The Minnesota State University, Mankato men’s hockey
team earned their second sweep of the season this past weekend with two wins
over the visiting Bemidji State University Beavers in a Western Collegiate
Hockey Association series.
The Beavers (3-5-0) seemed poised for a road victory
on Friday night, but playing at home, the Mavs (7-3-0) earned a hard fought
victory.
Junior Dylan Margonari got things started for MSU
just under two minutes into the first period when he took a Bryce Gervais pass
and beat the BSU defenders with speed before slipping the puck between Beaver
goaltender Michael Bitzers legs for a 1-0 lead. Then Teddy Blueger increased
the lead with a shorthand goal where he buried the puck into a nearly wide open
net on a perfect feed from Gervais.
BSU would get a power play goal from Matt
Prapavessis when he was left alone in the slot and fired a high shot over the
shoulder of MSU goaltender Cole Huggins to cut the lead in half.
Then in the second period, it was all Beavers.
Just 26 seconds into the second, John Parker fired a
seeing-eye shot into the top corner of the net to tie the game, then Cory Ward
buried a goal late in the period to take a 3-2 lead. After the period, MSU Head
Coach Mike Hastings pulled Huggins, and junior goaltender Stephon Williams
would play the third.
In the third period, the Mavs showed just how
dangerous their offense can be. Gervais netted a pair of power play goals
sandwiched around Brett Stern’s first goal of the season, then senior Matt
Leitner tallied his first of the year on a late empty net goal. The four goal
third period gave the Mavericks a 6-3 win on Friday night heading into Saturday’s
contest.
On Saturday it was again the Mavs who would strike
first when freshman Brad McClure scored his fourth goal of the season on a
brilliant play by Margonari. Taking an offensive zone faceoff, Margonari pushed
the puck around the BSU centerman and slid the puck to a wide open McClure, who
had a wide open net to deposit the puck into.
The Mavericks kept rolling through the first period
with a pair of power play goals scored 59 second apart off the stick of
Blueger. Nearly identical goals, Blueger manned the power play from the blue
line, firing two wrist shots past a screened Andrew Walsh into the Beaver net.
![]() |
Teddy Blueger netted his first career hat-trick Saturday night |
Bemidji would get on the board before the period was
over, though. Phil Brewer knocked in a loose puck into the MSU net with just
two seconds left in the period net Williams made the initial two saves on the
play.
In the second period, BSU would make things
interesting when Graeme McCormack tallied a power play goal late in the period,
but the Mavericks answered back in dramatic fashion.
Just over a minute after McCormack’s goal, Blueger
completed his first career hat-trick, scoring his third goal of the night on a
rebound from a C.J. Franklin shot.
The third period ended similarly to Friday night’s
game, with Leitner scoring an empty net goal, this time while shorthanded. But before
the game was all said and done, BSU tallied one last goal with ten seconds
remaining in the game from Nate Arentz to leave the game at 5-3 in favor of
MSU.
With the sweep, the Mavericks move to 5-1-0 in WCHA
play which is good for second in the league behind undefeated Michigan Tech,
who the Mavs play next on the road. After having this weekend off from games,
MSU will head to Houghton, Mich. next weekend to play the Huskies in what
should be a battle of the top two teams in the WCHA.
No comments:
Post a Comment