Mankato, Minn. --- #1-rated Minnesota State got three goals from senior defenseman
Wyatt Aamodt in cruising to a 7-1 win over Ferris State in men's college hockey action Friday in Mankato.
The host Mavericks got things going early with a pair of goals spaced a minute and 14 seconds apart before the game was five minutes old. Senior defenseman
Wyatt Aamodt wired a shot from the top of circles over
Logan Stein's catching glove at 3:37 to make it a 1-0 Minnesota State lead. Then, at 4:51, sophomore center
Ondrej Pavel scored his fifth goal the season when he deflected a shot from sophomore defenseman
Akito Hirose past Stein. Sophomore forward
Josh Groll picked up his third goal of the season at 9:30 with a wrister from the top of the slot.
With the Mavericks on the power play in the second period, senior forward
Julian Napravnik's one-timer from the right dot made it a 4-0 Minnesota State lead. Ferris State got one back on a power play marker from
Bradley Marek at 14:08 and after two periods of action, the Mavericks held a 4-1 lead.
Minnesota State closed out the game with three third-period goals.
Nathan Smith got on the board at 3:53 after taking a pass from
Zach Krajnik to make it 5-1. Aamodt then became the first Maverick defenseman to tally a hat trick since
Jason Krug accomplished the feat in 1996 when he scored the final two goals of the game. His second goal of the game, which came at the 6:05 mark, came on a slapper from the top of the left circle and he scored his third goal by taking the puck hard to the net and backhanding the puck past Stein at 17:55.
Smith, who had missed the last two games due to an injury, finished with a three-point night on a goal and two assists. Napravnik had two points on a goal and an assist, while Krajnik and
Cade Borchardt both had two assists.
Senior netminder
Dryden McKay, who turned aside 16 of 17 shots, upped his record to 19-3-0 on the year.
The two teams close out the two-game league series Saturday night with a 6:07 p.m. face-off scheduled for May Clinic Health System Event Center.
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