to overtime, as Miami came from behind twice to tie the game.

The Mavericks led 2-0 after one period on goals by Travis Morin and Kurtis Kisio. They went up 3-2 on Rob Rankin's goal early in the third..

The Redhawks, who lost 4-3 to No. 2 Colorado College on the first day of the tournament, bounced back to tie the game in the second period on goals by Ryan Jones and Todd Grant and in the third on a goal by Taylor Hustead at 12:54.

Ryan Carter, who sat out Wednesday's game against Ohio State with flu-like symptoms, returned to action against Miami, assisting on Kisio's power-play goal. But Jutting was still shuffling his lineup, as defenseman Steven Wagner caught Carter's bug and Adam Gerlach also missed the game because of a game disqualification penalty against the Buckeyes.

The Mavericks (7-10-3) will return to conference play Jan. 7-8 against North Dakota at Grand Forks, N.D.

Minnesota State 2-0-1-0-3

Miami 0-2-1-0-3

First Period

Scoring

1. MSU-Morin 8 (Becker) 11:54
2. Kisio 2 (Peto, Carter) ppg 15:15

Penalties

• Johns, MSU (interference) 3:46
• Grant, MIA (hooking) 4:45
• Linder, MSU (boarding) 8:45
• Johns, MSU (cross-checking) 8:59
• Nelson, MIA (interference) 15:04
• Toll, MSU (holding) 17:51
• Ganzak, MIA (holding) 18:07

Second Period

Scoring

3. MIA-Jones 3 (Nelson) 1:38
4. MIA-Grant 9 (Smith) 9:06

Penalties

• Peto, MSU (hooking) 3:06; 10:20
• Cooper, MIA (boarding) 10:20
• Hanson, MSU (cross-checking) 14:02

Third Period

Scoring

5. MSU-Rankin (Fransen, Thompson) 1:06
6. MIA-Hustead (Davis, Cooper) 12:54

Penalties

• Becker, MSU (high sticking) 3:57
• Becker, MSU (tripping) 3:57
• Grant, MIA (holding) 7:55

Overtime

Scoring

• None

Penalties

• Backes, MSU (goaltender interference) 1:15

Summaries

Shots on goal

• MSU 14-8-5-3-28
• MIA 12-13-15-4-46

Penalty minutes

• MSU 0 for 0 minutes
• MIA 0 for 0 minutes

Power-play opportunities

• MSU 1 for 5
• MIA 0 for 8

Goalie saves

• MSU-Clark 14-11-14-4-43
• MIA-Crawford-West 10-8-4-3-25

Timeouts

• Miami took its timeout at 1:15 of overtime

Minnesota State wins shootout 3-1