The Waiting Game Over, Men’s Hockey Travels to North Dakota for Playoffs
WCHA Playoffs begin at No. 10 Fighting Sioux
by Dan Myers
March 07, 2006
After spending its off week resting and preparing, the Minnesota State men’s hockey team finally knows its opponent for the first-round of the WCHA playoffs, which begin this weekend. The Mavericks will travel to North Dakota and play the No. 10 Fighting Sioux at Ralph Engelstad Arena Friday, Saturday and Sunday if necessary.
MSU is one of the hottest teams in the nation, coming off a pair of sweeps over nationally ranked opponents St. Cloud State and Wisconsin. UND will provide a challenge for the Mavs, however, as the Sioux dominated both games the two played in Grand Forks earlier this season, winning 6-3 and 4-2 on Jan. 20 and 21.
The trip to North Dakota may be a bonus for the Mavericks, as they don’t have to fly to their destination this weekend. Pending the results of this past weekend’s games, MSU had to play at either UND or Colorado College. With the Sioux trailing the Tigers by three points entering the weekend, UND hoped for a sweep over Michigan Tech, which it earned, as well as at least three points for Denver, CC’s opponent. DU won Thursday at CC before tying Saturday at home. UND won the tiebreaker because of its extra victory in conference play.
For their part, the Mavericks did not know who to prepare for until late Saturday, when word came from Colorado Springs that DU and CC had tied. The late word did not allow the team to practice for its opponent until Monday.
“It was a little tough because we didn’t know who we were going to play,” said Mavericks’ head coach Troy Jutting. “We will prepare this week and we have been preparing for North Dakota. Now it’s time for us to go out and get the job done.”
UND and CC provide much different challenges for MSU. Colorado College is much smaller and plays a high-octane, more explosive style than UND’s rugged, physical attack.
“I think we are team that is in the middle,” Jutting said. “We can play that physical game, but we can skate decently, too. I didn’t really have a preference in who we played as far as style, and we’ll just have to play the style we need to in order to be successful.
After the sweep at UND, MSU has won seven of its last 10 games, but only two of those victories came on the road, a place the Mavs have struggled this season. Despite a 16-16-4 record, MSU has won only six of its games on the road (6-11-1), compared to a 10-5-3 record at home.
The break was also beneficial on the fatigue front. The week off was MSU’s first since the beginning of January, and it allowed for the team to mend some bumps and bruises as well.
“We rested last week,” Jutting said. “I gave the kids Monday through Wednesday off before practicing Thursday and Friday. They were two very good days of work even though we didn’t know who we had.”
The best-of-three series opens Friday night at 7:37 p.m. with face-off on Saturday scheduled for 7:07 p.m. If a third game is needed, it will be Sunday at 7:07 p.m.