Off the Hop
#16 Minnesota State (8-7-1 overall, 5-4-1 CCHA) continues Central Collegiate Hockey Association action this weekend with a road series at Bowling Green (8-8-0, 7-5-0 CCHA) Friday and Saturday. Face-off between the Mavericks and the Falcons at the BGSU Ice Arena (5,000) in Bowling Green, Ohio at 6:07 p.m., Friday and 6:07 p.m., Saturday. (times are CST).

Mavericks vs. Falcons
In a series that dates back to the 2008-09 season, Minnesota State stands 24-10-3 in the all-time vs. Bowling Green.

The Mavericks, who have won the last 11 meetings between the two schools, own an 8-5-3 all-time record vs. the Falcons in games played in Bowling Green.  

Last Time Out
The Mavericks went 0-2-0 in a two-game home series vs. Ferris State last weekend.

Ferris State jumped out to an early lead and held on the rest of the way to earn a 2-1 win over MSU Friday. Junior center David Silye's power play marker at 1:59 of the third made it a one-goal game, but the Mavericks were unable to solve Ferris State netminder Noah Giesbrecht in the final 18 minutes.

Minnesota State built an early two-goal lead, but could not hold on as Ferris State claimed a 3-2 win Saturday.  Brendan Furry's wrist shot caromed off the post and Ryan Sandelin converted on the rebound for a power play goal coming at 1:56 of the opening period to give the Mavericks a 1-0 lead.  And just under a minute later, freshman forward Adam Eisele found a loose puck at the top of the crease and slid the puck under Logan Stein's pads for his second goal of the season at 2:51.  Ferris State cut the lead to 2-1 at 17:44 when Jason Brancheau put a backhander past Minnesota State netminder Keenan Rancier.  And when FSU defenseman Andy Noel ripped a shot high on Rancier's gloveside at 19:23, the two teams entered their lock rooms tied at 2-2 at the end of 20 minutes of action. The Bulldogs got the game-winner at 15:12 of the third period when Stepan Pokorny tipped a Travis Shoudy shot past Rancier.

Polls
Minnesota State is rated #16 in both DCU/USCHO and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine national polls. The Mavericks have been rated in the top 20 in all 12 polls so far this season.

Maverick Hockey History
Now into the 54th year of its existence, Minnesota State owns an all-time record of 1018-676-159. 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 282-103-25 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 (282) 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.

Silhouette
Junior center David Silye, a two-time Central Collegiate Hockey Association Forward of the Week this year, stands atop the Minnesota State scoring chart with 12-5--17 in 16 games played on the season.

Silye, a native of Arnprior, Ont., enters the series with Bowling Green having racked up 10-2--12 in the last nine game.

Silye, the CCHA Forward of the Month for November, leads Minnesota State in points (17) goals (12), power play goals (6), shooting percentage (.375) and faceoff wins (179).

Scoring from the Blue Line: Livingstone & Hirose
Junior defensemen Jake Livingstone and Akito Hirose, a pair of junior all-league defenseman, have consistently ranked amongst the top-scoring defensemen in the country.

Livingstone, last year's CCHA Defenseman of the Year, has 3-12--15 on the season (he leads the Mavericks in assists and ranks second in points). He leads the Mavericks with 42 blocked shots in 16 games played this year and enters the series with Bowling Green having scored at least one point in eight of the last 10 games.

His 60 points on 16 goals and 44 assists in 89 games places him tied for 11th on the school's career scoring by defensemen list (NCAA DI-era). The Creston, B.C., native is +41 and has 100 blocked shots in his three-year college career.

Hirose has 0-9--9 in 15 games played in 2022-23.  Hirose owns 3-47--50 and is +45 with 54 blocked shots in 81 career games.  The Calgary, Alta., native stands 15th on the MSU's career scoring by defensemen list.

Pad Stack
Including starts in the last six games, sophomore netminder Keenan Rancier has seen action in the last seven games for Minnesota State. His record during that span is 2-4-1 with a 2.10 goals against average and .908 save percentage.

For the season, Rancier, who played junior hockey with Minot of the North American Hockey League and Estevan of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League prior to joining Minnesota State last year, has a 4-6-1 record for 2022-23, along with a 2.26 GAA and .901 sv%.

Through the Looking Glass
Defenseman Andy Carroll is Minnesota State's career games played leader with 146 appearances   A fifth-year senior, the Northfield, Minn., native has 9-38--47 and is on the verge of entering the top 15 on Minnesota State's career scoring for defensemen list.

Our-Cade
Senior forward Cade Borchardt picked up an assist in last Friday's home game vs. Ferris State and has posted 2-10--12 in 16 games played this year.

With 26-51--77 in 98 games played, Borchardt stands as Minnesota State's career active leading scorer.  The Burnsville, Minn., native enters the series vs. Bowling Green having tallied 1-7--8 in the last nine games played.

Life of Ryan
Senior forward Ryan Sandelin enters this weekend's series at Bowling Green having tallied 4-2--6 in the last eight games played.
 
For his four-year career, the Hermantown, Minn., native has chalked up 35-22--57 in 106 games played. The Hermantown, Minn., native has 256 shots and stands +43 over the course of that span.

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 59.2 faceoff winning percentage (533 Won, 368 Lost).  The Mavericks are tied for 25th in scoring offense (3.00) and are tied for seventh in scoring defense (2.31).

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 119 consecutive times.

On the Docket
Following the two road games at Bowling Green (Dec. 9-10), the Mavericks close out the pre-Holiday part of the schedule with a pair of home games vs. Bemidji State (Dec. 15-16).

Minnesota State resumes action Jan. 6-7 with a pair of games at Northern Michigan, which is followed by nonconference road games at Arizona State Jan. 13-14.  Lake Superior visits for the first home games of the New Year Jan. 20-21.