{"id":142812,"date":"2023-10-19T14:00:59","date_gmt":"2023-10-19T19:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/?p=142812"},"modified":"2023-10-18T19:08:43","modified_gmt":"2023-10-19T00:08:43","slug":"this-week-in-ccha-hockey-minnesota-state-begins-season-with-sweep-over-st-cloud-state-adding-to-a-history-and-a-culture-of-winning-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2023\/10\/19\/this-week-in-ccha-hockey-minnesota-state-begins-season-with-sweep-over-st-cloud-state-adding-to-a-history-and-a-culture-of-winning-here\/","title":{"rendered":"This Week in CCHA Hockey: Minnesota State begins season with sweep over St. Cloud State, adding to ‘a history and a culture of winning here’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Lucas Sowder and Brian Carrabes celebrate a goal last weekend for Minnesota State (photo: SPX Sports).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After all the changes that happened in Mankato during the offseason, one nearly expected to tune in to their game against St. Cloud State on Friday night and see something truly wild.<\/p>\n

Like maybe the Mavericks ditched purple from their color scheme in favor of teal and moved their home arena from Mankato to Sleepy Eye.<\/p>\n

Stranger things have happened.<\/p>\n

Of course, that was far from the case. When the puck dropped against their instate rivals at Mankato\u2019s Mayo Clinic Health Systems Events Center that night, everything looked pretty much the same. The Mavericks were wearing their familiar white, purple and gold sweaters. The arena was packed with fans. The Mavericks Machine band added the same familiar atmosphere.<\/p>\n

And, perhaps most importantly, the Mavericks used that atmosphere to propel them to a comeback victory on Friday and a big win on Saturday, completing the sweep of their rivals for the first time since 2016-17. It was also the first-ever collegiate wins for new head coach Luke Strand, who took over after longtime head coach Mike Hastings moved to Wisconsin over the summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt felt good to get it off the back, there\u2019s no denying that part,\u201d Strand said of getting his first wins with the program right away. \u201cI thought the guys got rewarded for some good early-season work. I think the other part is, they got rewarded for a great summer. The guys came back in good shape.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other words: Perhaps reports of Minnesota State\u2019s demise have been greatly exaggerated.<\/p>\n

Everybody knows how successful the Mavericks have been in the past decade, winning eight MacNaughton Cups, eight NCAA tournament appearances, two Frozen Fours and one national title game. And many were curious if the program would be able to keep up that same winning tradition with a new coaching staff.<\/p>\n

Of course, it\u2019s still early with a tiny sample size of two games, but the way in which the Mavericks were able to win over the weekend showed that maybe it truly is a program’s mentality \u2013 and not specific personnel \u2013 that are the key to winning.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it was a weekend that we wanted to try and take advantage of,\u201d Strand said, noting that he knew this was a big rivalry series against a highly-ranked opponent. \u201cThere\u2019s a history and a culture of winning here. That\u2019s the expectation for us, and we don’t want that to change, as a staff or a group of players. I thought their preparation going in was excellent.\u201d<\/p>\n

MSU rallied from a 2-0 deficit on Friday night before winning 3-2 in overtime. The Maverick crowd sat on their hands for about a period and a half until Lucas Sowder opened the scoring. From there, MSU scored the next two goals \u2013 including Adam Eisele\u2019s overtime winner. On Saturday it was almost all Mavs, as they scored the first three goals before the Huskies made it interesting with an extra-attacker goal; MSU added two empty netters to secure the win.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought the atmosphere all weekend, our fanbase, the Mav Machine, the band was exceptional,\u201d Strand said. \u201cWe were able to feed off of that, no question. I thought everybody kind of held their breath until we scored on Friday night, and then it kind of let out, and that bled into Saturday.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although much of the preseason discussion around the Mavericks revolved around players they lost \u2013 a number left via the transfer portal but even more left to play in the NHL \u2013 in this weekend\u2019s series those who stuck around got a chance to show why.<\/p>\n

Sowder, a fifth-year senior, scored the first goal of the season, while sophomore Eisele added a goal and an assist. Sam Morton, a fifth-year senior who missed most of last season with an injury, scored two goals in Saturday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou look at Sam, and that time off from injury, you\u2019re talking almost a year since he last played. So for him to start the way he did was great,\u201d Strand said. \u201cThen [Eisele] had a big goal, [Sowder] had a big goal\u2026 one had the game winner and one kicks us off with one. You’re hoping your returning players can get you off the dock and get you going, and they did.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I\u2019d also like to give credit to guys who came into the program as new players, whether as freshmen or through the portal. They found ways to contribute instantly. It was exciting to have a really collaborative group that\u2019s excited for each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brian Carrabes, a transfer from Boston University, and Kaden Bohlsen, a transfer from Omaha, both scored, as did Brent Moravic, a freshman, and Brenden Olson, a junior who was used mostly as a defenseman in the past and is being converted to a forward.<\/p>\n

Strand said he knows it\u2019s too early to prove anybody right or wrong. But getting a sweep against a ranked opponent in the first weekend feels good \u2013 especially considering what people thought in the preseason.<\/p>\n

The Mavericks get another tough opponent in the building this weekend in the form of UMass, a team that isn\u2019t ranked but just split with Michigan and won the national title three seasons ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cUMass has built a reputation as winners there. Their success this weekend in beating Michigan, a very talented team, none of this should catch us off guard,\u201d Strand said. \u201cWe\u2019re excited. We want to play good teams. It\u2019s a big challenge for us right back to back.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After all the changes that happened in Mankato during the offseason, one nearly expected to tune in to their game against St. Cloud State on Friday night and see something truly wild. Like maybe the Mavericks ditched purple from their color scheme in favor of teal and moved their home arena from Mankato to Sleepy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":142813,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[812],"coauthors":[854],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThis Week in CCHA Hockey: Minnesota State begins season with sweep over St. Cloud State, adding to 'a history and a culture of winning here' - College Hockey | USCHO.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After all the changes that happened in Mankato during the offseason, one nearly expected to tune in to their game against St. Cloud State on Friday night\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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