Minnesota State 6 Bemidji State 1: Final Thoughts

Minnesota State won their fourth game in a row, and earned their second consecutive four-point sweep in WCHA play with a dominating 6-1 win over Bemidji State on Saturday evening. Beyond the scoreboard, this looked like a much different Minnesota State team than the one swept by St. Cloud and Denver early in the season. They looked much more comfortable and poised, their passes were connecting better, and they were much stingier on defense.

As easy as the Mavericks made the game look, head coach Mike Hastings pointed to a key moment in the game's first shift as the turning point of the evening. He felt like Bemidji State came out with more jump than his team, controlling the play for the first few minutes of the game, but a quality save by goalie Stephon Williams, coupled with the fact that Minnesota State scored their first goal shortly after turned the tide in the Mavericks' favor. "They buzzed us, but came out of it down 1-0," said Hastings. Hastings also felt the goal settled his team down and helped them play more poised hockey.

It seems strange to highlight Minnesota State's goal tending on a night where Bemidji State's third shot on goal didn't come until the 14-minute mark of the second period. But the first thing Hastings pointed to in the turnaround for his team in the past two weeks was getting timely saves from goalie Stephon Williams, who only allowed one goal on the weekend.

Minnesota State's defense is also improving, highlighted by a career-game for sophomore Brett Stern. Stern opened the scoring with his first career goal, and added an assist later in the game en route to being named the game's number one star. "I thought that was the best game Stern has played since I've been here," said Hastings. The solid play of Stern, who regularly plays on MSU's third pairing, allows MSU to distribute their minutes a little more evenly between defensemen and not have rely so heavily on their top pairing.

The Mavericks moved into a tie for 5th place in the WCHA, pending Saturday's other results, and have a good opportunity to continue their momentum next weekend when last place Alaska-Anchorage comes to Mankato.

Minnesota State Beats Bemidji State 6-1--Third Period Notes

Scoring:

3:09 Josh Nelson from Teddy Blueger and Johnny McInnis (power play) 5-0 Minnesota State

Blueger picked up his third assist of the night by finding Nelson in the high slot, and Nelson fired a one-timer to beat Dugas.

7:23 Eriah Hayes from Jean-Paul LaFontaine and Brett Knowles 6-0 Minnesota State

Just as the major penalty was expiring, Hayes got a pass right in front of the net from LaFontaine and one-timed it for the goal.

13:07 Jordan George from Matt Prapavessis and Brad Robbins (power play) 6-1 Minnesota State

George fired a low angle shot and it looked like Williams had it trapped underneath him, but it slid into the net. The goal came right as the first of two major penalties called against Minnesota State expired.

Notes:

There were three major penalties called in this period. The first was against BSU's Brady Wacker. Wacker stepped up into an on-rushing defender, and laid what would have been considered a great check five years ago. It was a really tough call to go against BSU. Minnesota State's Jon Jutzi was called for a check from behind later in the period. Normally, I'd say that was a questionable major, but given that two had been called on BSU, it was a call the officials had to make. I didn't see the final one called against Zach Lehrke.

Penalties had a big effect on the play in this period. Minnesota State controlled the first part of the period during their two major power plays. Bemidji State controlled the latter half with their two major power plays.

2nd Period Notes--Minnesota State leads Bemidji State 4-0

Scoring:

15:10 Chase Grant from Teddy Blueger and Dylan Margonari (power play) 3-0 Minnesota State

Blueger won the face-off at the beginning of a power play, went behind the net, took a pass, and fed a quick pass to Grant in the low slot, who fired home the goal. A pretty tic-tac-toe play.

17:00 Matt Leitner from Tyler Elbrecht 4-0 Minnesota State

Leitner picked up the puck off a rush into the Bemidji State zone and fired a high wrist shot over the glove of Dugas.

Notes:

Shots on goal, or Bemidji State's lack of them, was the big story here. After getting two shots on net in the first two minutes of the game, Bemidji State's third shot didn't come until a relatively harmless Jake Areshenko shot from the point with 6 minutes left in the second period. Bemidji State finished the second period with a total of six shots, and after the those first two in the early first period, never really threatened.

As you'd expect with the lopsided shot total, MSU looked pretty comfortable. As much as they'd controlled the game, Bemidji was just a shot or two away from making it a really tight third period until MSU added those two late goals.

First Period Notes-- MSU Leads BSU 2-0

Scoring:

5:59- Brett Stern from Eriah Hayes and Jean-Paul LaFontaine 1-0 Minnesota State

After Stern shot the puck from the right point, a scramble ensued in front of the net as Dugas couldn't control the rebound. Stern came in from the point, dug the puck out of the pile, and shot it over Dugas' shoulder for the first goal of the game.

12:21 Johnny McInnis from Teddy Blueger and Dylan Margonari (power play) 2-0 Minnesota State

Blueger brought puck into the zone and made a drop pass to McInnis who the slot, who fired a quick wrister over the shoulder of Dugas.

Notes:

Minnesota State looks like a team that has won three in a row, and is playing very confident hockey right now; completely different than how they looked earlier this season. On Stern's goal, that was a confident play by him to follow his shot in, pick it up and score. He looked like a guy that had done that dozens of times before, rather than someone scoring his first career goal.

Bemidji State's top line of Ben Kinne-Jeff Jubinville-Jordan George was very strong to start the game. They controlled the puck in the MSU zone for the first minute and a half of the game and nearly opened the game with a goal. BSU's only real pressure came with that line on the ice, while MSU controlled the play against Bemidji's other three lines.

Minnesota State vs. Bemidji State Saturday Line Charts

Line charts for Saturday's game between Minnesota State and Bemidji State