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March 16, 2010

Once again, MSU comes up just short

By Shane Frederick Free Press Staff Writer

MANKATO — Next season’s Minnesota State men’s hockey team is going to be motivated, Geoff Irwin said on Monday.

“(The seniors next year) know how it feels to lose twice in overtime in the third game of the playoffs,” he said. “They’re not going to let an opportunity like that slip by again.”

Irwin won’t be on that team. He is one of seven seniors whose college-hockey careers are now complete after the Mavericks lost 3-2 in overtime on Sunday night at St. Cloud State.

Irwin, Kael Mouillierat and others were still feeling down after the gut-wrenching loss, which came on Drew LeBlanc’s power-play goal at the 3:21 mark of overtime.

On Friday, Irwin sent Game 1 into overtime when he blasted a shot into the net with three-tenths of a second remaining in regulation. Twenty seconds into overtime, Mouillierat won the game and gave MSU a leg up in the series.

However, the Mavericks let a 2-0 lead slip away in the third period on Saturday and a 2-1 lead fall away on Sunday.

“In a two-day span, we went from the top of the world to feeling like this,” said Irwin, who had six points in the three-game series. “We were 20 minutes away on Saturday and 61⁄2 minutes away on Sunday. I kind of feel like something was taken from me.

“It was a tough feeling there, stepping off the ice for the last time.”

After a somewhat embarrassing loss at Michigan Tech on Jan. 29, the Mavericks set a goal for the remainder of the season of “playing in Game 13.” That meant playing in a game in this week’s WCHA Final Five at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

They came up just short, just as they did two seasons ago when Minnesota beat them in double-overtime of a Game 3 in Mankato. The Mavericks haven’t advanced to the Final Five since 2003.

“I feel bad for (the seniors),” coach Troy Jutting said on Monday. “They have played so much, and they have played so hard. They came to the rink every day trying to get better. ... And they were better at the end. Over the last month of the season, we were, by far, the best we’ve been all year. No question. I’m really proud of them.”

Sunday’s loss pretty much summed up much of the Mavericks’ 2009-10 season.

Fittingly, it was another one-goal game. Minnesota State played in 22 games decided by one goal or less and went 7-12-3 in those games.

“A couple of bounces in those one-goal games and maybe it’s a different year,” Jutting said. “That’s why I feel bad for them.”

For the year, the Mavericks were outscored by just two goals over 39 games. Those, it turns out, ended up being Garrett Roe’s third-period goal for the Huskies on Saturday and LeBlanc’s goal in overtime on Sunday.

“Obviously, I’m disappointed for everyone on the team,” said Mouillierat, who finished his career ranked 10th on MSU’s Division I-era scoring list. “But I’m so proud of the way we finished the year. Over the last five weeks, I think you could have put us up against everybody.”



Shane Frederick is a Free Press staff writer. Read his blog at www.mankatofreepresshockey.blogspot.com.

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