MSU vs. MTU, Game 2 live blog

Tonight's lines (starters in bold):

MINNESOTA STATE

Irwin-Harrison-Thompson

Mouillierat-Stewart-Hayes

Louwerse-Galiardi-Pitlick

Mueller-Gaulrapp-Wiley

Youds-Elbrecht

Boe-Davis

Canzanello-Cooper

Lee

Murdock

Cook

Scratches: Jokinen, Mosey, Schiller, Zuck, Peterson (inj.), Sackrison (inj.), Dorr (ineligible until Dec. 11)

MICHIGAN TECH

Baker-Olson-Gwilliam

Schooley-Pietila-Dobson

MacLeod-Vlaisavljevich-Bunger

Reddick-Witt-Rohn

Kivisto-Nielsen

Cousens-Seigo

Brown-Van Wagner

Robinson

Genoe

Mavs 5, Huskies 2

Minnesota State opened up a five-goal lead before a home crowd and went on to defeat Michigan Tech 5-2 Friday night.

Zach Harrison had a four-point night (one goal, three assists), Geoff Irwin had two goals (his first since Oct. 16) and an assist and Ben Youds had three assists (giving him a team-high 10 on the year). Irwin, Mike Louwerse and Jerad Stewart scored power-play goals, and Austin Lee, besides his 27 saves, had an assist.

But despite all of those individual stats, the Mavericks were mostly pleased with the way they closed the game. They controlled play in the third period, outshooting Tech 14-4 (41-29 for the game) and giving the Huskies nary a chance over the final 20 minutes.

"We finished that game," Harrison said. "It's the first game all year we really finished."

MSU vs. MTU, Game 1 live blog

Tonight's lines (starters in bold):

MINNESOTA STATE
Irwin-Harrison-Thompson
Mouillierat-Stewart-Hayes
Louwerse-Galiardi-Pitlick
Zuck-Gaulrapp-Wiley

Youds-Elbrecht

Boe-Davis

Canzanello-Cooper

Lee

Murdock

Cook

MICHIGAN TECH

Baker-Olson-Gwilliam

Schooley-Pietila-Dobson

Soley-Vlaisavljevich-Bunger

Kivisto-Nielsen

Cousens-Seigo

Doriott-VanWagner

Genoe

Robinson

Friday-morning skate

It's Black Friday, but that's no reason to not give the PucKato faithful at least something to read this morning. (This will be an abbreviated version, since we're traveling back to Minny from Sconnie this weekend.)

Minnesota State will host Michigan Tech this weekend. For the Mavericks, Austin Lee will get the start in goal for the third weekend in a row, although he has not been declared to be the Mavericks' No. 1 goaltender. Forwards James Gaulrapp and Tyler Thompson will be back in the lineup tonight as well. Meanwhile, senior Jerad Stewart is now the Mavericks' leading scorer, but what's expected of him now following that four-goal, five-point game? The Mavericks hold just a one-point lead over the last-place Huskies in the WCHA standings.

Since this is a shortened version of the FMS (and the car will be warming up soon), I'll defer to Brad Schlossman's blog for more links to what's happening around the WCHA this weekend.

Don't forget to check back with the live blog during tonight's game.

Stewart honored by WCHA

Not surprisingly, Mavericks forward Jerad Stewart was honored by the WCHA this week for his four-goal, one-assist game against Alaska-Anchorage on Friday. Stewart was named co-offensive player of the week for his play. 

He shared the honor with Denver forward Joe Colborne, who had a hand in all four of the Pioneers' goals (2-2) in a sweep of North Dakota last weekend.

Other honors went to Denver goalie Marc Cheverie (defensive player of the week) and St. Cloud State goalie Mike Lee (rookie of the week).

Surgery for Sackrison

Minnesota State junior forward Andrew Sackrison will have surgery on his broken leg, he said after the Mavericks practice on Monday.

Sackrison, who had his leg in a cast and was on crutches at All Seasons Arena, said he broke his fibula on what was just a normal hit. The fibula is the non-weight-bearing bone in the leg. However, there were some other complications with the break, and he will have surgery on Friday.

Sackrison said he didn't think the injury would be season-ending. "Probably a couple of months," he said.

Seawolves 4, Mavericks 1

Minnesota State followed up its eight-goal outburst by scoring just once in a 3-1 loss to Alaska-Anchorage on Saturday night. The Mavericks will come home Sunday evening with a series split and in ninth place in the conference standings.

Zach Harrison scored the only goal for the Mavericks. Anchorage opened up a 3-0 lead on goals by Jade Portwood, Tommy Grant and Kevin Clark and added an empty-netter by Grant in the final minute.

The Seawolves had a 25-22 shots-on-goal advantage. MSU goalie Kevin Murdock took the loss.

Minnesota State isn't the only team to have trouble on Saturday night in Alaska. The Seawolves also defeated North Dakota and Denver to force series splits this season.

The Anchorage Daily News story can be found here.