Mavericks can’t solve Hellebuyck in loss to Lowell

WORCESTER, Mass. — Massachusetts-Lowell sophomore goaltender Connor Hellebuyck is perhaps the top goaltender in all of college hockey.

On Saturday, the sophomore showed why.

Hellebuyck made a grade-A saves early and often against Minnesota State, stopping the first 35 shots he saw, backstopping the River Hawks to a 2-1 over the Mavericks, advancing Lowell to the Northeast Region Final against Boston College.

MSU goaltender Cole Huggins was just as good on the other end. After allowing a short-handed goal by Joe Pendenza at 12:54 into the first period, Huggins stopped every shot the rest of the way, finishing with 32 saves.

“Everybody was talking about the guy who won the game tonight,” MSU coach Mike Hastings said. “But if you go ahead and stack Cole’s numbers over the last 14 games, they’re comparable. I thought it was a great battle tonight.”

“It was a classic goalie battle,” Huggins said. “[Hellebuyck] made a lot of good saves. There were a couple of posts both ways and that could have gone either way. He played out of his head.”

Trailing by one with a minute remaining in regulation, the Mavericks pulled Huggins in an attempt to tie the game. But Lowell’s Zack Kamrass intercepted a shot from the point by Matt Leitner and flipped the puck 180 feet into the empty net, giving the River Hawks a 2-0 lead at 19:19.

The goal ended up being the game-winner. A roughing penalty 36 seconds later put the Mavericks on the power play and MSU gave itself a chance late. Johnny McInnis fired a shot high off the glass behind Hellebuyck and it ricocheted right to Zach Stepan at the right post, who flipped a back-hander in for his ninth of the season with 10.8 seconds remaining.

Minnesota State got the puck deep in the final seconds and even forced an icing and a faceoff to Hellebuyck’s left with 2.2 seconds left, but Lowell tied the puck up on the draw, spending the rest of the clock.

“We have no regrets coming out of here,” McInnis said. “We didn’t give up and that’s what I’m proud of. But it’s very frustrating, I can tell you that.”

The loss dropped MSU to 0-3 in the NCAA Tournament, but was a marked improvement over last year’s appearance, where the Mavericks were blasted by Miami of Ohio 4-0. It was their first loss since Jan. 31, snapping a 13-game unbeaten streak (12-0-1).

Hellebuyck, who entered on the heels of back-to-back shutouts last weekend in the Hockey East tournament, got off to a hot start, stopping a pair of big-time chances by Bryce Gervais in the opening minutes. He robbed Chase Grant twice early in the second and stopped all 16 shots he faced in the middle frame. Dylan Margonari and Teddy Blueger also put shots off the post.

He stopped 12 more shots in the third period and ran his shutout streak to nearly 200 minutes before Stepan beat him in the dying moments.

“We knew [Hellebuyck] was going to be good and he was good,” Hastings said.

Minnesota State finishes the season with a Division I record 26 wins and their first Final Five championship. They graduate four seniors, although only two — McInnis and Zach Lehrke — were in the lineup Saturday.

Barring any unexpected early departures, MSU will return 77 percent of its goal-scoring, including 40-point scorers Leitner and Jean-Paul Lafontaine. All six defensemen that played Saturday and both Huggins and Stephon Williams in goal are set to return as well.

The post Mavs Fall in Goalie Battle appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Gervais, Huggins lead Minnesota State to WCHA Title Game

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — It took 15 years and five games, but Minnesota State finally has a win in the WCHA Final Five.

The Mavericks scored twice in the second period and two more times in the third in a 4-0 win against Bowling Green Friday at Van Andel Arena.

Minnesota State entered the Final Five 0-4 all-time in the tournament, including an ugly 7-2 loss to Wisconsin last season. It was an experience coach Mike Hastings said played a big part in their win Friday.

“The guys that are here, we’ve talked about trying to make strides as an overall program,” Hastings said in a phone interview. “I think last year’s experience helped us [Friday]. I think we got taught a lesson by Wisconsin. We got off to a better start.”

