By Shane Frederick
Free Press Staff Writer
ST. ClOUD — The Minnesota State men’s hockey team had to wait until late into the night to find out its playoff fate following Saturday’s 2-2 overtime tie at St. Cloud State.
When Minnesota Duluth won 6-3 at Alaska-Anchorage around 12:30 a.m. CST, that settled it. The Mavericks officially became the Western Collegiate Hockey Association’s eighth seed, and they’d be heading right back to St. Cloud for the first round of the conference tournament.
The tie actually set it all up. Had the Mavericks defeated the fourth-ranked Huskies, they’d be going to North Dakota. A loss — or an Anchorage win or tie — would have sent them to Wisconsin.
Based on past history, St. Cloud presents the best matchup for MSU. The Mavericks are 7-1-1 in their last nine games at the National Hockey Center, while they’re winless in their last 15 games at North Dakota and Wisconsin combined.
“It would be really hard to think about that at the time,” said Mavericks forward Rylan Galiardi, who scored the game-tying power-play goal at 9:08 of the third period. “I think we all know the scenarios, but we’re really competitive at this level. I wasn’t going for a tie.”
St. Cloud State wasn’t either, perhaps hoping to draw Anchorage, a team it has never lost to at home, for the first round. The Huskies outshot the Mavericks 6-0 in overtime, taking advantage of a Kael Mouillierat penalty for the first 1:44.
Officially, Minnesota State and Anchorage finished in a tie for eighth place in the league standings with 20 points apiece, but the Mavericks got the tiebreaker based on a 3-1-0 head-to-head record.
Other first-round matchups for next week’s best-of-three-games series will be: Michigan Tech at Denver, Alaska-Anchorage at Wisconsin, Minnesota at North Dakota and Colorado College at Minnesota Duluth.
On the list
It took until the last game of the regular season, but Minnesota State freshman goaltender Phil Cook’s statistics finally became eligible to be compared to others in college hockey. Goalies need to play at least one-third of their teams minutes to become official.
In overall games, Cook, who stopped 51 of 55 shots against the Huskies, ranks second in the WCHA with a .915 save percentage and fourth with a 2.42 goals-against average. His conference stats — .890, 3.24 — are still not up for consideration, as he has played in about 29 percent of the Mavericks’ WCHA minutes.
Cook has played in 15 games this season, starting seven of the last eight. He has a 7-4-2 record.
Special delivery
Minnesota State had a stellar weekend on the power play, going 5 for 10. But the Mavericks also shined in the penalty kill, keeping the Huskies scoreless on nine power plays in the series.
“I think our penalty kills has been good all year,” MSU coach Troy Jutting said. “When we get in trouble is when we have to kill seven, eight, nine of them a night. We haven’t had to do that very often.”
The Mavericks committed six penalties on Friday and four on Saturday. The Huskies got 13 shots through during their power plays.
“Your goaltender has to be your best penalty killer,” Jutting said. “But Geoff Irwin, Jerad Stewart, Zach Harrison, Rylan (Galiardi), Kael (Mouillierat), they have been killing penalties for a long time. They’re a very experienced group.”
No relation
Minnesota State freshman defenseman Evan Mosey and St. Cloud State junior forward Tony Mosey are not related — at least as far as Evan knows.
Evan Mosey is from Downers Grove, Ill., while Tony Mosey is from Prior Lake.
“I heard a lot about (Tony) growing up,” said Evan, who scored his first collegiate goal on Saturday. “I’m always asked if I’m his brother.”
Loose pucks
Galiardi moved into a tie with Harrison atop the Mavericks’ scoring list. He now has 11 goals and 13 assists for 24 points. Harrison has eight goals and 16 assists. … Harrison played in his 149th game for MSU on Saturday. It’s a mark reached by just six other Mavericks: B.J. Abel (155), Travis Morin (151), Mike Weinkauf (150), Larry Long (149), Tim Wolfe (149) and Joel Hanson (149). … With an attendance of 4,407, Minnesota State’s average home attendance this season bumped up to 3,880 this season.
