Off the Hop
#8/7 Minnesota State (7-3-0 overall, 4-0-0 CCHA) continues Central Collegiate Hockey Association action this weekend with a home series vs. Northern Michigan (8-6-0, 4-2-0 CCHA) Friday and Saturday. Face-off between the Mavericks and the Wildcats at Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center (4,832) in downtown Mankato at 7:07 p.m., Friday and 6:07 p.m., Saturday.

Mavericks vs. Wildcats
In a series that dates back to the 2012-13 season, Minnesota State stands 22-7-3 in the all-time vs. Northern Mich., and the Mavericks own a 13-3-0 all-time home record vs. the Wildcats.

The two teams met five times last year with Minnesota State owning a 4-1-0 advantage. The final game between the two schools, an 8-1 MSU win, came in the semifinals of the CCHA postseason tournament.  

Last Time Out
The Mavericks, who were idle last weekend, are 7-3-0 overall and 4-0-0 CCHA after a pair of league wins over St. Thomas Nov. 4-5.

The score stood tied 2-2 after the first two periods of play in the first game between Minnesota State and St. Thomas on Nov. 5, but five unanswered goals in the final period of play put the game away for the Mavericks.  Freshman forward Luc Wilson tallied his first career goal and added two assists, junior center David Silye scored twice, senior defenseman Andy Carroll had three assists and freshman forward Christian Fitzgerald had a goal and an assist in the game.

Silye's first-period natural hat trick kick-started the Mavericks to a 4-3 win in Saturday's rematch in giving Minnesota State its second-consecutive sweep over a conference opponent.  Senior forward Lucas Sowder's third-period tally (his first goal of the year), held up as the game-winner.

Polls
Minnesota State is rated #8 in this week's DCU/USCHO poll and #7 in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine national poll. The Mavericks have been rated in the top 10 in all nine polls so far this season.

Maverick Hockey History
Now into the 54th year of its existence, Minnesota State owns an all-time record of 1017-672-158. The Mavericks are in their 27th year as members of NCAA Division I and are in their second season as members of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association.

Behind the Bench
Minnesota State has gone 281-99-24 under the tutelage of head coach Mike Hastings (St. Cloud State '93), who is in his 11th season behind the Mavericks' bench. Including a pair of trips to the NCAA Frozen Four in 2020-21 and 2021-22, Hastings has led the Mavericks to eight NCAA tournament appearances and no program in the nation has won more games (281) during his time behind the MSU bench.

In addition to his role as the head coach of the Mavericks, Hastings also spent three weeks in February as a member of the Team USA coaching staff at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. He also was named to the Team USA coaching staff for the 2022 IIHF Men's World Championship held in Finland in May.

Big Mac
Minnesota State won the MacNaughton Cup as 2021-22 CCHA regular season champions - marking the fifth season in a row the Mavericks has captured a league regular-season title and sixth time in the last nine years.

Minnesota State also captured the Mason Cup last season as CCHA tournament champions.

Silye Named CCHA Forward of the Week
Junior center David Silye was named Central Collegiate Hockey Association Forward of the Week following his performance in a league sweep over St. Thomas.

Silye, a native of Arnprior, Ont., aggregated a total of five goals in the  two wins over St. Thomas.

The Arnprior, Ont., native scored twice in the 7-2 road victory over the Tommies on Nov. 4 as the Mavericks picked up their first road win of the 2022-23 campaign.

Then, with Minnesota State trailing early in the first period of Nov. 5th's home game, he scored three consecutive goals for a natural hat trick in helping the Mavericks to a 3-2 lead after the first period of action. The hat trick, the second of his MSU career (the other one came in a 7-1 win over St. Thomas at last year's Hockey Day Minnesota win on Jan. 22), is the first natural hat trick by a Maverick since Brad McClure accomplished the feat March 21.2015 in the WCHA championship game. For the two games he won 22 of 39 faceoffs (.564) and had seven shots on goal.

For the season he leads Minnesota State in scoring with 8-3--11 in 10 games played.

Carroll Named CCHA Defenseman of the Week
Senior Andy Carroll was named Central Collegiate Hockey Association Defenseman of the Week following his performance in a league sweep over St. Thomas Nov. 4-5.

Carroll, a native of Northfield, Minn., had three assists, a shot on goal and was +1 with two blocked shots over the course of the two wins over St. Thomas. Including an assist on Ondrej Pavel's game-winning goal, he posted three assists in the 7-2 road win over the Tommies (Nov. 4).

In 10 games on the season the fifth-year blueliner has registered 0-6--6. Carroll enters this weekend's games vs. Northern Michigan with 9-36--45 and is +65 with 90 blocked shots in 140 career games played.  The Northfield, Minn., native is Minnesota State's active career games played leader.

Wilson Named CCHA Rookie of the Week
Freshman forward Luc Wilson was named Central Collegiate Hockey Association Rookie of the Week following his performance in a league sweep over St. Thomas Nov. 4-5.

Wilson racked up five points on a goal and four assists in helping #6 Minnesota State to the two wins over the Tommies.

The Duncan, B.C., native had a goal and two assists and was +1 with three shots on goal in 7-2 road victory Nov. 4 (MSU's first road win of 2022-23). The goal in the game marked his first career goal as a collegian. He followed up with two assists in the 4-3 triumph as the Mavericks completed the sweep in a game played in Mankato the next night.

Furr Shure
Senior center Brendan Furry, who enters the Northern Michigan series riding a six-game point-scoring streak (3-4--7), has posted 21-43--64 in 82 career games with Minnesota State.

Livingstone, Hirose Climb the Ladder
Junior defensemen Jake Livingstone and Akito Hirose continue their rise up Minnesota State's career scoring by defensemen list.

Livingstone, last year's CCHA Defenseman of the Year, has 2-8--10 and leads the Mavericks with 14 blocked shots in 10 games played this year.  He enters the series with Northern Michigan owning a four-game point-scoring streak (0-5--5).

His 55 points on 15 goals and 40 assists in 82 games places him in a tie for 12th on the school's career scoring by defensemen list (NCAA DI-era).

Hirose, who has 0-6--6 in eight games played in 2022-23, owns 3-45--48 and is +45 with 47 blocked shots in 75 career games and is 15th on the MSU's career scoring list for defensemen.

Shot Maker
The Mavericks have had 20 players on  the roster who have put at least one shot on goal this year. Senior forward Ryan Sandelin leads MSU with 39 shots on goal and is followed by Sam Morton with 28, junior center Ondrej Pavel has 26 and defenseman Jake Livingstone has 23.

Captaincy
Senior forwards Cade Borchardt and  Brendan Furry are serving as this season's team captains (both are in first year as a captain).  Senior forward Sam Morton is in his first year as an alternate captain, as is junior defenseman Jake Livingstone.

Nationally-Speaking
Minnesota State leads the nation with a 59.8 faceoff winning percentage (333 Ws, 224 Ls).  The Mavericks are 10th in scoring offense (3.50) and 16th in scoring defense (2.30).

The Last Time
The last time Minnesota State didn't appear in the USCHO top 20 was the second poll of the 2017-18 season (Oct. 9, 2017).  Since then, the Mavericks have appeared in the USCHO poll 116 consecutive times.

On the Docket
Following the two games vs. Northern Michigan Nov. 18-19 are followed by a pair of road games at Michigan Tech (Nov. 26-27), two home games vs. Ferris State (Dec. 2-3), road games at Bowling Green (Dec. 9-10) and a pair of home games vs. Bemidji State (Dec. 15-16) to close out the pre-Holiday part of the schedule.