MSU plays No. 2 ranked Denver to a draw

Pitlick scores twice as Mavericks tie Pioneers

By Shane Frederick

DENVER — Kael Mouillierat finally broke out of his goal-scoring slump Saturday night. The only thing that would have made him happier was if the goal had been a game-winner.

Instead, the Minnesota State men’s hockey team came away from Magness Arena with a 4-4 overtime tie with No. 2-ranked Denver and just one point for the Western Collegiate Hockey Association standings.

“I thought we deserved a little better than one point,” said Mouillierat, whose power-play goal midway through the third period gave the Mavericks a 4-3 lead. “But I’ll take it. Points are hard to come by on the road. I’m definitely happy with the way we played. This was the first week we put in two solid efforts in a row.”

Mouillierat, who had 17 goals last season, had been scoreless through the Mavericks’ first seven games. On his goal, he tipped a Ben Youds shot behind goaltender Adam Murray (30 saves). Youds finished the game with three assists.

“That was big for Kael and big for our team, too,” Mavericks coach Troy Jutting said.

As tough as it’s been for Mouillierat to find the back of the net, it came easy for Denver’s Kyle Ostrow, who tied the game with 5:03 to play.

He simply followed the bouncing puck.

After teammate John Lee fired a shot on MSU goalie Kevin Murdock, Ostrow might have been the only player on the ice to see the deflected puck hanging 15 feet in the air. Before it hit the ice, he slapped it into the goal.

In overtime, each team had a power play, with the Mavericks outshooting the Pioneers 6-1. Rylan Galiardi nearly won the game with a short-handed rush in the closing seconds but Murray was able to get ahold of the bouncing puck.

“I think we got better this weekend again,” said Jutting, whose team lost 4-3 in Friday’s opener. “I think we’ve played three pretty good hockey games in a row now, and I think we’re getting better as a hockey team.”

On Saturday, the Mavericks got a 40-save performance from Murdock and scored three power-play goals.

Freshman forward Tyler Pitlick scored his first two goals as a Maverick on the eve of his 18th birthday, and sophomore defenseman Joe Schiller scored his first collegiate goal.

“We shot the puck a little more often, something we stressed hard today,” Jutting said of the Mavericks 3-for-6 performance with the man advantage. “You have to shoot the puck to score.”

The Mavericks opened up a 2-0 lead with first-period goals by Schiller and Pitlick.

Schiller fired in a slap shot from the high slot after Adam Mueller’s low-angle shot hit the post and caromed out to the point where Schiller was skating alone. Midway through the period, Pitlick made some nifty moves during a power play and ripped a wrist shot past Murray.

“Tonight was big for most of us,” Pitlick said. “We took another step and keep getting better every game.”

Trailing by two goals, Denver turned up the intensity, drew four MSU penalties and scored two goals before the first period was over. The first came just after the Pioneers’ first power play ended as Drew Shore slipped the puck through Kevin Murdock’s pads with an open shot from the left circle.

The Pioneers tied the game at 15:32 when Tyler Ruegsegger jammed in the puck at the left post while Pitlick watched from the penalty box.

The Mavericks killed off a 5-on-3 power play late in the first period and escaped tied despite being outshot 21-7.

Denver took the a 3-2 lead at 7:24 of the second period when Anthony Maiani found the puck amid a mass of bodies in front of Murdock and shot it in.

But the Mavericks outshot the Pioneers 14-8 in the period and Pitlick tied the game on a 5-on-3 power play at 15:06. He was open at the right post when Zach Harrison made a perfect cross-crease pass for Pitlick to slam into the back of the net.

The Mavericks (3-4-1, 1-4-1 in WCHA) are idle next weekend and will play again on Nov. 13-14 when they host Colorado College.



Minnesota State 2-1-1-0--4
Denver 2-1-1-0--4



FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1. MSU-Schiller 1 (Mueller 2, Youds 3) 5:26; 2. MSU-Pitlick 1 (unassisted) 9:38; 3. DU-Shore 2 (Wrenn 3) 13:46; 4. DU-Ruegsegger 4 (Rakhshani 5, Wiercioch 5) ppg 15:32
Penalties: Maiani, DU (hooking) 8:53; Elbrecht, MSU (holding the stick) 11:42; Pitlick, MSU (tripping) 14:47; Zuck, MSU (slashing) 17:55; Mouillierat, MSU (tripping) 18:04



SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 5. DU-Maiani 1 (Wiercioch 6, Shore 4) 7:24; 6. MSU-Pitlick 2 (Harrison 4, Youds 4) ppg 15:06
Penalties: Brookwell, DU (slashing) 4:34; Jokinen, MSU (interference) 9:24; Colborne, DU (holding) 13:25



THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 7. MSU-Mouillierat 1 (Youds 3, Galiardi 3) ppg 10:11; 8. DU-K.Ostrow 4 (Lee 2) 14:57
Penalties: Wrenn, DU (hooking) 9:49



OVERTIME
Scoring: None.
Penalties: S.Ostrow (hooking) :32; Jokinein, MSU (charging) 3:37



SUMMARIES
Shots on goal: MSU 7-14-7-6--34; DU 21-8-14-1--44. Penalties: MSU 6 for 12 minutes; DU 6 for 12 minutes. Power-play opportunities: MSU 3 for 6; DU 1 for 6. Goalie saves: MSU-Murdock 19-7-13-1--40 (4 GA), DU-Murray 5-13-6-6--30 (4 GA)
Referees: Peter Friesema, Butch Mousseaux. Linesmen: Tim Swiader, Bob Keltie.

Attendance: 5,311