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October 28, 2009

Penalties hurt both teams in MSU-Wisconsin series

By Shane Frederick

Not everything was rosy following Minnesota State’s 3-2 win over Wisconsin on Saturday night at the Verizon Wireless Center.

Sure, the Mavericks were feeling pretty good after bouncing back from Friday’s 6-0 loss, a drubbing that even they described as embarrassing. And they won the way they usually win games — especially against the Badgers — by playing hard and fast and aggressive.

“We’ve had a lot of frustration here,” Wisconsin’s Blake Geoffrion said about his and the other seniors’ first win in Mankato. “It’s a hard place to play. They’re a hard-working team and a good team.”

Minnesota State proved Geoffrion right on Saturday to get the series split, playing with a shaken-up lineup that included every healthy senior available and a third-year forward who had yet to put on a game uniform for anything other than an exhibition game and a team photo.

The Mavericks won the game with a power-play goal by Zach Harrison, which came during the second of back-to-back major penalties, including one that put MSU captain Geoff Irwin out of commission for at least two games.

Indeed, penalties overshadowed much of the weekend.

The Badgers were certainly kicking themselves after the way the series ended.

“Both players felt terrible, I mean absolutely almost sick to their stomach, because they knew the impact it had on the game,” Wisconsin coach Mike Eaves said on Monday. A day later, the WCHA issued an extra game suspension for Craig Smith, the player who cross-checked Irwin into the boards.

On Friday, Minnesota State was called for 26 minutes worth of penalties. That included a stretch of nearly eight minutes in the second period in which at least one MSU player was in the box. When that concluded, the teams played just eight seconds of even-strength hockey when the Mavericks took yet another penalty. That led to a power-play goal and a 4-0 Wisconsin lead.

“It’s going to stop, or they’re not going to play,” Mavericks coach Troy Jutting said afterward.

The next night, the Mavericks survived, despite getting called for another 12 penalties and putting the Badgers on the power play nine times.

“I thought our penalty kill was fantastic,” Jutting said. “I thought they did a great job.”

The coach said the infractions weren’t as lazy or dumb as some of the ones taken the night before, but there were still too many.

“We gotta stay out of the box,” he said. “We’re still taking too many penalties.”

Through six games, Mavericks are averaging 21 penalty minutes per game third in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association behind Wisconsin (whose number certainly went up after the twin majors) and Minnesota Duluth.

In even-strength situations this season, the Mavericks have outscored their opponents 10-8. But they’ve allowed 10 power-play goals, while scoring just four and allowing one short-handed goal themselves.

The good news for Minnesota State is that it’s not yet November. There’s still time to nip the problem in the bud.



Shane Frederick is a Free Press staff writer. Click here to access his college hockey blog or e-mail him at sfrederick@mankatofreepress.com.

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Shane Frederick