MANKATO — It’s halfway through the third period.
Junior Luigi Benencasa feeds sophomore Alex Zetterberg perfectly on a 2 on 1 play. Zetterberg sends the Minnesota State hockey faithful into a frenzy.
It’s Zetterberg’s first goal as a Maverick which gave the home team a 3-0 lead. And after three-straight ties on their home ice, the Mavericks gave fans a reason to leave happy.
The 3-0 lead held for a crucial CCHA win over Michigan Tech Friday.
“We’re getting better, and the result is going to be the result,” MSU head coach Luke Strand said. “The guys treated the game as if (the score) was 0-0. That was good on our part.”
MSU flat out dominated in the opening 20 minutes.
Senior captain Mason Wheeler was staple gunning Huskies forwards to the boards and leveling bodies onto the ice. The Mavericks as a unit fired 29 shots, nine shots within the faceoff dots on Tech’s defensive end were blocked.
Even the once lethal power play returned to form. After starting the season 11 of 15 on the man advantage MSU has converted once in its previous 26 tries.
But once Tech freshman Matthew Van Blaricom went to the bin for hooking the arena felt different. The home crowd was already buzzing after several close calls on the offensive end, including one shot that was deflected, shot so high into the sky it nearly smacked the ceiling, came back down and came centimeters from landing in the back of the net.
If there was one moment for the power play to turn a corner, it was then. Senior Jack Smith needed 45 seconds to send the MSU faithful into a frenzy. His wrist shot from the right side of the ice smacked the top left corner of the inner portion of the net and rang back out.
MSU took a 1-0 lead. The power play came back to life. More importantly, the Mavericks took a 1-0 lead after a dominating first period on both ends of the ice.
“That was our closest to a full 60 (minutes),” Strand said. “It’s hard to have a full 60 (minutes) if you have a lousy start. The timing of the power play goal was excellent. It’s a big boost for our guys when the power play gets back on the board.”
In last weekend’s road series against Lake Superior State Alex Tracy was forced to turn away a combined 30 shots in the first period, including 20 shots in the opening 20 minutes of last Friday’s series opener. He was tasked with turning away a mere two shots in the first period Friday.
“You can’t let Tech loose, their forwards are dangerous,” Strand said. “To keep them in front of us was a good sign.”
The Mavericks opened a 2-0 lead with 8:15 remaining in the second period. And it came from the fourth line.
Freshman Reid Morich found himself on a 2 on 1. He fired to the far right side, initially looking like he was setting up a chance for a rebound.
But Morich’s shot beat Owen Bartoszikeweicz glove side. And not only did the goal supply MSU with the depth scoring it’s craving, it was also the first career collegiate goal for the kid from Scottsdale, Arizona.
“Everybody’s kind of coming into their role a little bit,” Morich said. “We have seven freshmen, and it’s a big jump from junior hockey to this level of play.”
Friday was Tech’s first regulation loss in CCHA play, The Huskies swept both Ferris State and Northern Michigan, who sit in the basement of the standings, and earned an overtime win and shootout loss to CCHA co-leader Bemidji State last weekend.
MSU outshot the Huskies 26-12 for Tracy’s ninth career shutout. Tristan Lemyre, Jacob Bonkowski, Liam Watkins and Ralfs Bergmanis each had an assist. The only blemish on the day would be Zetterberg’s trip to the penalty box for interference with 7:48 to go, ultimately killed off by MSU, which entered the weekend with the No. 4 penalty kill in the country which has allowed three goals on 37 power play chances.
But to the Mavericks, Friday’s win over Tech isn’t a reason to celebrate. Instead, it’s proof that the work is beginning to pay off.
“As you get into this (season) 12 games in it may not be the direction you wanted to go,” Strand said. “Something’s happened in a bad way with injuries, but in a good way with (players) stepping up. And really, I think it’s actually glued us (as a team). I thought they stacked shifts and were able to command some things.
“We’ll get another version of tech tomorrow. They’re a really good team.”
The Mavericks and Huskies finish their series at 6 p.m. Saturday at Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center.