On Tap:    Minnesota State (15-18-3 overall, 9-15-2 WCHA) takes on seventh-rated St. Cloud State University (20-11-5 overall, 15-9-4 WCHA) in the first round of the 2010 Western Collegiate Hockey Association play-offs.  The eighth-seed Mavericks and the third-seeded Huskies square-off in St. Cloud at the National Hockey Center (5,371) in a best-of-three series slated for Friday, Saturday and, if necessary, Sunday.  Face-off for all three contests is scheduled for 7:07 p.m.

MSU and the WCHA Postseason:  MSU stands 8-22 all-time in WCHA play-off action. Including a 3-18 mark in first-round road play-off games, the Mavericks are 8-20 in first-round WCHA play-off games. MSU has participated the WCHA play-offs 12 times (this year is the 13th) and won two first-round series - vs. Alaska-Anchorage in 1999-2000 and vs. Wisconsin in 2002-03.   See page 11 of this release for MSU’s WCHA postseason game-by-game history.

About the MSU-SCSU Series:   MSU, which leads the all-time series with SCSU by a 58-42-10 margin, has gone 12-7-3 vs. St. Cloud State in its last 22 meetings. Senior forward Kael Mouillierat has 6-4--10 in ten games as MSU’s active career scoring leader vs. the Huskies.
     Head coach Troy Jutting’s career head coaching record vs. SCSU stands at 12-14-4.

Mavericks Most Recently:  Currently 15-18-3 overall, the Mavericks finished in a tie for eighth in the WCHA regular-season standings with an 9-17-2 mark after picking up a 4-2 win and a 2-2 tie with St. Cloud State last weekend.

Junior forward Rylan Galiardi enjoyed a four-point weekend in the SCSU series with three goals and an assist to move into a tie for the MSU scoring lead with senior forward Zach Harrison (8-16--24). Junior defenseman Kurt Davis’s four points (1-3--4) in two games gives him 5-18--23 on the season and moved him up the charts into a tie with junior defenseman Ben Youds (2-21--23) . Senior forward Jared Stewart (13-9--22) ranks just behind. Freshman Phil Cook (7-4-2, .915, 2.42) has started 13 of the last 19 games in net for the Mavericks and along with sophomore Austin Lee (7-11-0, 2.85, .907) and freshman Kevin Murdock (1-3-1, 3.46, .895), has combined for a team goals against average of 2.80 and a .907 save percentage on the year.
   The Mavericks have 709 wins in the 41-year history of the program.

A complete 12-page, pdf-version of this release is available here.