MANKATO — By no means did No. 12 Minnesota State have a recipe for success.
It has been over a month since their last game, a thrilling 3-2 overtime win against St. Cloud State on Dec. 6th.
On Friday the Mavericks were down to 10 forwards. And No. 3 Minnesota was coming into town, a team which MSU owns an all-time record of 8-114-3. But after taking the first two meetings earlier this season the Mavericks had the chance to win the regular season series against the Golden Gophers for the first time ever.
That milestone is currently on hold. The Golden Gophers scored five-straight goals in the first period to hand MSU an 11-3 loss.
“There’s an intensity you can bring to practice, but you can’t replicate WCHA hockey,” MSU head coach Shari Dickerman said. “We have a lot to look at and try to improve with.”
MSU (11-9-1, 5-9-1) appeared to seize control of the game early on.
Minnesota goaltender Hannah Clark thought she was simply playing the puck behind the back of the net. She scooted a pass to who she thought was a teammate.
In reality, it was MSU freshman Makayla Moran who received the puck. She wrapped around the empty net and buried a backhanded shot for a 1-0 lead 1:54 into the game.
“We executed that right away,” sophomore Ayla Puppe said. “Coming off of over a month break we really wanted to get our legs under us. I think we did an okay job at that.”
The Golden Gophers responded nearly four minutes later when freshman Bella Fanale buried a rebound past MSU junior Hailey Hansen. Less than six minutes in, everything was tied 1-1.
Then the wheels began to fall off for the Mavericks.
Abbey Murphy, who earned a spot on the U.S. Olympic roster, scored twice as part of a five-goal rally. By the time the horn sounded to end the first period Minnesota held a 5-1 lead, outshooting the Mavericks 15-5 in the opening 20 minutes.
MSU swapped Hansen for freshman Kaydence Roeske to start the second period. Roeske stopped the first 10 shots she saw, but allowed a goal midway through the second when Fanale found a wide-open Murphy in front of the net, completing the hattrick from point-blank range.
Roeske turned away 24 of 30 shots in her relief stint.
Hansen will get the start Saturday in Minneapolis. Dickerman gave her the hook in hopes of conserving her mental energy and lower body.
“We haven’t played a game in a long time,” Dickerman said. “I know (Hansen’s) always working out. She’s in great shape. But I just was thinking (putting in Roeske would be a) good opportunity to just switch things up, see if it would jumpstart our team a little bit more, to maybe be courageous and block a few more shots or play a little stronger defensively with cadence and net. I thought at times we did.
“Hailey always gives us an opportunity to win. Tonight didn’t work out, but we’ll be excited to have her back in net.”
Puppe, a transfer from Minnesota, did get a chance to find the back of the net against her former team. Off a pass from senior Whitney Tuttle, Puppe rifled a picture-perfect pass over the right shoulder of Clark, burying the puck top shelf for the first goal of the second period.
Zoe Lopez scored an unassisted shorthanded goal 3:58 into the third period.
The Mavericks played the entire game with a shortened bench. Instead of the usual 12-13 forwards MSU was down to 10, rolling with three full lines and sophomore Bella Shipley as an extra body.
Dickerman attributed the shortened forward group to lingering injuries which revealed their true identities during the month-long hiatus.
“Just kind of some nagging things that we’ve now kind of gotten the opportunity to have some MRIs and (injuries) looked at,” Dickerman said. “(We) need a few people’s joints and injuries to settle down a little bit. Hopefully we’ll get them back in the next little while, but we’ll go with who we have.”
Despite the lopsided loss Dickerman felt some players still found a way to play some of their best hockey. Freshman Sophie Stramel, who centered the second line and was flanked by Puppe and Tuttle, finished with a +2 rating.
“I thought we played with energy,” Dickerman said. “There were times where I felt like we were playing well and creating offense, and then I think there’s other times where it was like ‘OK, we’re getting a little bit fatigued.’ You can see our mental fatigue start to set in a little bit, and we made some poor decisions with the puck. But that’s how hockey works sometimes.”
The Golden Gophers and Mavericks play again at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Minneapolis. The game will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.