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March 4, 2011

College Hockey Gameday: MSU vs. Alaska-Anchorage

By Shane Frederick Free Press Staff Writer

MANKATO — The Mavericks (14-14-6, 8-14-4 in WCHA) will close out the regular season with a matchup against the Seawolves (12-17-3, 10-14-2). The series will help determine MSU’s seed for next week’s WCHA tournament. Minnesota State, which currently is tied for 10th place, can finish as high as eighth or as low as 11th. Earlier this season at Alaska, the Mavericks defeated the Seawolves 3-2 and tied 2-2. Minnesota State is 33-20-6 in the series against Anchorage.

The 5-hole

Five things to know about the matchup:

1. Senior salute: Besides being the final home games for five MSU seniors — defensemen Kurt Davis (8-17—25), Ben Youds (6-13—19) and Channing Boe (5-5—10) and forwards Rylan Galiardi (7-12—18) and Andrew Sackrison (5-14—19) — Brett Peterson, who has played in just two games during his career, is also graduating after this season. He is expected to play Saturday, which will be senior night.

2. Ready for what’s next: Coming off a bye week, the Mavericks are hoping to ready themselves for the postseason. “Our goal this week,” coach Troy Jutting said, “is to make sure we’re as close to where we want to be as possible. ... We want to get ourselves to a spot where we’re feeling good about the way our special teams are playing heading into the playoffs and that we stay healthy.”

3. Speaking of special teams: Minnesota State ranks last in the WCHA in power-play percentage (15.0 percent) and has scored just 25 goals with the man advantage. Anchorage has scored 23 power-play goals and is at a 15.1-percent clip. The Mavericks’ penalty kill ranks sixth in the league with an 82.2-percent success rate. The Seawolves are fifth at 83 percent.

4. Starting in goal: Jutting did not announce a starting goaltender for this weekend’s games, but Austin Lee (.918, 2.37) seems to have the hot hand. He’s compiled three of his four wins and a .946 save percentage in his last five starts and is coming off a 40-save performance in a win over Minnesota Duluth on Feb. 18. Phil Cook (.903, 3.04), who has seen most of the action this season, is 2-2-1 in his last five starts but has allowed 10 goals in his last two.

5. Scouting the Seawolves: Anchorage is led by senior forward Tommy Grant (12-15—27), who has 41 goals and 85 points in his 129-game career. Freshman forwards Matt Bailey and Jordan Kwas each have 20 points. Freshman goaltender Rob Gunderson (.897, 2.78) has played most of the minutes in goal, although Chris Kamal started the team’s 4-1 win over nonconference rival Alaska on Saturday. Former MSU captain Ryan McKelvie is an assistant for coach Dave Shyiak.

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