MANKATO — Turns out they were pretty even.
No. 16 Minnesota State hockey took a 4-4 tie in Friday’s series opener against Bowling Green State University at Mayo Clinic Health Systems Event Center. MSU won the shootout in four rounds thanks to goals from Luigi Benincasa and Evan Murr.
MSU is now 4-2-3 on the year and 1-1-1 in CCHA play. The Mavericks and Falcons resume the series at 6 p.m. Saturday.
“Like it or not, we’re going to be playing in close games,” MSU head coach Luke Strand said. “We have to be comfortable in our own skin in close games.”
With everything knitted at 3-3, senior Tristan Lemyre barreled down the ice and fired a shot on net. BGSU freshman netminder Jacob Steinman appeared to make the save.
But he lived every goalie’s nightmare.
The puck squirted loose behind him and between his legs. To make matters worse, MSU senior Campbell Cichosz crashed the net, saw the loose puck and knocked it in for a 4-3 MSU lead 2:58 into the frame.
Similar to Saturday’s finale against St. Thomas, MSU didn’t make things easier on themselves. Sawyer Scholl served a two-minute minor and a 10-minute misconduct for firing the puck on net after the whistle. With less than five minutes to go Lemyre was in the box for interference.
But MSU’s penalty kill was once again up to the task. But BGSU yanked Steinman with 1:46 to go.
With 1:02 left to go Noah Morneau tied the game despite Tyler Hotson being in the crease before the shot was fired. Strand burned his challenge in the first period. The play was not reviewed.
Strand debated challenging the play. In order for the call to be reversed there had to be a clear sign of either a high stick or the player in the crease undoubtedly interfered with MSU goalie Alex Tracy.
Had Strand lost the challenge, which appeared likely, MSU would’ve been shorthanded because the Mavericks lost their timeout on the first challenge in the first period.
The Mavericks found themselves behind the 8-ball out of the chutes. BGSU netted the game’s first two goals off a tip and a mad scrum in front of the net.
To make matters worse senior Felikss Gavars, who moved up to the second line with Jack Smith and Alex Zetterberg Friday, left with an injury, unable to put weight on his left leg while trailing 1-0.
“I don’t think it’s going to be good news,” Strand said of Gavars’ injury. “It’s a pretty painful scenario right now. I’ll let the doctors do what they need to do.”
It was a series of brutal gut punches for the Mavericks, who had yet to surrender the game’s first two goals this season.
“You’re not going to play perfect,” Strand said. “We have to fix some things internally so we don’t do things to ourselves.”
Then Lemyre deflected a Falcons exit pass behind the net. Sophomore Liam Watkins, all alone in the slot, gathered the puck and scored from point-blank range to put the home team on the board 6:13 into the game.
That also wasn’t Lemyre’s only crucial play of the night. Or honestly, it wasn’t Lemyre’s only crucial play of the period.
The Western Michigan transfer saw his shot dribble past BGSU goaltender Cole Moore to tie the game 2-2 11:17 into the opening frame. The Mavericks went on the power play, and 91 seconds after Lemyre’s game-tying shot dribbled past Moore, Lemyre fired on net. Once again, the puck dribbled past Moore.
After a start where everything appeared to be falling apart at the seams, MSU led 3-2 12:48 into the period. Moore received the hook and was replaced by Steinman.
Moore allowed three goals off eight shots.
“We had a slow start, but we got things going eventually,” Lemyre said. “I think that’s the biggest thing we realized as a team this year… we’re really resilient. We showed that tonight.”