Sports Columns
Expectations will be high for MSU hockey team
If you aren’t seeing a lot of casual Gopher hockey fans around Mankato this year, there’s good reason.
First, a little history:
In the fall of 2003, the Minnesota State men’s hockey team was coming off its best season as a Division I program.
The previous season, the Mavericks, led by All-Americans Grant Stevenson and Shane Joseph and gritty captain B.J. (Mr. Maverick) Abel, finished in a tie for second place in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association and earned a berth into the NCAA tournament.
Although there was added interest in the program after that, the team had a much different look come October.
Stevenson signed a fat, free-agent contract with the San Jose Sharks in the offseason, forgoing his final two seasons of college hockey. Abel graduated along with a pair of senior defensemen. And three other defensemen were lost for the season with injury before the first games were even played.
Quickly, most of the momentum and motivation from that great season had melted away.
That’s why this year feels unlike any of the Mavericks’ first nine in the WCHA. It just might be their first season of great expectations.
Minnesota State will hold its first official practice of the 2008-09 season Saturday morning at All Seasons Arena and, just six days later, open the season with the first game of a nonconference home series against Bemidji State.
Coach Troy Jutting’s team returns its top goalie and most valuable player, Mike Zacharias, its top point scorer, Trevor Bruess, and its top goal scorer, Mick Berge. Only three everyday players were lost in the offseason, including just one defenseman from what was, arguably, Jutting’s best defensive team.
If a fourth-place WCHA finish and home-ice advantage in the conference playoffs was a surprise last year, it won’t be this year.
But experience isn’t the only thing driving this veteran club or the preseason excitement surrounding it.
A few moments last March changed the entire attitude.
The last time there was ice in the Alltel Center, the Mavericks lost two of three games in a classic playoff series against Minnesota that continued to be talked about throughout the spring and summer. A total of five overtime periods were needed to decide the series. That included the Mavericks’ 1-0 double-overtime victory in Game 1 and the Gophers’ 3-2 double-overtime win in Game 3. (In between, Minnesota won 1-0 in one overtime.)
As if that series wasn’t crushing enough, a week later came the snub.
That’s when a somewhat complex mathematical formula called the Pairwise Rankings kept Minnesota State out of the NCAA tournament and put a pair of seemingly inferior teams (although one of those teams, Notre Dame, would advance all the way to the national championship game) in the final 16.
It was an anticlimactic outcome that left local hockey fans wanting for more.
Local hockey fans — including many who are trading in their maroon-and-gold gear for purple-and-gold stuff — are expecting the upcoming season is worth the 61⁄2-month wait.
As for the Mavericks, expectations are just as high. And they shouldn’t have to look too far to find some momentum and motivation.
Shane Frederick is a Free Press staff writer. Access his college hockey blog through www.mankatofreepress.com
- Sports Columns
-
-
Outdoor hockey catching on at college level
Outdoor hockey has given hockey a nice publicity boost of late, whether it’s from the NHL Winter Classic played the last three New Years Days or the college games.
-
MSU becoming a hot spot for football recruits
Former Minnesota State football coach Clarence Holley used the following line to describe his recruiting classes: “Everybody’s going to tell you that their crows are the blackest.”
-
Waseca athletics dealing with budget realities
Students, parents and staff at Waseca High School are dealing with a budget shortfall that has raised the cost to compete in sports.
-
Mavs hope win sparks late-season playoff run
The Minnesota State men’s hockey team’s loss on Friday night at Michigan Tech was such a low spot for this season that the Mavericks had no choice but to hit their virtual reset button.
-
Favre’s pick brings Vikings, Packers fans together
Minnesota fans got a little taste of what it was like to be Green Bay Packers' fan while watch Brett Favre in the NFC Championship game Sunday.
-
Long-suffering Vikings fans optimistic for Sunday
Despite a long history of suffering, several Vikings fans are hopeful that Sunday's game will erase the demons of 1998 and 2000, when the Vikings were stunned and humiliated in the NFC Championship game.
-
Robison’s play will be key against New Orleans
If Minnesota can pressure Brees, however, that could change things. It will be a difficult task for Minnesota, particularly if defensive end Ray Edwards is unable to play. That puts the pressure on his replacement, Brian Robison.
-
Hockey games shouldn't be meant to be marathons
Saturday's hockey game between the University of Minnesota Duluth and Minnesota State ended up taking longer than a college hockey game should take.
-
Lack of goal scoring a disturbing trend for MSU
The Minnesota State men's hockey team struggled to produce goals against North Dakota.
-
Next few weeks will be telling for MSU men
The Minnesota State men's basketball team enters a critical stretch of basketball, one that will say a lot about where this team stands.
- More Sports Columns Headlines
-
