MANKATO, Minn. - Minnesota State (7-4-1, 2-1-1) hopes to hang on to positive momentum as it hosts CCHA rival Northern Michigan (1-9-0, 0-4-0) at Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center Friday (7:07 p.m.) and Saturday (6:07 p.m.) night. The Mavericks and Wildcats have met in several important games in recent history. MSU defeated NMU in two CCHA quarterfinal contests in March. A year prior, the Mavericks downed the Wildcats 3-2 in overtime of the CCHA Championship in Mankato. Following a win and a tie in last weekend's home-and-home series with St. Thomas, the No. 16 ranked Mavericks look to finish November's home slate strong before hitting the road to Michigan Tech next week.

Both games this weekend will be broadcast locally on The 365 and on the radio AM 1420 KTOE. For streaming, visit msumavericks.com/midco. 

ALL-TIME SERIES

• Minnesota State is 29-8-4 all-time against Northern Michigan and the Mavericks have won the last three matchups and is 8-1-1 over their last ten.
• Friday will also be the sixth straight game between the rivals played in Mankato. The last meeting went to MSU 6-1 on March 9, 2024 and ended NMU's postseason.

SCOUTING NORTHERN MICHIGAN

• The Wildcats search for success after a busy off-season, which brought a new coaching staff to the city of Marquette. Former NMU hockey player Dave Shyiak was hired to replace Grant Potulny and Shyiak became the fourth head coach in program history at his alma mater in June, 2024. 
• Shyiak was the captain of the 1991 National Championship team and played four years at NMU. He spent the past four seasons as the associate head coach at St. Cloud State.
• The Wildcats are led offensively by freshman forward Grayden Slipec (Surrey, B.C.) who has two goals and three assists for five points.
• Sophomore Tynan Ewart (Duncan, B.C.) leads defensemen with one goal and four assists.
• Senior Ryan Ouellette (Colorado Springs, Colo.) has nine starts in goal and holds a .920 save percentage and 3.16 goals against average.
• The Wildcats enter the weekend on a seven-game losing streak. Last weekend, NMU fell 5-0 and 5-1 to Lake Superior State at home. Ouellette made 27 saves on Saturday and LSSU outshot NMU 32-29. Zach Michaelis scored the first goal of the game 2:01 into the opening period for the Wildcats before Lake Superior State tallied five unanswered even strength markers. 
• The teams played for the Cappo Cup, awarded to the season series winner.
• Slipec was named CCHA Rookie of the Week on Nov. 4. 

TRACKING TRACY

• Tracy started both games against St. Thomas and stopped 28 shots Friday. All three goals against came on the power play. Saturday, Tracy made 26 saves and allowed one goal. He also made a pair of saves to help the Mavericks win in a shootout.
•  Nationally, Tracy ranks third in NCAA Division I goaltenders in save percentage (among players with seven or more games played) and fourth in goals against average.
• For the second time this season and fifth time in his career, Minnesota State men's hockey junior goaltender Alex Tracy (Chicago, Illinois) was named CCHA Goaltender of the Week on Monday (Nov. 4).

HEADED TO THE POLLS

• Minnesota State men's hockey remained at No. 16 in the USCHO.com National Division I Rankings Poll on Monday. The Mavericks were also ranked No. 16 in the USA Hockey/The Rink Live National Division I Rankings Poll, up two positions from the previous Monday.
• Fellow CCHA schools Michigan Tech, Augustana, and Bowling Green received National votes this week by USCHO.com. The Mavericks are currently No. 16 in the NCAA Tournament Pairwise Ratings with four wins over ranked opponents through 12 games.

LAST SATURDAY

• Minnesota State men's hockey played to a 1-1 overtime tie with St. Thomas Saturday night before Brian Carrabes helped the Mavericks win in a shootout at Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center in CCHA competition. Brett Moravec scored for MSU in regulation and Alex Tracy finished with 27 saves.
• The Mavericks are 5-0-1 since October 19 and improved to 4-2-1 at home. Neither team converted on a single power play opportunity. Will Hillman won 14 of 19 faceoffs. Evan Murr blocked a team-high four shots.

