After all the changes that happened in Mankato during the offseason, one nearly expected to tune in to their game against St. Cloud State on Friday night and see something truly wild.
Like maybe the Mavericks ditched purple from their color scheme in favor of teal and moved their home arena from Mankato to Sleepy Eye.
Stranger things have happened.
Of course, that was far from the case. When the puck dropped against their instate rivals at Mankato’s Mayo Clinic Health Systems Events Center that night, everything looked pretty much the same. The Mavericks were wearing their familiar white, purple and gold sweaters. The arena was packed with fans. The Mavericks Machine band added the same familiar atmosphere.
And, perhaps most importantly, the Mavericks used that atmosphere to propel them to a comeback victory on Friday and a big win on Saturday, completing the sweep of their rivals for the first time since 2016-17. It was also the first-ever collegiate wins for new head coach Luke Strand, who took over after longtime head coach Mike Hastings moved to Wisconsin over the summer.
“It felt good to get it off the back, there’s no denying that part,” Strand said of getting his first wins with the program right away. “I thought the guys got rewarded for some good early-season work. I think the other part is, they got rewarded for a great summer. The guys came back in good shape.”
In other words: Perhaps reports of Minnesota State’s demise have been greatly exaggerated.
Everybody knows how successful the Mavericks have been in the past decade, winning eight MacNaughton Cups, eight NCAA tournament appearances, two Frozen Fours and one national title game. And many were curious if the program would be able to keep up that same winning tradition with a new coaching staff.
Of course, it’s still early with a tiny sample size of two games, but the way in which the Mavericks were able to win over the weekend showed that maybe it truly is a program’s mentality – and not specific personnel – that are the key to winning.
“I think it was a weekend that we wanted to try and take advantage of,” Strand said, noting that he knew this was a big rivalry series against a highly-ranked opponent. “There’s a history and a culture of winning here. That’s the expectation for us, and we don’t want that to change, as a staff or a group of players. I thought their preparation going in was excellent.”
MSU rallied from a 2-0 deficit on Friday night before winning 3-2 in overtime. The Maverick crowd sat on their hands for about a period and a half until Lucas Sowder opened the scoring. From there, MSU scored the next two goals – including Adam Eisele’s overtime winner. On Saturday it was almost all Mavs, as they scored the first three goals before the Huskies made it interesting with an extra-attacker goal; MSU added two empty netters to secure the win.
“I thought the atmosphere all weekend, our fanbase, the Mav Machine, the band was exceptional,” Strand said. “We were able to feed off of that, no question. I thought everybody kind of held their breath until we scored on Friday night, and then it kind of let out, and that bled into Saturday.”
Although much of the preseason discussion around the Mavericks revolved around players they lost – a number left via the transfer portal but even more left to play in the NHL – in this weekend’s series those who stuck around got a chance to show why.
Sowder, a fifth-year senior, scored the first goal of the season, while sophomore Eisele added a goal and an assist. Sam Morton, a fifth-year senior who missed most of last season with an injury, scored two goals in Saturday’s game.
“You look at Sam, and that time off from injury, you’re talking almost a year since he last played. So for him to start the way he did was great,” Strand said. “Then [Eisele] had a big goal, [Sowder] had a big goal… one had the game winner and one kicks us off with one. You’re hoping your returning players can get you off the dock and get you going, and they did.
“But I’d also like to give credit to guys who came into the program as new players, whether as freshmen or through the portal. They found ways to contribute instantly. It was exciting to have a really collaborative group that’s excited for each other.”
Brian Carrabes, a transfer from Boston University, and Kaden Bohlsen, a transfer from Omaha, both scored, as did Brent Moravic, a freshman, and Brenden Olson, a junior who was used mostly as a defenseman in the past and is being converted to a forward.
Strand said he knows it’s too early to prove anybody right or wrong. But getting a sweep against a ranked opponent in the first weekend feels good – especially considering what people thought in the preseason.
The Mavericks get another tough opponent in the building this weekend in the form of UMass, a team that isn’t ranked but just split with Michigan and won the national title three seasons ago.
“UMass has built a reputation as winners there. Their success this weekend in beating Michigan, a very talented team, none of this should catch us off guard,” Strand said. “We’re excited. We want to play good teams. It’s a big challenge for us right back to back.”
