MANKATO — There was never a doubt.
It took time to get going, but Minnesota State men’s hockey advanced to the Mason Cup semifinals with a 2-0 win in Game 3 over Ferris State Sunday at Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center.
“We all had a belief,” junior Ean Somoza said. “We didn’t have a doubt in our mind. We’re going to pound away. We’re going to stick to our systems.”
Despite committing three penalties and failing to get any sustained momentum going on the offensive end, the game was scoreless after one period. There was no panic. There was no major adjustment.
“We knew sooner or later that we were going to get a bounce,” Somoza said. “It was going to go our way. We were playing the right way.”
That even-keeled approach paid off in a big way. Junior Luigi Benincasa netted his third goal in as many playoff games 1:32 into the second period. MSU led 1-0, and it continued to pour shots and quality scoring chances on Ferris State’s Martin Lundberg, who dazzled in a 46-save effort.
Then, with 4:03 left in the second, the Mavericks doubled their lead. And it came off the stick of someone who hadn’t scored all season.
It was senior captain Mason Wheeler who chose the perfect time to score his first goal of the season. He gave MSU a 2-0 lead entering the second intermission.
“You want your captain, in big moments, to be a big-time player,” Strand said of Wheeler. “(Scoring) doesn’t happen very often for him. That was a big moment for him to pull the trigger to score a goal.”
The Bulldogs pulled Lundberg with 3:21 to set up 6 on 5 hockey. But MSU held on, continuing to clamp down defensively to preserve senior goaltender Alex Tracy’s 17-save shutout.
MSU outshot the Bulldogs 46-17 and won the face-off battle 40-27, including a 15-4 night in the circle from third line center Jakob Stender.
This will be the last time the Mavericks play a best of 3 series all season. From here on out, the next loss may be the final game of the season.
No. 4-seeded Michigan Tech, which swept Bowling Green in its quarterfinal series, comes to town for a 7 p.m. tilt at The Mayo.
“They play hard,” Strand said of Tech. “They’ve got balance. They’ve got depth. You’re not going to be able to just focus on one group and one line. It will be nice to have them at home.”