MANKATO, Minn. - No. 16 Minnesota State men's hockey welcomes Bowling Green to the Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center on Friday, Nov. 7 at 7:07 p.m. and Saturday, Nov. 8 at 6:07 p.m. After a strong start to the season in non-conference play, the Mavericks hope to stay on track against the Falcons in week five.

MSU boasts the fifth best penalty kill in NCAA Division I with a percentage at .920. The Falcons surged back to a winning record a year ago and defeated Michigan Tech in the CCHA Mason Cup quarterfinals before bowing out to St. Thomas 3-1 in the semifinals on March 15.

Junior defenseman Evan Murr leads all CCHA blueliners with three goals and two assists. He was named CCHA Defenseman of the Week on Monday. Fans can listen to both games this weekend on AM 1420 KTOE.

ALL TIME SERIES

• Minnesota State holds a 29-11-3 all-time record against Bowling Green, with matchup dating back to 2008.
• MSU has also won 17 of the last 18 games in the rivalry.
• Last season, The Mavericks fell 4-3 on Jan. 19, then won 4-1 on Jan. 20 and Dec. 6.
• MSU prevailed 3-2 in overtime on Dec. 7 in Mankato.

LAST WEEKEND

• Minnesota State scored three unanswered third-period goals to upend St. Thomas 3-1 Friday night at the brand new Lee & Penny Anderson Arena. St. Thomas struck first with an even-strength goal 13:59 into the opening period. Watkins picked up the equalizer for the Mavericks to begin the final period. William Ingemann made a pad save off the initial shot by Liam Hupka and Watkins buried it at 1:32. Evan Murr (Stillwater, Minn.) skated in from the top of the offensive zone and wired a wrist shot past Ingemann for a 2-1 lead. Tristan Lemyre converted a sharp-angle shot for an empty net goal to preserve the win for the Mavericks. MSU held a 12-7 edge in shots over the final 20 minutes of regulation.
• Minnesota State men's hockey tied the game late in the third period but fell 4-3 in overtime to St. Thomas Saturday at Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center. Nathan Pilling converted on an odd-man rush for UST to seal it for the Tommies. 
• Lemyre finished with one goal and one assist and Watkins posted two assists to lead the offense for the Mavericks. MSU's penalty kill went 6-6 on the night while the power play was 0-4. The Mavericks also won 28 of 59 faceoffs.

BY THE NUMBERS

• The Mavericks are averaging 2.6 goals per game and 28.4 shots per game. Eleven of the team's 21 goals have come on the power play.
• Junior Luigi Benincasa (Edmonton, Alberta) leads the team with nine points. Benincasa is on a seven game point streak after adding an assist on Friday and a goal on Saturday vs. UST.
• Junior Charlie Lurie (Minnetonka, Minn.), senior Tristan Lemyre (Mirabel, Quebec), junior Evan Murr (Stillwater, Minn.) and junior Charlie Lurie (Minnetonka, Minn.) share the team lead in goals with three apiece.
• Benincasa and Sophomore Liam Watkins (Okotoks, Alberta) each have six assists.

MURR NAMED DEFENSEMAN OF THE MONTH

• Minnesota State junior defenseman Evan Murr (Stillwater, Minnesota) was named the Central Collegiate Hockey Association's October Defenseman of the Month on Tuesday (Nov. 4).
• Murr paced league blueliners in goals (3) and shots (23) during the month of October, while finishing second in points (5), power-play goals (1) and game-winners (1). He was +1 in seven games for the Mavericks, blocking six shots defensively. Earning his second consecutive Defenseman of the Month award dating back to last season, he finished October on a four-game point streak.
• Murr is in his third season at Minnesota State. Last season he was named CCHA Defenseman of the Year. Tuesday marked the third time in his career he has been named CCHA Defenseman of the Month.

SPECIAL TEAMS REPORT

• Associate Head Coach Troy G. Ward has the Maverick power play executing at a 28.9-percent clip, with 11 goals in 38 opportunities. The power play ranks ninth in NCAA Division I. MSU went 0-8 on the man advantage in two games against St. Thomas.
• The Mavericks scored a season high four power play goals at Omaha on Oct. 11. 
• All three of Charlie Lurie's goals have come on the power play. Last season, Lurie skated in 20 games for Omaha and scored three of his four goals on power play.

TRUST IN TRACY

• Senior Alex Tracy (Chicago, Ill.) earned CCHA Goaltender of the Week honors for the eighth time in his career on Oct. 20.
• Tracy totaled 48 saves against 53 shots for a .906 save percentage in two starts against the Tommies.
• Tracy is currently third in CCHA goals against average (2.08) and fourth in save percentage (.922).
• Both Tracy and Augustana goaltender Josh Kotai are the only netminders to appear in eight games this season.