The victory was the Mavericks’ 25th this season, establishing a new Division I record originally set last season in Hastings’ first year in Mankato. The win also pushed MSU’s unbeaten streak to 12 games (11-0-1), the longest such streak in over a decade.

“From our end of it, it’s important. We kind of want to keep pushing the envelope and make sure we keep moving ahead as a program,” Hastings said.

After a scoreless first period, the Mavericks got on the board early in the second, taking advantage of a 3-on-2 into the Falcons zone when Matt Leitner saucered a backhand pass to Chase Grant in front, who stuffed in his ninth of the season at 3:52.

Bryce Gervais got the second assist on the first goal but was just getting started. Nine minutes later it was his short-handed forecheck that put MSU ahead by two.

After a Max Gaede elbowing penalty put the Falcons on their third power play of the game, BGSU goaltender Tommy Burke left the puck behind his net for Falcons defenseman Ralfs Freibergs. But Gervais won a race to the puck, raced to the front of the net and slipped the puck into the net before Burke could cover the post.

The goal was Gervais’ 16th of the season and 11th in his last 14 games. He has seven goals and four assists in his last six games and the goal Friday was his third short-handed goal of the season, tied for fourth-most in the country.

“He’s doing things Monday through Thursday that’s allowing him to have the success he’s having right now,” Hastings said. “Doing all the hard work, scoring a short-hander, he’s blocking shots, he’s playing with speed and pace. He’s become somebody who is hard to play against because of his want-to.”

MSU scored on another odd-man rush midway through the third period to open up a 3-0 lead. Sophomore center Teddy Blueger intercepted a pass at the Mavericks’ offensive blue line then floated a pass to Johnny McInnis at the right post, who one-timed a shot over Burke’s glove for his 21st of the season with 9:13 left in regulation.

In between, the Mavericks stifling penalty kill kept the Falcons off the board. Ranked sixth in the country entering the game, MSU went 6-for-6 killing penalties and was able to capture momentum from each kill. They finished the day a plus-1 with Gervais’ shortie.

“I thought it was a difference-maker in the game,” Hastings said. “Anytime you can win that special teams battle and be a plus-1 in the game, that can be the difference.”

Gervais sprung Leitner free for an empty-netter with 1:32 left in the game, Leitner’s 12th goal and 43rd point of the season.

Overshadowed by Gervais’ offensive effort was Cole Huggins in goal. He stopped 13 shots in each the first and third periods and 36 in all for his sixth shutout of the season, also a new school record. The win improved him to 20-7-1 on the year.

“He said he wanted to play better than he did last Saturday [a 5-4 OT win for MSU against Northern Michigan],” Hastings said. “I thought he went out and gave us an opportunity to get a lead, one, and two, to not only sustain it but increase it. You need to have your goalie do that this time of year if you want to move on.”

The win boosted MSU’s chances of making the NCAA Tournament as an at-large team. A loss to BGSU would have almost certainly ended their season, but the win moved the Mavericks to 11th in the Pairwise Rankings. With 11 other games to be played Friday and handful more on Saturday, Hastings said he would rather not leave their tournament hopes to chance. A win in the Broadmoor Trophy game Saturday against either Ferris State or Alaska-Anchorage would deliver an automatic bid into the NCAAs, which begin next weekend.

“We’re not in. So we’ll see what happens tonight,” Hastings said. “Our margin for error over the last month-and-a-half hasn’t been much and it’s no different right now.

“We have a group of seniors excited about what was put in front of them today. I think the guys have done a good job on focusing on what they have control of. They did that tonight and they were rewarded for it. We’ll have to go right back to ground zero and go to work in the morning.”

Dan Myers’ Three Stars

1 – Bryce Gervais

Gervais’ goal to put the Mavericks up by two was a crushing blow for Bowling Green. Down one and on the power play, BGSU had a chance to tie the score midway through the game but Gervais’ effort was a game-changer. He also had two assists.

