Men's Hockey Gameday

by Dan Myers
February 02, 2006

Men's Hockey Gameday

Friday, 7:37 p.m. | Saturday, 7:07 p.m.
Midwest Wireless Civic Center Mankato, Minn.
Earlier This Season: Split (MSU 5-4, MTU 3-2)

Minnesota State

11-13-4 overall, 7-10-3 WCHA

Leading Scorers

• David Backes, Jr-F (10-23-33)
• Travis Morin, Jr-F (16-17-33)
• Ryan Carter, So-F (13-13-26)
• Kyle Peto, Sr-D (6-18-24)
• Rob Rankin, Jr-F (7-9-16)

Goaltenders

• Dan Tormey, Fr-G (10-8-4) .907, 2.67
• Mike Zacharias, Fr-G (1-3-0), .873, 4.27
• Chris Clark, Jr-G (0-2-0) .855, 4.46

Last Weekend: W 5-4, W 7-1 vs. Minnesota-Duluth at UMD

Michigan Tech

6-17-3 overall, 5-10-3 WCHA

Leading Scorers

• Chris Connor, Sr-F (15-10-25)
• Brandon Schwartz, Sr-F (9-10-19)
• Lars Helminen, Jr-D (2-14-16)
• Taggart Desmet, Sr-F (5-8-13)
• Tyler Shelast, So-F (6-5-11)

Goaltenders

• Michael-Lee Teslak, Fr-G (6-8-2) .905, 3.50
• Rob Nolan, Fr-G (0-9-1) .868, 4.32

Last Weekend: T 2-2, T 2-2 vs. Alaska-Anchorage at MTU

The Scoop

For the second time in three weeks, a sweep would vault the Mavericks into home-ice contention for the WCHA playoffs. Unlike their series against North Dakota two weeks ago however, this one is at home. The series against Michigan Tech also appears a bit more winnable, as the Huskies are only two points out of last place. But, MTU has had success against Minnesota teams on the road in recent series. Last year, the Huskies took a pair at Mariucci Arena against an unsuspecting Gopher squad. Having already won on the road against Wisconsin just before winter break, Tech travelled to Duluth three weeks ago and earned a sweep of the Bulldogs. The hallmark of MTU head coach Jamie Russell’s teams is hard work. They won’t dazzle you with goal scorers, but they will skate hard into every corner looking for the puck. Their scrappiness has caused much better teams, problems in the past.