WORLD JUNIORS PRE-TOURNEY SERIES SCHEDULE ANNOUNCED FOR CITY OF MANKATO

• The 50th anniversary of the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship will take place Dec. 26, 2025 – Jan. 5, 2026, in Saint Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota. In the leadup to the tournament, teams from around the world will compete in the World Juniors Pre-Tournament Series, presented by Delta Dental of Minnesota, hosted by four Minnesota communities representing the State of Hockey: Mankato, Duluth, Bemidji and Rochester.
• As a part of this series, Mankato will host Team Denmark's official pre-tournament camp at the Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center and will host a pair of highly anticipated games; one between Switzerland and Minnesota State men's hockey (Dec. 16, 7 p.m.), and another between Denmark and Canada (Dec. 23, 7 p.m.). Tickets are now available.

MAVERICK LEADERSHIP

• Senior defenseman Mason Wheeler was named team captain on Sept. 18, 2025. He took the mantle from Josh Groll (2024-25) and Sam Morton (2023-24). Wheeler served the past two seasons as assistant captain. In his fourth season with the Mavericks, Wheeler was a 2024-25 CCHA Scholar Athlete. He skated in 39 games with six assists and six points. He also led the team with 69 blocked shots (fourth in CCHA), including a season-high seven blocks against North Dakota on Oct. 19. Wheeler entered the year with 113 games played in Purple and Gold.
• Assistant captains are senior defenseman Campbell Cichosz, junior defenseman Evan Murr, junior forward Luigi Benincasa, and junior forward Fin Williams.

HEADED TO THE POLLS

• Minnesota State men's hockey was ranked No. 16 by USCHO.com and No. 18 by USA Hockey/The Rink Live in NCAA Division I National polls on Monday.
• Michigan State remained the top-ranked team in the nation for a third straight week in both polls. Michigan, Western Michigan, Penn State and Quinnipiac rounded out the top-five.
• The Mavericks were the top-ranked team in the CCHA and second ranked team from the state of Minnesota behind No. 7 Minnesota Duluth. Michigan Tech and Augustana received national votes.

SCOUTING THE FALCONS

• Last season, the Falcons improved from 13-22-1 to 18-14-4 and made a trip to the CCHA Semifinals. BGSU lost three straight non-conference games but bounced back with a road sweep over Lake Superior State and a 4-4 overtime tie at home against Bemidji State.
• Bowling Green has the best team faceoff percentage in NCAA Division I (.588). Senior Jaden Grant has won 69 of 112 in the circle (61.6-percent). 
• Forward Tyler Hotson (Stratford, Ontario) leads the team with six points (2-4--6) and is on a five game point streak. Hotson came to BGSU after two seasons at RPI.
• Senior forward Quinn Emerson (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) has a pair of goals and three assists for five points. Both goals came over last weekend's series against Bemidji State.
• Head coach Dennis Williams returned to Bowling Green as head coach on February 27, 2024. He spent seven years as head coach of the Everett Silvertips of the Western Hockey League. He carries more than 18 years of head coaching experience across junior and college levels and was the Bowling Green Interim Head coach in 2009-10 after serving as Assistant Coach the previous season.
• In their last outing, the Falcons jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second period against Bemidji state, but the Beavers forced overtime and Hudson Thornton scored in the extra session for BSU.
• All three goaltenders have started at least two games this season. Freshman Jacob Steinman (Ottawa, Ontario) holds a .919 save percentage and has allowed two even strength goals in two games played. Sophomore Tyler Palmer (Fernie, British Columbia) came from University of Alberta and holds a .917 save percentage and 2.09 goals against average.
• The Falcons roster is loaded with 15 players from Canada. They also are represented internationally with players from Czechia, Ukraine, Slovakia, Latvia and Sweden.

COLLEGE HOCKEY INC. NOTES

• Defenseman Mason Wheeler entered the season with a career +36 rating, 10th in NCAA Division I and No. 1 among active CCHA players and sixth among defensemen.
• Evan Murr entered the season with seven career power play goals, which ranks tied for fifth among active NCAA Division I defensemen. Murr's four game-winning goals are also tied for third among active Division I blueliners.
• Mason Wheeler began 2025-26 with 113 games played, tied for fourth among active NCAA Division I defensemen.
• Alex Tracy started 2025-26 ranked seventh among NCAA Division I goaltenders in games played (76), fifth in goals against average (1.91), third in save percentage (.926), second in shutouts (8), and seventh in minutes played (4463:53). Tracy is among three returning Hobey Baker Top-10 finalists (Aiden Fink, Penn State, Mac Gadowsky, Penn State).
• The Mavericks have the second fewest returning goals on the roster in NCAA Division I (21) behind Miami (OH) with 13.
• MSU has qualified for the NCAA Tournament seven times over the past 10 seasons, tied for third in NCAA Division I.
• MSU also has the most wins of any NCAA Division I program over the past 10 seasons.