2 – Cole Huggins

Huggins made 36 saves, several of them of the underrated variety. He was especially important in the first period, stopping 13 shots and keeping the game scoreless through one period.

3 – Teddy Blueger

This could have gone to any number of Mavericks but Blueger’s heads-up defensive play and sweet pass to set up MSU’s third goal sets him apart. A second-round pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2013, Blueger has quietly put up 20 assists this season.

The post Mavericks Down Falcons, Make History appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Goaltender Cole Huggins is the second straight freshman to lead Minnesota State to the brink of the Final Five.

The Minnesota State University, Mankato men’s hockey team came into this season sure of a few things; they would compete for the WCHA title, their top offensive performers would shine, and they would have the league’s best goaltender between the pipes.

Interestingly enough, the goaltender they pegged to be their go-to man last season, Stephon Williams, was replaced earlier this season. No worries for the Mavericks, though, as freshman Cole Huggins has emerged as the best goaltender in the league, something the WCHA made official when it named Huggins its goaltending champion when league award winners were announced.

Huggins started 15 of Minnesota State’s last 17 games en route to a 17-7-1 overall record to go with a 1.96 goals-against average (good for ninth in the nation) and a .922 save percentage. He tied the school record for shutouts with five, including three in the Mavericks’ final four games heading into this weekend’s best-of-three WCHA first-round series against Northern Michigan at the Verizon Wireless Center.

With 16 saves in last night’s 3-2 win over the seventh-seeded Wildcats, Huggins and his No. 2 seeded Minnesota State teammates are in a position to earn a second straight trip to the Final Five with a win in tonight’s rematch with NMU. This time, though, the Mavs would one of the favorites to sit on the throne atop the conference, catapulting them into the NCAA tournament for a second consecutive season.

A year ago, Williams was racking up multiple honors from the WCHA in his freshman season. He was awarded WCHA Rookie of the Year, WCHA Goaltender of the Year, First team All-WCHA, and WCHA All-Rookie team. Williams did so well last season that the New York Islanders selected him in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft.

So when this season started, it was considered a certainty that Williams would lead the way for the Mavs as they embarked on their journey into a newly constructed conference where they were the favorite to take home the crown.

Huggins also believed Williams would see the majority of minutes.

“I really didn’t see myself playing as much as I did this year” he said, “I knew coming into the year Stephon played a lot the previous year and was expected to be the main guy this year, so I didn’t see myself playing as many games as I have.”

Cole Huggins

Huggins quietly waited for his opportunity. The Centennial, Colo. native came to Mankato from Coquitlam, B.C. where he played two seasons of junior hockey with the Coquitlam Express of the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL), widely regarded as the second best junior league in North America—outside of the Canadian Hockey League (CHL)—behind the United States Hockey League (USHL).

Coming in as a freshman, Huggins assumed the role of second string goaltender, knowing he would get his minutes to prove himself. After seeing little action through the first six games of the season, Huggins got his shot at home against the Bowling Green State University Falcons early in November.

After Williams struggled in the Friday night game, Huggins played the second half of the game which ended in a 4-3 Mavericks loss. However, the next night Huggins led his team to a 1-0 overtime victory over the Falcons with a 33 save shutout, the first of four this season. Since then, the net has been all Huggins’.

Just two weeks after he cemented his place in the net for the Mavs, Huggins again posted an overtime shutout victory over Bowling Green, and this time it earned him WCHA Rookie of the Week honors for the week of Nov. 18th. Two weeks ago, Huggins racked up another honor to his list of accomplishments this season, when after two wins and a shutout at Lake Superior State University he was named WCHA Defensive Player of the Week.

Earlier in the season, Maverick head coach Mike Hastings said of Huggins, “He goes to work every day, that doesn’t go unnoticed.”

It’s just that kind of work ethic that has gotten Huggins to where he is. More importantly, the saddle will be placed on his back as he’ll be the go-to guy in net this time around in the postseason. But the rookie remains modest.

“I try to just keep my mind focused on the play that is going on and play one period at a time,” Huggins said. “The defense has really made my job easier so far this year.”

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