Michaelis records hat trick, MSU sweeps Bemidji State
The Maverick offense was attacking all weekend, scoring 13 goals in two games
The men’s hockey team traveled to Bemidji, Minn. and won both of their weekend matchups against the Bemidji State Beavers this past weekend, ending a streak of many split-series this season.
In the first game, sophomore forward Marc Michaelis scored three goals on the night, giving him a hat trick, as the No. 10 Mavericks skated to a 5-2 win at Bemidji State on Friday night. The three goals by Michaelis, last year’s WCHA Rookie of the Year, mark his second career hat trick. All three of his goals on the night came three different ways with the first coming via the power play, the second while the Mavericks were shorthanded and the third was of the empty-net variety.
With the Mavericks taking a 4-1 lead with three unanswered goals in the second period of the game, Michaelis lasered a one-timer pass from Ian Scheid for a power play goal at 1:13. Michaelis made it a 3-1 Maverick lead at 11:27 on a shorthanded goal where he backhanded a shot top shelf. The goal is the third career shorthanded goal of his career.
At 13:56 in the second, Nick Rivera got his third goal of the year on a rebound chance and the Mavericks headed into the locker room owning a 4-1 lead after two periods of play. Michaelis closed out the game with an empty net tally at 18:53 to complete the hat trick. Michaelis now has five goals on the season.
The next game, another Maverick player for the men’s team completed the hat trick once again. Max Coatta, a junior from Minnetonka, Minn., collected his first career hat trick to lift the No. 10 Minnesota State Mavericks to an 8-6 win over Bemidji State on Saturday night.
The game featured four lead changes and in addition to Coatta’s three-goal effort, the Mavericks also got three-point nights from junior defenseman Daniel Brickley, senior center C.J. Suess, and junior forward Marc Michaelis.
There was a total of six goals scored in the middle frame and when it was all said and done, the two teams entered the locker room deadlocked at 5-5. The Mavericks took a 4-2 lead on goals by Coatta (4:00) and Brickley (5:27), but the Beavers scored three straight times, connecting at 9:10, 14:03 and 14:39, chasing Pawloski as a result. Senior forward Zeb Knutson staunched the bleeding when he tipped Brickley’s shot past Bitzer just before the end of the period.
The offensive artillery continued throughout the final 20 minutes of regulation with the two teams combining for another four goals. Dickman got his third goal of the game at 3:16 to give the Beavers the lead, but Coatta connected with his third of the game at 9:41 and Michaelis his second at 10:01 allowed the Mavericks to regain the lead at 7-6. Freshman forward Jake Jaremko closed out the scoring to seal the win with his first career goal coming at the 18:31 mark.
With the two victories on the weekend, Minnesota State goes to 8-3-0 overall and 6-2-0 in the WCHA. Bemidji State owns a 4-4-2 overall ledger and is 2-3-1-1 in WCHA contests. Minnesota State continues WCHA action next weekend with a two-game league series scheduled for Verizon Center Friday and Saturday.