Off the Hop
#6 Minnesota State (5-3-0 overall, 2-0-0 CCHA) continues Central Collegiate Hockey Association action this weekend with a home-and-home series vs. St. Thomas (2-6-0, 1-1-0 CCHA) Friday and Saturday. Face-off between the Mavericks and the Tommies at the St. Thomas Ice Arena (1,000) Friday is slated for 7:07 p.m. The two teams square-off at Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center (4,832) in downtown Mankato at 6:07 p.m., Saturday.

Mavericks vs. Tommies
In a series that dates back to the 1971-72 season, Minnesota State stands 22-9-2 in the all-time vs. St. Thomas.

Including a memorable 7-1 win last Jan. 20 in a game that was played outdoors at MSU's Blakeslee Stadium for Hockey Day Minnesota, the Mavericks went 6-0-0 vs. UST last year.

St. Thomas is in its second year of DI.

Last Time Out
The Mavericks are 5-3-0 overall and 2-0-0 CCHA after a pair of home league wins over Bowling Green last weekend.

Senior center Brendan Furry's goal at 4:05 of overtime lifted Minnesota State to a 3-2 win over visiting Bowling Green last Friday. Goals from Ondrej Pavel and Tanner Edwards had staked the Mavericks to a 2-0 after two periods of play, but a pair of BGSU tallies in the third sent the game into the extra session.

Minnesota State got goals from four different players and senior forward Cade Borchardt had three assists as the Mavericks claimed the sweep with a 4-2 victory Saturday.

Polls
Minnesota State is rated #6 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 seven polls so far this season.

Maverick Hockey History
Now into the 54th year of its existence, Minnesota State owns an all-time record of 1015-672-158. 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 279-99-24 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 (279) 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.

Good Samaritan
Senior center Sam Morton leads Minnesota State in scoring  with 6-2-8 in eight games played, enters the series with St. Thomas having registered at least one point in six games this season. For the season the Lafayette, Colo., native, who leads the Mavericks with four power play markers this year, has won 60 of 101 faceoffs for a .594%.

Morton, who is in his third season with the Mavericks (he started his college career at Union), has tallied 20-22--42 in 63 games at MSU.

Furr Coat
Senior center Brendan Furry tallied his third career game-winner when he scored in overtime in last Friday's 3-2 victory over Bowling Green.  Furry, who enters the St. Thomas series riding a four-game point-scoring streak (2-2--4), has posted 20-41--61 in 80 career games with Minnesota State.

Silver Smith
Junior center David Silye had registered 3-3--6 in eight games played this year.  Silye, a product of Penticton of the British Columbia Hockey League who spent the 2020-21 season at Clarkson before transferring to Minnesota State, has totalled 11-12--23 in 51 games with the Mavericks.  Silye has won 79 of 126 faceoffs for a .627% this year. Amongst players in the nation who have taken at least 20 faceoffs this season, he ranks 12th in faceoff winning percentage.

Livingstone Named CCHA Defenseman of the Week & Defenseman of the Month
Minnesota State junior Jake Livingstone has received recognition from the Central Collegiate Hockey Association for his performance over the course of the last month.

Livingstone, a native of Creston, B.C., has been named CCHA Defenseman of the Month for October.

Livingstone scored twice and had five assists for seven points in eight games played in October. He had one power play goal, 22 shots on goal and 12 blocked shots for the month.

A two-time CCHA Defenseman of the Week during October, Livingstone  had a goal and an assist for two points in two games vs. #2-rated Minnesota (Oct. 7-8) and had two assists for two points in a league sweep over Bowling Green Oct. 28-29.

This is the third time in his career he has been named CCHA Defenseman of the Month.

Livingstone, Hirose Rise Up
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 2-5--7 and leads the Mavericks with 12 blocked shots in eight games played this year.  His 52 points on 15 goals and 37 assists in 80 games places him 14th 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 3-44--47 and is +45 with 47 blocked shots in 74 career games and is 15th on the MSU's career scoring list.

All Eyes
Freshman forward Adam Eisele tallied his first career goal in Saturday's 4-2 home league win over Bowling Green.  Eisele has five shots on goal and is +2 in four games played in his first season of college hockey.

Carrolling
Fifth-year senior defenseman Andy Carroll enters this weekend's games vs. St. Thomas with 9-33--42 and is +64 with 88 blocked shots in 138 career games played.  The Northfield, Minn., native is Minnesota State's active career games played leader.

Shooooot!
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 33 shots on goal and is followed by Sam Morton with 25 and defenseman Jake Livingstone has 22.

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 ranks second in the nation with a 59.6 faceoff winning percentage.  The Mavericks rank first in the country in terms of fewest shots allowed per game with a 196 mark.

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 with St. Thomas this week, Minnesota State has a pair of home games vs. Northern Michigan Nov. 18-19. The games vs. the Wildcats 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.