Men and women’s hockey complete sweeps
Mel Stramm
Staff Writer
It was yet another phenomenal weekend for Maverick sports, especially hockey on the road.
The women faced off against the St. Cloud State Huskies on the road and the men traveled down south to take on Alabama Huntsville.
Overall, the women were able to pick up their first two conference wins this season and improved their record to 4-4-2 (2-4-2-2 WCHA), while the men stayed undefeated with a 5-0-1 (2-0-0 WCHA) record, keeping their second place in the standings steady.
Later that day, the Maverick men dominated the Chargers in Alabama with a 5-1 win.
It was a successful win, especially for senior forward Charlie Gerard, who had been scoreless until this point. Gerard scored two of his three goals on Friday night.
Gerard got MSU on the scoreboard early after taking a pass from last week’s rookie of the week Nathan Smith and shot it into the net nine minutes into the first period.
Only three minutes later, Gerard scored again, with help from junior Jared Spooner and Julian Napravnik, tucking the puck into the right corner of the net.
UAH responded and managed to sneak the puck past MSU netminder Dryden McKay, going into the second period.
After taking a pass from Smith, junior forward Walker Duehr, showed some great stickwork in front of the net and ultimately scored the only goal in the second period – his first goal of the season.
The last two goals in the third period were shot by sophomore Chris Van Os-Shaw at 0:34 and senior Parker Tuomie at 8:49, extending the Maverick lead to 5-1.
The second game for the men’s resulted in the Mavericks outshooting the Chargers by a 14-5 margin. After one period of play, there were no goals.
Assisted by senior Edwin Hookenson and junior Riese Zmolek, MVP of the weekend, Gerard established the MSU lead by scoring on a backhander 17 minutes into the second.
UAH then tied the game up three minutes into the following period.
The last 10 minutes of the game would then see a lot of action and three Maverick goals.
After taking a pass from Napravnik, senior forward Reggie Lutz got the lead back from MSU.
Shortly after that, Smith was able to shoot straight into the net, putting Minnesota State up 3-1.
Tuomie then finished the game by shooting his second goal of the season, scoring an empty netter in the last minute of the game.
On Oct. 25, the women got their third shutout of the season, with the game winning goal in the 17th minute of the first period.
With the Mavericks on the power play, junior forward Brittyn Fleming took a pass in the slot from sophomore blueliner Anna Wilgren, behind the net and then put it into the net.
Sophomore goalie Abigail Levy made 30 saves in this shutout win and can also be credited an assist in the goal by Wilgren.
On Oct. 26, the first goal came by the Huskies in the first period and was closely followed by a Maverick goal from junior blueliner Tristen Truax, after receiving a pass from junior forward Mariah Gardner.
MSU scored twice during the second half. Sophomore blueliner Anna Wilgren forced a turnover in the neutral zone and scored an unassisted goal for her first of the season.
Sophomore winger Brooke Bryant made a cross-ice pass to junior winger Mallorie Iozzo, who then scored for the first time after transferring from Minnesota Duluth.
With the Mavericks on the power play, Truax scored the final goal of the game for MSU in the eighth minute of the third period, after being fed the puck from senior captain Emily Antony.
Freshman Calla Frank made 34 saves throughout the game.
Maverick hockey will return to Mankato this upcoming weekend, hosting the Merrimack College Warriors in the women’s games and Bowling Green in the men’s.
Free tickets for students will be handed out on Wednesday in the CSU.
Header photo: Minnesota State forward Parker Toumie (6) shoots the puck against Arizona State at the Mankato Civic Center Saturday, Oct. 12, 2019 in Mankato, Minn. (Kjerstin Hall/MSU Reporter)