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February 15, 2010

Mavericks look to avoid another trip to Madison

By Shane Frederick Free Press Staff Writer

MANKATO — The best road trip in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association is the five-hour jaunt southeast to Madison, Wis. The atmosphere is electric for hockey inside the Kohl Center, and, outside the arena there’s people watching a-plenty.

If you were there last weekend to watch the Minnesota State men’s and women’s teams play the Badgers and were in the right place at the right time — or, maybe, the wrong place at the wrong time — you might have stumbled upon Saturday afternoon’s “Undie Run,” a race down the city’s famous State Street that was exactly what you might imagine it would be.

Yes, students stripped down to their skivvies and dashed through the cold and the slush and the snow, each paying five bucks for the opportunity (funds went toward HIV/AIDS research).

If such a race was run in Mankato, an emergency session of the city council would likely be called and decency laws would be changed.

Looking at the WCHA standings, there appears to be a pretty good chance that the MSU men will be heading back to Madison in about four weeks for the first round of the conference playoffs.

While that might be a popular pre-spring break destination for Mavericks fans and other observers, the team probably doesn’t want to make another trip to Wisconsin before next season.

As it did during last year’s playoffs, Minnesota State had a rough weekend in Madison on Friday and Saturday, falling to the third-ranked Badgers 4-3 and 8-4.

Wisconsin may be the best team in the WCHA, if not the country. The Badgers are touting defenseman Brendan Smith for the Hobey Baker Award, but senior forward and captain Blake Geoffrion is already penciled in on my ballot as the conference’s player of the year.

Geoffrion had a dominant weekend against the Mavericks, scoring four goals and setting up three others. He closed out the weekend with a slap shot past goalie Austin Lee that the shot’s inventor — his grandfather, Hockey Hall of Famer Bernie “Boom Boom” Geoffrion — would have been proud of.

By the time the regular season ends on March 6, Wisconsin could be the WCHA champions. While it’s a tight race at the top, it appears the Badgers or the Denver Pioneers will be hoisting the MacNaughton Cup.

Minnesota State probably doesn’t want to play either team, although it will get to test itself against Denver in a couple of weeks in Mankato.

The Mavericks are in ninth place in the conference right now but probably needs to climb up a rung two to avoid another trip to cheese country.

Despite the lopsided loss on Saturday and the fact that they’ve won just one conference game in 2010, the Mavericks held out hope that they could make the kind of late-season push they’ve made in previous years.

“I truly believe in my heart that we’re going to make a good run here,” senior Jerad Stewart said. “Since I’ve been here, this is my favorite team. ... I think we’ve played good hockey, but for whatever reason, (winning) hasn’t happened.”

Mavericks coach Troy Jutting said his team hasn’t lost confidence in itself.

“I won’t let that happen,” he said.

Finding a way to avoid the undie runners in Madison would help.



Shane Frederick is a Free Press staff writer. Read his hockey blog at mankatofreepres.com/blogs.

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