¡OLÉ!

Mavericks score 13 goals and give fans plenty to sing about in sweep over No. 2 Wisconsin

by Joey Burns
February 28, 2006

A car accident, winning the jackpot with one pull of a slot machine, that call that offers someone their dream job – all of these are events that alter one's state of being in little more than a few seconds.

In 10 seconds last Friday, the image of Minnesota State men's hockey changed from that of a middle-of-the-road team in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association to that of a legitimate threat.

Wisconsin started the game looking like a team that was fighting for the MacNaughton Cup – the trophy given to the regular season champion of the WCHA. The Badgers jumped out to a 3-0 lead as Robbie Earl, Nick Licari and Jack Skille scored on Mike Zacharias and the Mavericks.

After going on the power play with 15 seconds remaining in the first period, David Backes grabbed control of the puck off the faceoff and cut around the stickless and diving Joe Pavelski, scoring on Brian Elliott at 18:50.

As the crowd was still cheering, the public address announcer was still reading off the scoring play and the television broadcast was still in replay of the Backes goal, Joel Hanson sprinted into the Badger zone, crashed toward the net and scored a mere eight seconds later.

“It was a huge swing,” Backes said. “It almost was like we needed some Prozac there with 15 seconds left. We got our Prozac in the form of two quick goals.”

Prior to the final 15 seconds of the period, the Mavericks only had two shots, with two more coming prior to the power play and then the two scoring shots for a total of six in the period. The Mavs were outshot 65-52 by the Badgers during the weekend.

The two goals rocked the Midwest Wireless Civic Center and stirred the crowd of 4,313 into a frenzy that did not die down the rest of the weekend.

The momentum the Mavericks gained on those 10 seconds fueled MSU to a 6-4 win Friday and a 7-3 victory Saturday, earning the Mavericks' second-straight sweep against a nationally ranked team.

For Backes, the goal was a huge release and allowed him to finally get his 11 game goal-less streak off his back.

“I had a full body rush like I've never had before,” Backes said. “I don't know if I've ever gone 11 games without scoring before.”

Backes ended up earning four points on the night, adding another goal and two assists.

The two goals in 10 seconds open the floodgates on Hobey Baker Award candidate Elliott, who was playing in his second game back from a knee injury.

The Mavericks continued to blow the foghorn, not stopping until they scored six straight goals on the Badgers spanning the second and third periods.

Elliott's woes continued the next night as well, giving up five goals on 17 shots in the first 24:57 of the game. Badgers head coach Mike Eaves yanked Elliott in favor of backup netminder Shane Connelly

MSU senior Rob Rankin led the rush Saturday night, scoring two goals and was just inches away from a hat trick in his final game in Mankato. Rankin thought that the end result in his final game at home was fitting.

“I was laughing afterwards,” Rankin said about the attempted third goal. “That's the story of my career. Get in the right place, get the right shot, but just don't finish.”

Jon Kalinski, who many liken to Rankin, had a goal and three assists on the night in what seemed to be a breakout performance for the freshman.

“[Kalinski's] going to be a good player,” Mavericks head coach Troy Jutting said. “I hope he can do what [Rankin] does for us.”

“He's a fiery kid,” Rankin said of Kalinski. “He reminds me a lot of myself when I was 18, 19 years old.”

Ryan Carter also had a goal and two assists while Steve Wagner notched three assists on the evening. Also scoring goals were Kurtis Kisio, Chad Brownlee – his first of the year – and senior Jeff Marler.

“We scored tonight and last night when we had the opportunity,” said Jutting. “It's surprising considering that when you look at the last three years, if we scored seven goals, [Backes and Travis Morin] are usually in on two, three, four of them at least.”

“Our whole team played well tonight,” Rankin said. “I've had a great time being in Mankato and being with the guys. It's going to be tough leaving them, but that's the way it goes.”

MSU finished the year with a 16-16-4 record overall, the team's first non-losing season since 2002-03, but will now play the waiting game. The Mavericks do not play this weekend and MSU has the possibility of having to travel to one of five different schools. The most likely destination is either North Dakota or Colorado College. Wherever the Mavericks end up going, that series will begin Friday, March 10.