During the CCHA’s annual preseason video conference, Minnesota State head coach Luke Strand had stressed how important it would be for the Mavericks to go and challenge themselves in their nonconference schedule this season.
“Our out of conference play, it’s a tough schedule. It’s supposed to be that way. I made it that way for the idea that we don’t want to have a layup,” Strand said back in September.
And there are truly no layups on the Mavericks’ schedule this season. In addition to the tough CCHA slate, they also host Merrimack, North Dakota and Omaha in nonconference play. But the series on the schedule with the highest degree of difficulty was the season opener. The Mavericks would have to go into Yost Ice Arena in Ann Arbor for the first time in program history to take on Michigan, a perennial powerhouse coming off back-to-back-to-back Frozen Four appearances.
On paper it looked very tough: more like a deep three-pointer than a layup. But it turns out, the Mavericks have more than enough shooters to score from deep against the top teams. Minnesota State stunned the top-ten-ranked Wolverines with a 5-2 win in the first game of the series. Michigan got the Mavericks back 4-1 in the second game, but the final scores weren’t necessarily as important as the on-the-ice play.
“To start the year with that opponent and their program, it was very important for us to play against them,” Strand said of Michigan. “And you want to go and do well. I think interestingly enough, both coaches agreed, maybe they may play better Friday than we did and they didn’t get the win, and vice versa on Saturday. But for us to get off the right foot and just get going, get guys opportunities was really important.”
A quick look at the scoring sheet for Minnesota State perhaps proves that the Mavericks are more than ready to overcome the losses of Sam Morton and Lucas Sowder in the offseason. The two combined for 37 goals last season and were the two main cogs of the MSU offense. However, against Michigan last weekend the Mavericks managed to get goals from six different players. Not only that, but the scoring came in the form of forwards and defensemen, from Maverick veterans, from transfers and from freshmen.
“I really liked the depth scoring–really just the depth play in general. A year ago, maybe we landed on one or two guys, with Sam Morton and Lucas Sowder doing more of the heavy lifting on that side. But if we can keep getting scoring that is spread through our lineup, get the defensemen involved, it’ll just go a long way for our group. And he can’t check every line, so if you check one, somebody else can step up.”
The list of Minnesota State goalscorers against Michigan is as follows: senior forward Brian Carrabes, sophomore forward Brett Moravec, transfer forward Rhett Pitlick, freshman defenseman Luke Ashton, junior forward Adam Eisele and transfer forward Luigia Benincasa. In all, 11 players got on the scoresheet with either a goal or an assist offensively. Strand credits this mentality to a strong culture on a team that returned almost everyone with eligibility remaining.
“I think a lot of credit goes to our returning players. You know, it’s Year 2 for myself, I think the staff and I, we want to teach, and we really want to put an emphasis on our players coaching each other and helping one another,” Strand said. “I think when you get a returning group that’s quality people, but also guys that got their handful of opportunities a year ago, it goes a long way to get us started, and now we’ve got to keep stacking days to make sure we’re going the right direction and stay in the right direction.”
Another characteristic of this Mavericks team that Strand hopes to see much more of going forward: Being opportunistic with their scoring. A majority of MSU’s goals on Friday were scored as the direct result of capitalizing on Michigan mistakes. Any team that buries more of those chances has a much better chance of winning.
“On Friday, we were opportunistic with our opportunities, but we probably had better looks on Saturday and they didn’t go in the back of the net,” Strand said, noting that in Friday’s game the Mavericks were outshot 34-23, but in Saturday’s game they had the 25-18 shots advantage. But to beat good teams and go head-to-head with teams, you’re going to have to show some maturity and patience and take care of opportunities when they present themselves. That’s an important piece of how we want to play here, it showed up, fortunately for us on the score sheet on Friday, but unfortunately on Saturday, it didn’t.”
