Men’s hockey wins exhibition game, women’s falls short over Gophers

Aaron Young
Staff Writer

This past weekend, both the Minnesota State men’s and women’s hockey teams were in action. For the men, it was their first game of the season, an exhibition against the Mount Royal Cougars. For the ladies, they took on No. 2 ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers. 

On Saturday, the girls would fall to the Golden Gophers 6-0. Minnesota State was dominated from the start. The Gophers scored six minutes into the game when Crystalyn Hengler shot a laser through traffic past Maverick freshman Abigail Levy.

The Gophers took advantage of a power play and lit the sirens up from junior winger Grace Zumwinkle, just over 11 minutes into the game, putting the Gophers up 2-0.

With under 10 minutes to go in the second the Mavs had an own goal, when a skater tipped in into the net. Taylor Heise was credited for the goal.

In the third, it was all Minnesota with three goals on the board from senior Alex Woken, Heise and Zumwinkle. Both Heise and Zumbwinkle had goals 30 seconds apart midway through. 

Minnesota State was outshot 34-to-16, with junior Brittyn Fleming leading the team in shots with 4.

After the game, coach John Harrington responded to the loss, saying, “I was just disappointing in our compete level and our push effort in the third period of the game.”

He also mentioned the own goal in the second period and how they tried to get it out of the zone instead.

In the second game, the Golden Gophers lit up the scoreboard early, scoring twice in the first with Heise and Catie Skaja capitalizing. Heise added another goal in the third and Woken also found the back of the net twice, scoring in the first and third period. Minnesota wound up with seven goals on the night, defeating Minnesota State 7-1.  

Charlotte Aversive scored the Mavericks only goal of the series late in the third period on a four-on-four situation. Coach Harrington was impressed with her play as he stated in a press conference after the game.

Even though the game was lopsided, the amount of shots both teams took were close with the Mavericks at 32 and Gophers with 39. Minnesota State is now 2-2 on the year.

From the women to the men’s game, the No. 3 ranked Mavericks opened the year with a 5-2 exhibition victory against Mount Royal.

Five different Mavericks scored in the game. Freshman Ryan Sandelin was the first to kick off the party with a goal in the first. 

Tony Malinowski and Conner Mackey followed suit in the second and three Mavericks scored in the third, Sean Richards, Jared Spooner and Cade Borchardt.

Both teams will be in action this weekend. The men’s team has a date with Arizona State and the women against the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs.

Headrt photo courtesy of MSU Athletics.