MANKATO, Minn. – Following a one-goal loss on Friday night, Minnesota State blocked 34 shots to upset No. 5 North Dakota 3-0 Saturday at Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center. The Maverick top line continued to produce. Adam Eisele scored the opening goal and added an assist and Alex Tracy recorded 27 saves to collect his fourth career shutout (first of the season).
 
"We probably played a cleaner game a night ago," reflected head coach Luke Strand. "But we played maybe a gutsier and more connected game tonight. There was a lot of will in this one."
 
"It starts with the leaders. We all care about each other. We all love each other," Eisele said. "It starts with Tracy and then we need to block shots in front of him. That just shows the character we have in the room, so it was awesome to see."
 
Minnesota State (3-3-0, 0-0-0 CCHA) is 2-2-0 on its current homestand with two games remaining against No. 12 Nebraska Omaha beginning Friday, October 25 at 7:07 p.m. North Dakota (2-1-0, 0-0-0 NCHC) suffered its first defeat of the season in Mankato.
 
After exchanging a pair of early empty power plays, the Mavericks won a battle in the left corner and Eisele scored unassisted at 13:03 of the first period (second of the season). Eisele whistled a shot from the left dot around a defender and under the glove of goaltender Hobie Hedquist. MSU led 10-9 in shots on goal and carried a 1-0 lead into the middle period.
 
"We worked on it all week," Eisele said. "We scouted and felt that the little area between the top of the circle and the bottom, kind of by the hashmark was an area we could exploit. I rolled up and like, ope there it was. I got lucky to put it between his legs. Lucky that it went in but I couldn't have done it without (Josh) Groller and (Rhett) Pitlick."  
 
After a pair of goals Friday night, the Mavericks' top trio made it 2-0 from behind the goal line. Pitlick and Eisele played catch behind the net. Then Groll jammed through his third goal of the weekend at 8:01.
 
Like Friday night, the Fighting Hawks brought offensive zone pressure in the final five minutes of the period, but six-foot-six-inch freshman Luke Ashton flattened to the ice to stop a scoring chance and Tracy gloved another puck for a late stoppage.
 
MSU shot blocks mounted in the final stanza against a North Dakota squad featuring 13 NHL draft picks. With under five minutes remaining, Campbell Cichosz and Luciano Wilson hobbled to the bench with successive blocks, which brought the more than 5,000 fans in attendance to their feet in appreciation. Junior Mason Wheeler knocked down a team-best seven attempts, a career-high for the defenseman.
 
Senior Brian Carrabes lifted the puck through the neutral zone into an empty net at 18:18 to seal the Mavericks' second home victory.
 
Both teams managed 27 shots on goal. Hedquist finished with 24 saves for UND. Minnesota State went scoreless on two power play opportunities while North Dakota went 0-1. Nine MSU players blocked at least two shots.
 
"It was so inspiring to see guys lay their body on the line for our overall goal of trying to win that game," Tracy said. "If we have that buy-in every single night, I said it in the locker room, I don't know who can beat us when we play like that. I'm just so proud of the way we responded."
 
Groll finished the weekend with three goals. Eisele notched one goal and three assists and Pitlick totaled three helpers. The Mavericks have Top-10 wins over No. 7 Michigan (Oct. 4) and No. 5 North Dakota (Oct. 19).
 
Saturday marked Minnesota State's second-ever shutout of UND and first since 2001 (Jason Jensen).
 
The Mavericks begin CCHA play at Bemidji State Nov. 1-2, following a series against Nebraska Omaha (2-2-0). UNO dropped a pair of games to Augustana over the weekend.
 
Saturday's attendance of 5,042 ranked 31^st in Mayo Clinic HSEC history.