{"id":99875,"date":"2019-10-18T06:00:47","date_gmt":"2019-10-18T11:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/?p=99875"},"modified":"2020-08-24T11:28:19","modified_gmt":"2020-08-24T16:28:19","slug":"uscho-game-of-the-week-minnesota-state-led-by-german-consulate-hosts-north-dakota-this-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2019\/10\/18\/uscho-game-of-the-week-minnesota-state-led-by-german-consulate-hosts-north-dakota-this-weekend\/","title":{"rendered":"USCHO GAME OF THE WEEK: Minnesota State, led by German connections, hosts North Dakota this weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"<\/a>
Minnesota State senior Parker Tuomie returned to the Mavericks for his senior season and has posted one assist in one game so far this season (photo: Minnesota State Athletics).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Don\u2019t worry, Americans. Although Oktoberfest is over, look no further than Mankato, Minn., where the celebration of German culture on the ice lasts all season.<\/p>\n

Minnesota State forwards Marc Michaelis and Parker Tuomie, two of the most prolific scorers in the nation last season, both decided to return to Mankato for their senior years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s funny, they get lumped in together because of where they\u2019re from, but they\u2019re two completely different personalities,\u201d MSU coach Mike Hastings said. \u201cBut when put together they\u2019ve got a chemistry that\u2019s pretty special.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michaelis, Tuomie and sophomore forward Julian Napravnik form Minnesota State\u2019s virtual German consulate — a place where hard work and high skill go hand-in-hand to help the Mavericks score a lot of goals. Tuomie, Michalis and linemate Charlie Gerard scored a combined 45 goals playing on the top line last season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we just really compliment each other well,\u201d Tuomie said of he and his countryman\u2019s chemistry. \u201cI think we\u2019re both really hard workers. We both get after the puck. And I think our creativity is at the same level. It\u2019s just one of those things where we know where we\u2019re going to be on the ice so it\u2019s very comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n

This weekend, the Mavericks host North Dakota for a pair of nonconference contests at Verizon Wireless Center.<\/p>\n

What is it about Germany that helped these players get so good and putting the puck in the net? According to Michaelis, it\u2019s about focusing less on the goals and doing whatever it takes to win the puck.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the players Germany produces, the culture is a hardworking mentality. America, Finland, Russia, they all produce more raw talent so for us Germans, it\u2019s more about working hard and outworking somebody else to be better instead of just relying on beating someone talent-wise,\u201d Michaelis said of the German hockey style and mindset. \u201cI think that competitiveness is in our DNA, it\u2019s what they try to teach young German kids and it\u2019s what we do well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although hockey isn\u2019t the No. 1 sport in Germany (not surprisingly, it\u2019s soccer by a landslide), it\u2019s a big deal on some parts of the country — specifically Mannheim in southwest Germany where Michaelis grew up.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Mannheim, the soccer team is in the third division so everything is really about hockey,\u201d Michaelis said. \u201cThey call it ‘hockeytown’ just like Detroit. It\u2019s probably the biggest hockey city there is in Germany.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s where he and Tuomie, originally from Bremerhaven in northwest Germany, originally met, playing for the Jungadler Mannheim U18 junior team. Both players wanted to come to the United States and play college hockey.<\/p>\n

Tuomie, whose father Trey is American and played with Hastings at St. Cloud State, came over a year earlier and had decided to attend Minnesota State before Michaelis.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe and I had a pretty long past together playing with and against each other in Germany,\u201d Tuomie said. \u201cBoth of us always wanted to go the college route. He came over here a year after me and fortunately enough I was able to kind of get him over here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hastings said Tuomie told MSU associate head coach Darren Blue about \u201canother German\u201d who was playing in junior hockey at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said, \u2018If you\u2019re looking for players, there\u2019s another German playing for the Minnesota Magicians (of the NAHL) that\u2019s better than all the guys I\u2019m playing with now,\u2019\u201d Hastings said. \u201cAnd that wasn\u2019t a shot at the guys he was playing with, it\u2019s just a compliment to Marc about his abilities. And Todd followed up on it, went and watching him play and it wasn\u2019t long after that that he committed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michaelis knew he wanted to play college hockey but didn\u2019t know much beyond that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really had no clue about the teams or where they were at location-wise,\u201d he said. \u201cI didn\u2019t really know anything about college. But Mankato started talking to me and Parker was committed there and I knew his dad, I really respect him and what he\u2019s done over the years, and I knew he trusted Mankato and coach Hastings, so it ended up being a no-brainer.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his first year in Mankato in 2016-17, Michaelis netted 14 goals and 36 points in 39 games and was voted the WCHA\u2019s Rookie of the Year. He followed that up with 40 points the next season and 41 in 2018-19. Tuomie had eight goals and 18 points 2016-17 but doubled that tally his sophomore season with 37 points before netting 39 points as a junior.<\/p>\n

Perhaps it\u2019s not a coincidence that both players started producing more when they started playing on the same line more regularly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think as they have stayed longer I think they\u2019ve become more comfortable in being vocal about wanting to play on each other\u2019s line,\u201d Hastings said. \u201cAs a coach, it\u2019s great having guys that want to be held accountable because, OK, you want to play together then go play well. And I think they\u2019ve taken that seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re played together for so long and we\u2019re both pretty competitive, so it\u2019s always a battle between us,\u201d Michaelis added of he and Tuomie\u2019s dynamic. \u201cWhoever gets more ice time, more points, more goals. We\u2019re really good friends off the ice but on the ice we try and do better than each other in just about every aspect.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Mavericks have a plethora of scoring depth back from the team that won the WCHA title last season. They will be looking for a historic three-peat for the MacNaughton Cup this year — something that hasn\u2019t been done since North Dakota in the late 1990s. But winning the MacNaughton Cup isn\u2019t the only thing the Mavericks are after. They want to make a Frozen Four run.<\/p>\n

That is one of the main reasons why both Tuomie and Michaelis decided to return to Mankato.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur entire senior class had a feeling of unfinished business,\u201d Tuomie said. \u201cWe all felt that if we come back together it\u2019s one more opportunity for us to play with each other, get our degrees done and continue to bring this program to a spot we\u2019ve never been before.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Don\u2019t worry, Americans. Although Oktoberfest is over, look no further than Mankato, Minn., where the celebration of German culture on the ice lasts all season (photo: Minnesota State Athletics).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":108653,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[935],"tags":[812],"coauthors":[854],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nUSCHO GAME OF THE WEEK: Minnesota State, led by German connections, hosts North Dakota this weekend - College Hockey | USCHO.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Don\u2019t worry, Americans. 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