Men's Hockey Sweeps UMD

Four Mavs tally multi-goal weekends at rival Duluth; take first road sweep since 2002-03

by Joey Burns
January 31, 2006

The Minnesota State men’s hockey team got back on the scoring side of things in a big way by sweeping Minnesota-Duluth on the road last weekend.

MSU won by a score of 5-4 Friday night and dominated the last two periods to beat UMD 7-1 at the DECC on Saturday. The road sweep was MSU’s first since the 2002-03 season when it did the same to Alaska-Anchorage.

The scoring came fast on Friday, with three goals coming in the first five minutes of the game.

The Bulldogs’ Andrew Carroll scored the first at 1:49, but the Mavericks responded 33 seconds later as freshman Blake Friesen earned his first goal in a Mavericks’ uniform to tie the score.

MSU took the lead at 4:38 as Travis Morin knocked one past Bulldog netminder Isaac Reichmuth.

Although the Mavericks would not relinquish the lead, UMD stayed close, capitalizing on two power plays to bring the score within one with 7:01 remaining in the game. The Mavs hung tough and put down the Bulldog’s late surge to secure the victory.

“I thought we did a lot of smart and good things to win the game,” said MSU head coach Troy Jutting. “I don’t think we played a great game. I think we were just OK, with the exception that we did the little things that we needed to do to win.”

Although Saturday’s end result did not show it, UMD had the Mavericks on the ropes in the first period.

The Bulldogs led in shots on goal 13-2 and the Mavs spent nearly nine minutes on the penalty kill while losing David Backes to a game misconduct for checking from behind.

But the Mavericks penalty kill prevailed, Tormey stopped all shots, and MSU ended the first period with a very satisfying 0-0 tie.

“We competed and battled through a tough situation,” Jutting said. “I was as pleased with that period as any period this year.”

When UMD’s Ryan Swanson received a game misconduct for checking from behind in the second period, the Mavs learned from the Bulldogs’ mistakes and took advantage. Kurtis Kisio and Jeff Marler both scored on that power play, taking a swift 2-0 lead.

“When Dave [Backes] went out, we all realized that we all needed to pick up our game — losing the best player on the team,” said Kisio.

Kisio then scored on another power play opportunity at 16:57, with Steve Wagner — who sat out the night before because of his ejection in the Mavericks previous game against North Dakota — scoring his third of the year less than a minute later.

“Coach kept joking me, saying ‘You better have a good game if you’re sitting out,’” Wagner said. “It was nice to put some numbers on the board and help the team out.”

Austin Sutter scored a pair of goals in the third period, giving the Mavericks their largest win margin of victory this season.

Freshman Dan Tormey played strong again in the nets, stopping 33 shots on Friday and 27 in the one-goal game Saturday, proving that he is one of the keys to MSU’s success heading toward the end of the season.

“[Tormey’s] just consistent,” Wagner said. “It’s nice to have a guy each and every night that you know is going to play well. He always keeps us in there.”

The victories gave the Mavericks a four-point boost in the WCHA standings, giving them 17 for the season. The team remains in seventh, two points behind St. Cloud State and Colorado College in fifth and three points behind North Dakota in fourth.

The Mavericks sweep on the road was part of an odd weekend in the WCHA in which every traveling team — Minnesota, St. Cloud State and Denver — secured a sweep in their series.

The Mavs head home this weekend to take on Michigan Tech Friday and Saturday night at the Midwest Wireless Center. After splitting with the Huskies earlier this season, the Mavericks are hoping that their momentum can carry them to a sweep again this weekend.

“The confidence keeps on building,” Kisio said. “We’ve been putting together a lot of wins lately. Hopefully, we can keep taking that into the next couple of games.”

“We don’t need anybody behind us beating us,” Wagner said.

The Mavericks will be without Mick Berge and Christian Toll for this weekend’s match up. According to Jutting, Berge is most likely out for the rest of the season with a broken arm.