Mankato, Minn.—In celebration of U.S. Armed Forces Appreciation Night, the Minnesota State men’s hockey team skated to a 3-3 tie overtime tie vs. the U.S. U18 team in exhibition men's hockey action Friday night in Mankato.

The U18s took an early lead when forward Ryan Hartman pounced on a loose puck in the Mavericks zone and went top shelf at at the 10:45 mark of the opening frame.

MSU evened the score in the second when sophomore forward Corey Leivermann wired a shot past Collin Olson at 11:54  of the second period.   With momentum in their favor, the Mavericks looked to took the lead after freshmen center Matt Leitner scored a power play goal from in front of the net on a pass from freshman forward Jean-Paul Lafontaine.

 The U.S. evened the score when Hartman scored his second goal of the night afrer receiving a pass from forward Kyle Osterberg at 4:54 of the third. Forward Riley Barber put the U.S. team up 3-2 at 17:23, but with 51 seconds remaining in the game and with netminder Evan Karambelas sitting on the bench in favor of an extra attacker, junior forward Eriah Hayes scored on the rebound after center Zach Lehrke’s shot on goal deflected off the pads of goalie Olson.

Neither team was able to score in the overtime session and the game ended in a 3-3 tie. MSU owned a 36-30 advantage in shots on goal in the contest.

The Mavericks resume action when they travel to Canton, N.Y., to take on St. Lawrence, The puck drops at 7:00pm on Friday, January 6^th in Canton, N.Y.