By Shane Frederick
Free Press Staff Writer
MANKATO — Tyler Pitlick scored a pair of goals on Saturday night that might stand as staples on his personal highlight reel for years to come, no matter how long the Minnesota State freshman’s future NHL career lasts.
But it was the misses that might be haunting him this week.
“We didn’t score in overtime, and we didn’t score enough on the power play,” he said after the Mavericks’ 4-3 overtime loss to No. 1-ranked Denver at the Verizon Wireless Center. “That’s how games are won.”
The Mavericks have suffered more than their fair share of one-goal losses this season, but this one, before a home crowd of 4,110, was the ultimate heartbreaker.
After erasing a 3-1 deficit in the second period and outshooting the Pioneers 39-36, Minnesota State watched Denver clinch the Western Collegiate Hockey Association’s regular-season championship when Rhett Rakhshani scored the game-winning goal with 13.3 seconds remaining in overtime.
“I feel really good about the way we’re playing,” MSU coach Troy Jutting said. “Yeah, we want to win. We’re playing our best hockey right now. No loss is more heartbreaking than the next because they’re all heartbreaking.”
On the game-winner, Rakhshani, the WCHA’s leading scorer, back-handed a rebound past goalie Austin Lee from the left circle. The play started after Tyler Ruegsegger won a faceoff cleanly in the Mavericks’ end of the rink. Patrick Wiercioch passed it back to Ruegsegger, and Lee stopped his shot. But Rakhshani had a wide-open net fire at.
The Mavericks (14-18-2, 8-17-1 in WCHA) had their chances to grab the lead late in the third period or win it in overtime.
Pitlick had a wide-open net to shoot into during one of three third-period power plays. But the puck wobbled on his stick, and he put it into the side of goalie Marc Cheverie. Minnesota State also had four shots on goal in overtime, including a Grade-A chance by defenseman Tyler Elbrecht on an odd-man rush with Kael Mouillierat.
“(The Mavericks) played hard all weekend,” said Denver forward Joe Colborne, whose 4-on-3 power play goal with one second left in the first period gave the Pioneers a 1-0 lead. “A couple of bounces and a huge save by (Cheverie) in overtime, and it’s a different weekend.”
Cheverie, a likely candidate for the Hobey Baker Award, stopped all 15 shots he faced in the third period and overtime.
Early on, Pitlick figured out how to beat the sophomore goaltender, giving the Mavericks a 1-0 lead at 13:40 of the first period, shooting a low shot on a 2-on-1 rush.
But Minnesota State left itself with three players on the ice twice late in the period, and the top-ranked Pioneers made them pay with a pair of pretty, tic-tac-toe goals. Anthony Maiani scored from Colborne, tying the game with 3:26 remaining. Then, with one tick left on the clock, Colborne fired in a pass from Patrick Wiercioch for the intermission lead.
Before Maiani’s goal, MSU senior Jerad Stewart was given a major penalty and a game misconduct for checking from behind.
“It’s tough losing our leading goal scorer on the second night (of a series) when the kids are worn down a little from the night before,” Jutting said. “It’s tough losing a kid who plays as many minutes as he does.”
Denver’s Jesse Martin made it 3-1, whipping a wrist shot past goalie Lee at 10:24. It was the Pioneers’ first even-strength goal of the series.
But the Mavericks came back, first on a power-play goal by freshman Eriah Hayes at 14:14. Then, with 2:38 remaining, Pitlick scored one of the prettiest goals an MSU player has scored all season.
Pitlick poked the puck over the blue line, raced ahead to gain control then made a nifty pull move in front of Cheverie before sliding it in under the goalie’s glove.
The Mavericks had three power plays in the third period but couldn’t convert. They finished the game 1 for 9 on the power play.
“I thought we played extremely well all weekend long,” Jutting said. “We played six periods of hockey this weekend — other than special teams. You can’t be 1 for 9. Other than that, I thought we played a really good hockey game tonight.”
The Mavericks will close out their home season on Friday against St. Cloud State. The second game of that series will take place in St. Cloud.
Denver 2-1-0-1—4
Minnesota State 1-2-0-0—3
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1. MSU-Pitlick 9 (Dorr 7) 13:40; 2. DU-Maiani 8 (Colborne 17, Ruegsegger 20) ppg 16:34; 3. DU-Colborne 19 (Wiercioch 18, Rakhshani 26) ppg 19:59
Penalties: Wiercioch, DU (interference) 6:03; Boe, MSU (hooking) 14:40; Stewart, MSU (major/game misconduct-checking from behind) 15:28; Donovan, DU (double minor-roughing, facemasking) 18:57; Galiardi, MSU (roughing) 18:57; Pitlick, MSU (charging) 19:59.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 4. DU-Martin 10 (Maiani 23, Ryder 3) 10:24; 5. MSU-Hayes 8 (Irwin 11, Youds 21) ppg 14:14; 6. MSU-Pitlick 10 (unassisted) 17:22
Penalties: Wrenn, DU (slashing) 2:02; Ryder, DU (boarding) 3:07; Donovan, DU (interference) 4:16; Galiardi, MSU (interfernce) 5:37; Boe, MSU (tripping) 5:56; Ruegsegger, DU (interference) 12:21; Elbrecht, MSU (tripping) 19:49; Maiani, DU (slashing) 20:00; Irwin, MSU (roughing) 20:00
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: None.
Penalties: DU bench (too many on ice) 4:18; Martin, DU (tripping) 7:20; Lee, DU (delay of game) 9:20
OVERTIME
Scoring: 7. DU-Rakhshani 19 (Ruegsegger 21, Wiercioch 19) 4:46
Penalties: None.
SUMMARIES
Shots on goal: DU 13-11-9-3—36; MSU 11-13-11-4—39. Penalties: DU 11 for 22 minutes; MSU 9 for 29 minutes. Power-play opportunities: DU 1 for 6; MSU 1 for 9. Goalie saves: DU-Cheverie 10-11-11-4—36 (3 GA), MSU-Lee 11-10-9-2—32 (4 GA).
MSU called its timeout at 4:38 of overtime
Referees: Don Adam, Tim Walsh. Linesmen: Jeff Schultz, Tony Czech
Attendance: 4,110
