Hockey Day 2018: Minnesota State men seek redemption against SCSU

MANKATO -- The No. 8 Minnesota State men's hockey team will have plenty to prove on Saturday when it plays third-ranked St. Cloud State at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center as part of Hockey Day Minnesota.
Quietly, the Mavericks have had a strong first half of the season. MSU has been ranked among the nation's top-10 teams for a bulk of the season. It's also led the Western Collegiate Hockey Association standings since late October.
None of this is new for one of college hockey's winningest programs over the past five years.

But a pair of losses to in-state rivals has capped the Mavericks' ascent up the national rankings. One of those defeats came at the hands of the Huskies in Mankato on Oct. 7, a game MSU lost 4-0.
"They're as dangerous a team as there is in the country that we've seen," said MSU head coach Mike Hastings. "They're deep, their back end moves and is good with or without the puck and their goaltenders are up there in save percentage in the country. Their special teams are rock solid. They've got four lines that can score and in college hockey, that doesn't happen a lot. You put all that together and that's a hard out.
"We're excited about the opportunity to play them because it's a great measuring stick for us."
Minnesota State's 91 goals scored this season are second-most in the country (Penn State has 96). On few occasions this season has MSU's offense been so kept in check.
But even in that game, the Mavericks fired 42 shots at Huskies goaltender Jeff Smith, who was there at every turn.
Meanwhile, SCSU scored one goal apiece in the first and second periods, then took a 3-0 lead midway through the third before adding an empty-net tally with just over two minutes to play.
So while the score looks rather lopsided on paper, it was a game the Mavericks felt they were very much in for a good portion of the game.
The other loss that has MSU rankled is a 3-1 defeat at Minnesota Duluth on Nov. 25. Like the game against St. Cloud, it's one the Mavericks felt it had chances to win. MSU hosts UMD on Tuesday night at the Verizon Center with a chance to avenge that defeat as well.
Both games will be critical as the Mavericks try to align themselves well in the Pairwise Rankings, which are the main determinant for the NCAA Tournament at season's end.
"These are very important," Hastings said. "When you look at your body of work [at season's end], this is a rare opportunity to get out of conference for two games against two teams that ... one's a lock for the NCAA Tournament and the other is pretty close to a lock. You don't get those opportunities all the time."
Outside of those games, it's been quite the campaign for the Mavericks, who have put together a pair of three-game winning streaks and one four-game win streak. It's lost consecutive games just once.
Hastings has high expectations, however, as do his players. As good as MSU has been for stretches this season, the coach believes there's still more there.
"We're getting there. Our team is still a work in progress," Hastings said. "We aspire to be a four-line team, that's our goal. For us, our secondary scoring has gotta come. We've had some, but for us, to be as complete as we can be, that's the one spot that we need to continue to progress in."
MSU is coming off a busy two-week stretch in Alaska, where it swept Alaska-Anchorage in a two-game series, then split a pair of games in Fairbanks.
The Mavericks had perhaps their most humbling game of the season last Friday against the Nanooks, getting blasted 5-0. It was the first time since the season opener against SCSU that MSU failed to get on the scoreboard.
Minnesota State lost one of its top forwards, sophomore Parker Tuomie, just 15 seconds into the rematch on Saturday night, and fell behind 1-0 early. But the Mavericks responded like an elite team after that, rolling up five consecutive goals -- including three in the span of eight minutes later in the first -- to salvage a split.
"Our group is pretty resilient," said senior captain C.J. Suess. "We're not going to give up after a bad first period or losing a game like we did. We come back and we're going to try and play our game every night. If we're off one night, we'll come back the next night and get it done."
Offensively, the Mavericks have the potential to be as deep and balanced a group as there is in the country. Nine different players have scored at least five goals, led by Suess, who has 13. Sophomore Marc Michaelis, who spent time at the Wild's Development Camp last July, has 10 goals despite missing four games with an injury last month.
Suess' 30 points are tied for sixth-most in the country, and the Forest Lake native is the Mavs' active career leader in scoring (114 points in 141 games).
On defense, junior Daniel Brickley is a returning All-American and is likely to sign with an NHL team after the season. His 20 points are fifth-most among all defensemen nationwide and he's won WCHA Defensive Player of the Week honors four times this season.
His defensive partner, sophomore Ian Scheid from Blaine, has been almost as efficient, tallying eight goals and 17 points.
Where MSU needs more consistency is in goal. Senior Connor LaCouvee has been outstanding, going 11-3-0 and posting a 1.90 goals-against average. But his .909 save percentage indicates he hasn't seen much in the way of shots.
Junior Jason Pawloski has seen action in 11 games, accumulating a 6-4-0 record to go with his 2.56 goals-against and .895 save percentage.