Tigers Topple Maverick in OT

Minnesota State did something few teams had come even close to doing against No. 10 Colorado College Friday, yet it still didn’t translate into a win for the Mavericks.

The Mavericks blanketed the Tigers’ high-scoring offense for more than 60 minutes, but couldn’t do it for 65. Rylan Schwartz netted a power-play goal with 52 seconds left to play in overtime to lead the Tigers to a 1-0 overtime victory against the Mavericks in a WCHA matchup in front of a crowd of 4,009 at the Verizon Wireless Center.

“We had enough guys play well to keep us around,” said Tigers coach Scott Owens. “It wasn’t one of our best games but we were fortunate.”

With just more than a minute to play in the overtime period, William Rapuzzi crossed the blue line and drew a penalty when he was slowed down by Mavericks defenseman Nick Canzanello.

Canzanello was called for holding and gave the Tigers the man-advantage for the remainder of the game. Ten seconds later Schwartz beat Austin Lee over the blocker for the game winner, already the freshman’s third game-winning goal of the season.

“I saw the defenseman was lying down to block and I was just trying to get it by him and went short-side,” Schwartz said.

Mavericks center Rylan Galiardi was set to take the ensuing face-off after the penalty but was thrown out of the circle and gave way to defenseman Ben Youds. Schwartz won the faceoff to Nate Prosser who gave the puck back to Schwartz for the goal from the top of the left circle.

The one goal game for the Tigers was just their second of the season. Entering the game the Tigers averaged four goals per game and had scored 21 in their last four contests. The Tigers had their power play working at 34 percent entering the game and finished the night 1-6 on the man advantage.

Joe Howe bested Lee for his first career shutout. The freshman made 31 saves to lead the Tigers. Lee stopped 26.

“Joe Howe stood strong and made some great saves,” Owens said. “He allowed us to hang around and win a game that probably should have been a tie at best for us.”

Howe’s biggest save of the night came on Mavericks captain Geoff Irwin in the third period.

Irwin received a pass from Zach Harrison in the slot but was stuffed by a glove save from Howe. It was one of many opportunities the Mavericks had late in the third period. Howe also had a big save on Harrison with two minutes left in overtime.

“I thought we had a lot of good opportunities,” said Mavericks coach Troy Jutting. “But we have to score goals; it’s the object of the game.”

A couple of freshmen who made an impact Friday night have been a big reason to the Tigers’ success early this season. The shutout moves Howe’s goals against average to 2.09 and his save percentage to .934. Schwartz has 11 points and four goals in nine games.

While the Tigers had most of the scoring chances in the first period — they hit the post twice — the Mavericks had the majority of the opportunities late in the game. The Tigers outshot the Mavericks 13 to 5 in the first period but were outshot 26 to 14 the rest of the way, including a 17-7 edge for the Mavericks in the second period, six of which came on a couple of power plays they couldn’t convert on.

“We had 10 ties last year and I thought we played a lot of games to tie,” Owens said. “We’re trying to chance a little bit and play games to win, even if it’s on the road.”

The Mavericks (3-4-1 overall, 1-4-1 in the WCHA) and Tigers (5-2-1, 4-1-1) play the series finale at 7:07 p.m. Saturday at the Verizon Wireless Center.