Minnesota State University - Mankato Athletics

BIG RAPIDS, Mich. – Evan Murr wristed a low shot past goaltender Logan Stein's blocker with 6.3 seconds left in overtime, lifting Minnesota State to a series sweep over Ferris State 3-2 Saturday night in CCHA men's hockey at Ewigleben Arena.
 
The sequence developed when Adam Eisele stripped the puck in the offensive corner and left it on the weak side for Jordan Steinmetz. After a pass back to the point, Murr glided around the zone on his edges, avoiding several Bulldogs, including Tyler Schleppe without a stick, on a great individual effort.
 
"It was a great job by Evan to figure out where the breakdown was and take advantage of it," said head coach Luke Strand. "We felt we had a good plan for the power play situations to start overtime but we weren't able to convert. Credit to our guys for sticking with it and coming home with a sweep."
 
The Mavericks (4-3-1, 2-0-0) seized the road series against the Bulldogs in back-to-back seasons. Sam Morton scored both regulation goals to close the weekend with five points. After assisting on four goals Friday night, Lucas Sowder factored in for the Mavericks on a second-period helper to cap off his five-point series. Ferris State (3-6-1, 1-3-1) won each of its first three overtime affairs before falling to the Mavericks Saturday.
 
Neither team scored in the game's opening period. Josh Groll earned MSU's best scoring chance on a wrap-around attempt which curled to a stop on the goal line following a whistle.
 
At 4:10 of the second period, Ferris State turned early pressure into the first goal of the game. Emerson Goode beat Alex Tracy with a left-handed wrist shot from inside the left hash mark on a 2-on-2 rush.
 
Morton responded just over 90 seconds later for Minnesota State, snapping a shot that came off the end boards at an acute angle. Jakob Stender (second) assisted.
 
At 8:26, Murr stymied a penalty kill clearing attempt and Sowder played catch with Morton in the high slot, leading to an eventual one-timer tally and the senior captain's third goal of the weekend.
 
"Sam Morton put the team on his back in a lot of ways this weekend," Strand said. "His leadership made us very sturdy when he was out on the ice. His contributions were extremely important."
 
Tracy made a critical pad save on Zach Faremouth with 8:12 left in regulation. Faremouth slid the puck from backhand to forehand on a breakaway for the Bulldogs but Tracy pushed to his right to stop him.
 
With five minutes to play, Nick Nardecchia snuck the tying marker from behind the goal line for Ferris State, evening the score 2-2. The Mavericks killed a late penalty. Then Stein made a pair of point-blank saves on Josh Groll and Eisele in the final minute of regulation, sending the game into overtime.
 
Minnesota State began the extra session on the power play and manufactured one shot on goal. A tripping minor against Stepan Pokorny handed MSU a brief 5-on-3 but the Mavericks failed to convert with the two-man advantage. Murr's first career goal came after a pair of MSU shots sailed wide of the net and the Bulldogs went to retrieve it in the corner.
 
The Mavericks improved to 2-0-1 in overtime this fall.
 
"We'll be excited to get back home next week," Strand said. "We can't wait to play another conference opponent hopefully in front of a full building."

The Mavericks welcome Bemidji State (4-6-0, 3-3-0 CCHA) to the Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center on Friday, November 17 at 7:07 p.m. The Beavers scored six unanswered goals to defeat Michigan Tech 6-4 on Saturday.