LAST FRIDAY

• No. 16 Minnesota State scored four third-period goals to win 5-3 Friday night over St. Thomas in CCHA men's hockey. Brian Carrabes posted a goal and a pair of assists and Adam Eisele scored the game-winner as the Mavericks improved to 7-4-0, 2-1-0 in conference play.
• St. Thomas (2-5-1, 1-2-0 CCHA) finished 3-5 on the power play while Minnesota State went 2-6. St. Thomas led 31-24 in shots on goal. Eisele helped the Mavericks by going 19 of 29 in the faceoff circle. Eisele was back in the lineup after missing time due to injury and finished with one goal and one assist.

LAST WEEK

• Rhett Pitlick and Brett Moravec each scored as Minnesota State defeated Bemidji State 2-1 Saturday night at Sanford Center to split a CCHA weekend series.
• The Mavericks led 30-21 in shots on goal and Alex Tracy made 20 saves in the victory for the visitors.
• MSU began with an energized first period but BSU goaltender Mattias Sholl was excellent and reached back for an acrobatic save on the back door against Moravec to keep the game scoreless deep in the second.
• After MSU men's hockey failed to score in 10 consecutive periods in Bemidji, Rhett Pitlick broke the seal for the Mavericks on a 4-on-3 power play.
• The Mavericks finished 1-2 on the power play and the Beavers went 1-3. Kaden Bohlsen, Adam Eisele and Campbell Cichosz were all absent from the lineup on Saturday.

COUNT ON RHETT, YOU BET

• Senior left wing Rhett Pitlick made a seamless transition in September to the Mavericks from the University of Minnesota, where he spent the past three seasons. Pitlick was named CCHA Forward of the Month on Oct. 30 and is tied for second in the CCHA in points (10) 
• Pitlick's three game-winning goals are the most in the CCHA. Pitlick's top line minutes with Adam Eisele and Josh Groll have spearheaded the Mavericks to four top-20 wins through eight games.
• Pitlick's six assists are tied for third in the CCHA. Pitlick is currently third in the CCHA in plus/minus rating (+7) through 12 games.

MORAVEC MAGIC

• Sophomore Brett Moravec (Aidrie, Alberta) appeared in 27 games as a freshman with four goals and four assists for eight points.
• This year, he has starts in all 10 games and has three goals and one assist with 13 shots on goal. Moravec's position shift to center has also seen him win 72 faceoffs.
• Moravec has a three-game scoring streak entering the weekend with one goal on Friday and one goal on Saturday against St. Thomas.

LIFE OF BRIAN

• The Mavericks have quietly received secondary scoring from senior forward Brian Carrabes.
• After playing for coach Strand in Sioux City, Carrabes transferred to MSU from Boston University and quickly found success on the Mavericks' second and third line. 
• Carrabes (Reading, Mass.) posted 10 goals (fourth) and 12 assists (sixth) last season. He is currently ahead of that pace this season with 5-5--10 through 12 games, tied for the team lead in points with Rhett Pitlick.

SPECIAL TEAMS REPORT

• The Mavericks are 5-29 on the power play this season (.172). Rhett Pitlick posted MSU's first power play goal of the season in the first period against Merrimack College (Oct. 11), assisted by Josh Groll and Evan Murr.
• Against UST, the Mavericks scored a pair of power play goals on Friday, including Moravec on an empty net.
• The Mavericks have killed 31-39 penalties so far. St. Thomas scored three power play goals on Friday, including one in the third period.
• MSU was the 30th best team in Division I (fourth in CCHA) last year on the power play (.200) and the 21st best team on the penalty kill (.817), second in the CCHA.
• The Mavericks ranked second in the CCHA for fewest penalties per game (3.59) last year. They are currently taking 3.09 penalties per game, third fewest.

HOME ICE ADVANCE

• With 17 home games in 2023-24, the Mavericks averaged 4,439 fans for a total of 75,478 through the turnstiles at the Mayo Clinic HSEC, which has served as the home arena for MSU men's hockey since 1994-95. MSU went 20-1-0 in home games in 2021-22 and in 31 seasons in downtown Mankato, the team has enjoyed 25 winning years.
• The top attended game at Mayo Clinic HSEC was on Feb. 28, 2015 (5,446).