MANKATO, Minn. - The Mavericks (18-8-2, 13-5-2 CCHA) are home to host No. 17 Augustana (16-7-3, 8-3-1 CCHA) at Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center in the fight for first place in the conference standings. Game times are 7:07 p.m. CT Friday and 6:07 p.m. CT Saturday and fans are encouraged to get to the game early and wear jerseys for Retro Night. 

Augustana is coming off a weekend sweep of Lake Superior State in Sioux Falls and was ranked for the first time in team history last week. Minnesota State has six remaining regular season games and is in second place in the CCHA standings. The showdown looms after sophomore defenseman Evan Murr was named CCHA Defenseman of the Week on Monday.

Junior goaltender Alex Tracy leads Division I in goals against average (1.565) for the Mavericks while sophomore goaltender Josh Kotai holds the second best save percentage (.945) in the country. Both games will be broadcast on midcosportsplus and KTOE AM1420.

RETRO NIGHT

• Retro Night coincides with the 30th anniversary of the opening of Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center, home of the Mavericks. Built for $22 million, the first event at the new arena was MSU men's hockey vs. Alabama-Huntsville on February 3, 1995. The building was named the Mankato Civic Center and the Mavericks entertained a crowd of 3,147 for a 6-3 victory.

  

• Hockey legends Herb Brooks and John Mayasich were on hand to drop the first puck. 
• Chris Hvinden scored the first goal on the Olympic Sized ice sheet at 1:58 of the first period. Although the Mavericks averaged 2,421 fans in the first two weekends of its opening, officials said a meningitis outbreak suppressed attendance by 10-15 percent and Mankato West hockey player John Janavaras (age 15) passed away on the day the Mayo Clinic HSEC opened. A minute of silence was observed in his honor. 
• The arena has one jersey number retired, the No. 99 of young Mankato resident Anthony Ford. Anthony was a close friend of the MSU Maverick hockey team and a banner bearing his name hangs to remind us of his courage, determination and dream of playing in the NHL after he passed away from childhood leukemia at the age of nine.

ALL-TIME SERIES

• The Mavericks are 1-0-1 against Augustana all-time. Last season, Augustana started its men's hockey program as a member of Division I and were admitted into the CCHA in 2024-25.
• In the first meeting last year, the Mavericks won 2-1 in Sioux Falls.
• The teams tied 3-3 the next night with the Vikings winning a shootout in Sioux Falls on Jan. 5, 2024.

HOME ICE SCENARIOS

Minnesota State can clinch home ice with: 6 points vs. AU and UST drops 1 or more points at BGSU and LSSU drops 1 or more points vs. NMU

or

5 points vs. AU and UST drops 2 or more points at BGSU and LSSU drops 2 or more points vs NMU.

SCOUTING AUGUSTANA

• Josh Kotai (Abbotsford, British Columbia) was named CCHA Goaltender of the Month on Tuesday afternoon. He went 5-0-2 in January with a goals against average of 1.39 and a .958 save percentage. Kotai also won the award in October. Kotai made a career high 45 saves in a sweep over Colorado College and followed it with 41 saves in a 1-1 overtime tie against Bowling Green.
• He is currently sixth in the country with a 1.69 goals against average and is a Hobey Baker Award and Mike Richter Award nominee.
• The Vikings have scored 74 goals this season for an average of 2.8 per game. Of the 74 goals, 14 have come on the power play.
• Hayden Hennen leads the Vikings in blocked shots with 46. Brady Ziemer follows behind with 41 and Will Svenddal with 22.
• Tyler Hennen was named the CCHA Rookie of the Week on Feb. 3 after he collected four points in the weekend sweep of Lake Superior State.
• Hennen scored a goal and an assists in the 6-3 win and followed up his performance with another multi-point night with two assists in the 4-3 win.
• For the second week in a row, Augustana sits in the national rankings at No. 17 after it swept Lake Superior State last weekend.
• The Vikings sat at 19 in the USCHO last week and finally broke into USA Hockey rankings with the weekend sweep.
• In the first preseason poll in Augustana hockey history, the Vikings were picked to finish sixth in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association's (CCHA) preseason polls, as voted on by the league's coaches.
• AU was also picked to finish seventh in the media poll. The Augustana hockey program became full members for the 2024-25 season following a vote from the CCHA Board of Directors in mid-July.
• This change brought the CCHA to nine teams, a year early as the Vikings were slated to join as full members in the 2025-26 season.
• Augustana University Men's Hockey hired its first-ever head coach Garrett Raboin in April of 2022 after four seasons with the University of Minnesota as an assistant coach.
• In the inaugural season with Augustana hockey, Raboin coached the Vikings to a 12-18-4 record that saw four Vikings sign professional contracts with ECHL teams.

