{"id":88805,"date":"2018-11-01T11:00:09","date_gmt":"2018-11-01T16:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/?p=88805"},"modified":"2020-08-24T14:09:48","modified_gmt":"2020-08-24T19:09:48","slug":"wcha-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2018\/11\/01\/wcha-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Minnesota State showing well early on, despite losing key cogs from ’17-18 squad"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"<\/a>
Minnesota State junior forward Parker Tuomie leads the Mavericks with 11 points through six games this season (photo: Minnesota State Athletics).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After losing so many pieces of last season\u2019s MacNaughton Cup-winning team, Mike Hastings wasn\u2019t entirely sure how he\u2019d be able to replace that production so soon at Minnesota State.<\/p>\n

That team lost four double-digit goal-scorers — in all, more than 35 percent of the Mavericks\u2019 total points from last season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you lose your captain (CJ Suess) and the seniors that we had with him, Zeb Knutson, Brad McClure, Clint Lewis, and we had an early signing with Danny Brickley, you look at the amount of points that you lost there and there\u2019s obviously going to be a concern,\u201d Hastings said. \u201cDo you have players either existing with your club returning or do you have some new young guys who can come in and pick up some of that slack offensively?\u201d<\/p>\n

The answer, it turns out so far this season, is a resounding \u201cyes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thanks to a combination of a few experienced players who are now upperclassmen and some players who were more role players in seasons past, the Mavericks are 5-1 and have scored more goals (26) than anyone in the WCHA aside from Bowling Green.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had some of the old and the new be a little bit of a stopgap for us offensively, and it\u2019s helped us early,\u201d Hastings said.<\/p>\n

The \u201cold\u201d mostly refers to juniors Parker Tuomie and Marc Michaelis, the two returning scoring leaders from last season. So far, Tuomie has four goals and seven assists while Michaelis has three goals and four assists.<\/p>\n

The \u201cnew\u201d refers to a few different types of players. Freshman Julian Napravnik has stepped right in and played in five games this year, netting four points.<\/p>\n

Max Coatta, a senior, isn\u2019t new, but he wasn\u2019t playing the same role heis has this season. His previous season high in goals is six; this year, he has four in just six games.<\/p>\n

Charlie Gerard, a junior, has also upped his game this year, with five points in six games while mostly playing with Tuomie and Michaelis.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe might have more in his first six games this year than he has had in every other year,\u201d Hastings joked.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not quite true — in each of his past two seasons, Gerard managed five points. But he\u2019s on pace to be a key player this year and far surpass that output, which is a good thing for MSU.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe went from a sophomore to a junior, and he went from being an underclassmen to an upperclassmen, and that maturity is a big thing,\u201d Hastings said. \u201cHe\u2019s handled it well and it\u2019s helped his overall game.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Mavericks also had to deal with the loss of all three goaltenders (Connor LaCouvee and Aaron Nelson both graduated, while Jason Pawloski left school with a year of eligibility remaining), which meant whoever played in the nets was going to be one of the newbies.<\/p>\n

Mathias Israelsson, a transfer from Northern Michigan, had some collegiate experience but was a backup to NMU\u2019s Atte Tolvanen during his time with the Wildcats. Meanwhile, Dryden McKay is a freshman with zero experience at the college level. He ended up starting the Mavericks\u2019 first four games this season, against Boston University and North Dakota, and went 3-1-0 in the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe start the game against Boston, he\u2019s never played, and I think in the first period he faced three 2-on-1s and a breakaway from Joel Farabee, who\u2019s a first-round pick, and it\u2019s like, ‘welcome to college hockey,’\u201d Hastings said. \u201cBut he played well and allowed us to get out of that period 1-1.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Mavericks swept that series from the Terriers, with McKay in the net both times. He also started both games against North Dakota in Grand Forks — one of the toughest places to play on the road — and escaped with a split.<\/p>\n

It should be surprising to see a freshman come in cold and play so well against two of the country\u2019s top programs, but with the track record Hastings and Minnesota State have had in recent seasons, it seems less so.<\/p>\n

Israelsson got the nod last week against Alaska and also played well, allowing just one goal on the weekend and earning his team the sweep.<\/p>\n

\u201cTimely saves are just as important as that save percentage at times,\u201d Hastings said. \u201cThose guys, both of them, have made an impact this season just because of when they\u2019ve made those saves.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Mavericks get another early nonconference test this weekend when they play a home-and-home series with instate rivals Minnesota. The Gophers have something of a new look this season, at least behind the bench — Hastings is very good friends with new Gophers coach Bob Motzko.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re our closest neighbor,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re the one that\u2019s in the yard closest to you. Any time you play someone within the state, it\u2019s special.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After losing so many pieces of last season\u2019s MacNaughton Cup-winning team, Mike Hastings wasn\u2019t entirely sure how he\u2019d be able to replace that production so soon at Minnesota State (photo: Minnesota State Athletics).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":111238,"comment_status":"open","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":"\nMinnesota State showing well early on, despite losing key cogs from '17-18 squad - College Hockey | USCHO.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After losing so many pieces of last season\u2019s MacNaughton Cup-winning team, Mike Hastings wasn\u2019t entirely sure how he\u2019d be able to replace that production so soon at Minnesota State (photo: Minnesota State Athletics).\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88805\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Minnesota State showing well early on, despite losing key cogs from '17-18 squad - 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