20 • MSU Reporter
Sports
Thursday, January 23, 2014
North Star College Cup Preview
Minnesota State Mavericks
DEREK LAMBERT Staff Writer After a disappointing weekend in Anchorage two weekends ago, the Minnesota State University, Mankato men’s hockey team rebounded this past weekend heading into a very important tournament. Ferris State University was in town Friday and Saturday night, and the Mavericks let it be known that they can skate with the best of them. Heading into last weekend, Ferris was ranked No. 2 in the NCAA Division I Men’s Hockey rankings. Friday night saw the Mavs explode onto the
score sheet. With two goals only 17 seconds apart in the first period, the Mavericks skated their way to a 6-2 victory on Friday night. Junior Matt Leitner scored two goals and an assist for a three point night, while senior Zach Lehrke also had a three point night, and captain Johnny McInnis recorded two goals, including the game winner. The win certainly helped MSU, but the task at hand wasn’t yet complete; Saturday night’s series concluding matchup still loomed. The Mavs lost Blueger and freshman Zach Stepan for one game, while Motte was ejected, but wasn’t given a game disqualification to sit out an additional game, which was puzzling. Regardless, the Mavs got the sweep and four crucial points, bring-
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ing them to second place in the Western Collegiate Hockey As-
Johnny McInnis
sociation, only two points behind Ferris, who previously held a six point lead over MSU. Looking forward, the Mavericks head to St. Paul this weekend
to play at one of the greatest hockey venues in the country, the Xcel Energy Center. The Xcel is the site of the inaugural North Star College Cup, a tournament for the division one hockey schools in Minnesota to compete against one another, now that they are no longer all in the same conference. This year, the field includes Minnesota State, St. Cloud State University, Minnesota-Duluth, and the University of Minnesota. Bemidji State will join the tournament next season, with the last place team in this year’s tournament sitting out next year, and this will be the rotating basis that determines the field of the tournament. “Duluth is finally coming out of league play, Minnesota is coming out of league play, St. Cloud
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is wrapping up a tough league series with Western Michigan,” said Maverick Head Coach Mike Hastings, “and then you’ve got Hockey Day Minnesota this weekend, leading up to the tournament next weekend.” While many expected MSU to move into the top 20 rankings after sweeping the no. 2 team in the NCAA, the sweep failed to bring them into that exclusive group. Ferris State, however, dropped down to no. 6 from their previous no. 2 ranking. This weekend doesn’t count for conference points in the standings, but could be huge for rankings, as well as points for the NCAA Pairwise Rankings that hockey uses to determine who makes the sixteen
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