TOP OF DIVISION I

• The Mavericks allow the fewest goals per game to opponents (1.64) in Division I ahead of Boston College (1.68), Maine (1.76), Western Michigan (1.83) and Augustana (1.88).

LAST WEEKEND

• The Mavericks fell Friday night to St. Thomas 3-2 after the Tommies scored two goals in 14 seconds to come back in the third period. Evan Murr posted his first multi-goal game of his career on defense and was named the CCHA Defenseman of the Week on Monday (Feb. 5). Alex Tracy stopped 27 shots. 
• The Mavericks bounced back the following night with a 3-2 overtime win over the Tommies in Mendota Heights. Josh Groll wheeled around the net, then threw a pass back to the short side for Rhett Pitlick's game-winning overtime one-timer 24 seconds into the extra session as Minnesota State secured crucial points in the race toward the MacNaughton Cup.
• The Tommies outshot the Mavericks 30-22. MSU killed three penalties while finishing 0-2 on the power play.

HEADED TO THE POLLS

• Minnesota State men's hockey was ranked No. 15 in two national polls this week, including USCHO.com and USA Hockey/The Rink Live. The Mavericks position was unchanged after a weekend split against St. Thomas. Augustana was ranked No. 17.
• Boston College remained the top ranked team both polls, with Michigan State second, Minnesota third, Western Michigan fourth and Maine fifth. Other CCHA schools receiving national votes included Michigan Tech and Bowling Green.

SPECIAL TEAMS REPORT

• The Mavericks are 16-75 (.213) on the power play this season and scored one power play goal in two games vs. UST.
• 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.
• MSU scored four power play goals at Northern Michigan in a series (most against any opponent this season).
• The Mavericks have killed 62-75 penalties. 
• 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 third in the CCHA for fewest penalties per game (3.59) last year. They are currently taking 3.5 penalties per game, with eight major penalties.

CHECK ON RHETT

• Senior forward and Hobey Baker Award nominated Rhett Pitlick leads the Mavericks with 29 points, including 11 goals and 18 assists.
• He enters the weekend on a three-game point streak with two goals and four assists over his last two CCHA weekends.
• Pitlick has 10 multi-point games this season. He leads the CCHA in plus/minus (+20) and game-winning goals (five), including two overtime game-winners like the one Saturday at St. Thomas.
• Pitlick's 29 points are third in the conference behind only Liam Malmquist (UST, 32) and Stiven Sardarian (MTU, 30).

TRACY TRACKER

• An elite goaltending matchup awaits fans of both teams this weekend in Mankato.
• Junior Alex Tracy leads Division I goaltenders with a 1.57 goals against average.
• His save percentage (.939) also ranks sixth.
• Tracy has started all 28 games and surrendered just 31 even strength goals with 18 wins and three shutouts.
• His last clean sheet came on Nov. 15 against Northern Michigan.
• Tracy has yet to allow more than three goals in a game this season to any opponent. He was nominated for the Mike Richter Award and Hobey Baker Award given to the top player in college hockey annually.

MIDCO SPORTS PLUS

• Fans can stream all CCHA games live and on-demand, on their home televisions, computers, tablets, and mobile devices via Midco Sports Plus.
• The app is available on mobile/tablet apps (iOS and Android), connected TV device apps (AppleTV, FireTV and Roku) and a web-based browser interface.
• If you have additional questions or want to see more information about coverage or subscriptions, go to MidcoSportsPlus.com.