Off The Hop:  Minnesota State (21-10-3 overall, 15-10-1 WCHA) concludes Western Collegiate Hockey Association regular-season action with fifth-rated North Dakota (18-9-7, 13-6-7 WCHA) visiting Mankato this weekend. The Mavericks and UND square-off in Verizon Wireless Center (4,832) at 7:37 p.m. Friday and 7:07 p.m. Saturday.

Versus North Dakota:  MSU went 0-2-0 vs. UND  last year in a pair of games played in Grand Forks and have lost the last nine games between the two schools. The last win for the Mavericks in the series was in 2008-09 and MSU stands 10-36-7 all-time in the series.

Where Amongst?:   Minnesota State is rated tenth in this week’s national USCHO.com poll, where the Mavericks are appearing for the 12th consecutive week. MSU is tenth in this week’s USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll.

Prior to this year, the last time Minnesota State appeared in the USCHO poll was during the 2008-09 season when the Mavericks were rated in the top twenty 11 times, reaching a high of tenth at one point.

By being ranked seventh in this week’s USA Today/USA Hockey poll on Feb. 25th, MSU achieved its high-ever ranking in a NCAA Division I poll. The previous highest ranking was eighth, which the Mavericks achieved during the 2002-03 season (MSU was eighth in the USA Today Poll March 3, 2003. The Mavericks were as high as ninth twice in the USCHO poll that year).

MSU Most Recently:  The Mavericks, who have won 18 of their last 24 games, split a two-game league series last weekend at Colorado College, dropping a 4-1 decision to the Tigers Friday before sailing to a 7-2 win in Saturday’s rematch.

MSU All-Time:  The Minnesota State men’s hockey program, begun in 1969-70, completed its 43rd year of competition last year.  The Mavericks are in their 17th year as members of NCAA Division I and in their 14th season as members of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. With a total of 1,475 games played, the Mavericks sport an all-time record of 757-583-137 (.559).

Minnesota State Head Coach Mike Hastings: Mike Hastings was named head coach of the men’s hockey program on April 14, 2012.

Hastings, who is the third coach in the history of the Maverick men’s hockey program, arrived at MSU following a three-year stint as the associate head coach at Nebraska-Omaha. He also served as an assistant coach with the men’s hockey program at Minnesota for one season and before that had a 14-year run as head coach of Omaha of the United States Hockey League. The USHL’s all-time winningest coach, Hastings compiled a 529-210-56 record with the Lancers, never had a losing season and led Omaha to three Clark Cup titles as the USHL’s play-off champions.Named USHL Coach of the Year three times and as the team’s general manager, earned league GM of the Year honors five times. Hastings, a native of Crookston, Minn., was an assistant coach for the U.S. national junior team at the 2003 and 2005 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championships and served twice as head coach for the U.S. junior select team that competed in the Viking Cup in Camrose, Alta., earning gold medal honors in 2000. A 1993 graduate of St. Cloud State, Hastings played the for the Huskies in 1986-87 and 1987-88.

Winning: The Mavericks’ 21 wins this year marks the second time during MSU’s DI-era that the program has achieved at least 21 wins. The occurrence was in 1999-2000 when the Mavericks posted a 21-14-4 mark.

Noteables:  Sophomore forwards Jean-Paul Lafontaine and Matt Leitner, along with defenseman Zach Palmquist, are MSU’s active leaders in terms of consecutive games played at 72.  The second-year trio have not missed a game during their times as Mavericks.

And Thirdly:  As a team Minnesota State is tied for first in the nation in goals scored in the third period with 43.

Minnesota State’s 38 power play goals on the season ranks second in the nation (the Mavericks 23.5 PP% ranks third in the nation).

Regarding WCHA Weekly Awards:  MSU individuals have collected ten WCHA Offensive/Defensive/Rookie of the Week Awards in 2012-13.  The most awards MSU had chalked up prior to this season was seven in 2008-09.

On the Docket:  Following the series with the University of North Dakota, Minnesota State will participate in the 2012-13 WCHA postseason tournament with first round best-of-three series slated for March 15-17 at on-campus sites.

This release, in its entirety, is available as a pdf by going HERE.