MANKATO — A lot can happen in a month.
Just look at No. 14 Minnesota State men’s hockey. On Dec. 5 the Mavericks were atop the CCHA standings on a seven-game winning streak. Fast forward to Saturday and MSU is looking for answers to break out of a cold funk.
The Mavericks lost for the fifth time in their last six games after an infuriating 58-second stretch led to a 4-2 home loss to St. Thomas, who extended its winning streak to six.
“We missed moments in the game where we could have probably got some momentum going our way,” MSU head coach Luke Strand said. “Then we shot ourselves in the foot, giving up back-to-back-to-back goals. That part’s disappointing.”
On Dec. 5 the Mavericks were comfortably in first place in the CCHA with 27 points. After Saturday’s loss they are tied for third place alongside Michigan Tech with 28 points, claiming one point in their last four CCHA contests. while St. Thomas and Augustana are tied for first place with 30 points.
“It’s going to be a dog fight,” Strand said. “The schedule is going to work itself out to what it’s going to be, but a lot of us are going to beat each other up here down the stretch.”
St. Thomas senior Lucas Wahlin needed 20 seconds to put the visitors ahead in the second period. His wrist shot beat MSU senior Alex Tracy top shelf glove side for a 1-0 lead.
This happened after a first period where the Mavericks appeared poised to take control. Strand said leading up to the game that MSU needed to get off to a good start, and by all accounts they managed that in the first period.
But everything began to unravel 6:35 into the second period.
The Tommies extended their lead to 2-0 when freshman Attila Lippia tipped the puck in front of the net for a 2-0 lead. No harm, no foul. MSU’s been down two goals before.
But 17 seconds after Lippia scored senior Quinton Pepper snuck behind MSU junior Evan Murr for a successful breakaway opportunity, extending the lead to 3-0.
The lead ballooned to 4-0 when a shot from Ryan O’Neill got past Tracy 58 seconds after Lippia’s goal.
The Mavericks called timeout. All of a sudden they found themselves behind four goals in what felt like a blink of an eye.
“To St. Thomas’s credit, I thought they were hungry around the (net) and they did their part,” Strand said. “I thought we were soft around our own net, which is disappointing. I’m sure there’s a puck or two there that (Tracy) wants back. At the end of the day though, we allowed just a lot of net activity, which hasn’t been our M-O. We have to firm up, because that was not sturdy enough around our (net).”
The Mavericks did have their chances though.
MSU had a 5 on 3 for 1:37 of gametime in the first period. Despite generating a handful of opportunities the puck stayed out of the net.
Both senior’s Campbell Cichosz and Jack Smith hit the pipe on chances. Sophomore Alex Zetterberg couldn’t gather the puck on his backhand in front of the net on a power play chance.
Finally, freshman Mason LeBel buried a wrist shot from the right face-off dot to put MSU on the board with 9:20 remaining in the third period, and Jakob Stender got a tip in front of the net with 32.7 remaining.
But it was too little, too late.
Now MSU hits the road to Michigan Tech, a team they swept while not allowing an even strength goal back in November. But to stop the bleeding of this cold streak and stay ahead of the Huskies in the standings the Mavericks have to find success not only on the weekend, but throughout the week as a whole.
“It starts Monday,” MSU captain Mason Wheeler said. “I think a lot of guys have a perspective that we need to take care of Friday and Saturday, but we’re not there yet, especially on a Monday. You got to take care of Monday. You have to win those days and go throughout the week, because you can’t just show up and expect to be a gamer.
“Every day it’s a winning mindset. I’m not saying we’re not there, but there’s some parts where we can clean up through the week that could lead into the weekends.”