Mavs Get First Win

Kramer: You've got a problem with Jon Kalinski?
George: Yeah, what is he, some sort of an instigator?
Kramer: That's right. He's a trouble-maker

The Mavericks picked up their first win on Saturday night, thanks to an overtime goal from sophomore Jon Kalinski with 14 seconds left to knock off the Notre Dame Fighting Irish by a score of 3-2. The win came 5 games earlier than the Maverick's first win last season, as the Mavericks start this season 1-1 thanks to a split with the Irish.

The Irish got off to a fast start against Minnesota State, outshooting them 11-4 in the first period. The Maverick's decision to play a forward at the point on the powerplay almost cost them the game in the first period. The Mavericks their first powerplay at 16:35 of the first period, but it turned out to be of an advantage for Notre Dame. Notre Dame's Erik Condra picked up the puck on a 2-on-1 and passed it across to Kevin Deeth who made a nice play to cut across the crease and beat goalie Dan Tormey to make the score 1-0 Notre Dame. On the very next shift, Notre Dame got an uncontested breakaway, but the Notre Dame player shot the puck over the net. This missed opportunity proved fatal for the Irish, who had the opportunity to put the Mavs away early.

Minnesota State came out strong to start the second period. A minute and a half into the second period, Zach Harrison made a strong rush up the ice and passed the puck to Joel Hanson in the slot who banged a one-timer past David Brown to tie the game at one. Hanson had been pretty invisible prior to that point(he was especially invisible when he should have been the other defenseman back on Notre Dame's first goal), so it was nice to see him get a goal, so it was nice to see him make a positive play. It was also good to see Zach Harrison rewarded with his first collegiate point, as I thought he played an outstanding game tonight.

With momentum on the Mavericks side, they quickly drew two penalties on the Irish. Erik Condra took an obstruction penalty, and then Garrett Regan was forced to take out a Maverick as he was driving hard to the net. The Mavericks capitalized on the two-man advantage when Travis Morin made a great feed to Kael Mouillierat at the side of the net and Mouillierat banged home his first collegiate goal.

Things started to unravel a bit for the Mavericks when Jon Kalinski took a tripping penalty at 3:41. During the ensuing powerplay, freshman Trevor Bruess took a 5 minute -checking from behind penalty. Bruess came charging across the ice and definitely hit the Notre Dame player from behind, though I don't think the Notre Dame really went head first into the boards. It certainly wouldn't have been believable if a 2 minute penalty was called. I thought Bruess was playing another outstanding game up to that point, but just got a little too excited and made a rookie mistake. It was a very costly penalty, but I think Coach Jutting would rather see his young guys making errors of comission rather than errors of omission at this point.

The Maverick penalty kill did a great job killing off Kalinski's original penalty, but Kalinski found himself in the box again on the worst call of the night from official Brad Albers. The puck was shot down the ice on goalie David Brown. Kalinski, desperate to force a whistle and allow his tired linemates to change, raced after the puck. Kalinski did force Brown to cover, but he was shoved into the goalie, causing a collision. Kalinski was given a charging penalty.

During that 5-on-3 advantage, the Mavericks thought they had survived a scramble in front of their net and had gotten a clear. Instead, linesman Tony Lancette assessed a penalty against Brian Kilburg, despite the fact that referee Brad Albers was looking right at the same play as Lancette.

The Maverick penalty kill performed admirably, but Notre Dame had so much powerplay time that they were finally able to capitalize with a rebound goal by Kevin Deeth to tie the game. In all, the Mavericks were lucky to get out of all those penalties just having given up one goal.

There wasn't a lot of excitement in the third period. The two teams each had only two shots on goal in the third period. The Mavericks did have a couple more chances when freshman Jerad Stewart tipped a pair of shots in front of the net that just missed. Their best chance of the period came when Travis Morin led a rush up the ice, deked around a Notre Dame defender and tried to sneak a backhander through the shortside.

The Mavs got off to a good start in overtime. Jon Kalinski brought the puck into the zone off the opening faceoff and was dragged down by a Notre Dame defender. No call was made, but Brad Albers seemed to remember the play. Later in overtime, Travis Morin had the puck in the Notre Dame zone and lost an edge and fell to the ice. Whether Albers missed what happened or was trying to make up for the earlier no-call, he gave MSU the man advantage. It was looking like another unproductive MSU powerplay and a tie game until Jon Kalinski picked up a loose net on the side of the net, and made a great play to roof the puck and win the game.

The win should be a huge confidence booster to the Mavericks as they start WCHA play next weekend against St. Cloud.

Miscellaneous Thoughts:

Travis Morin played his usual amazing game. He saw a ton of ice thanks to Bruess getting ejected, and all the penalties in the second period.

Zach Harrison and Kael Mouillierat are looking like the gems of this year's freshmen. Jason Wiley is going to need some time to adjust to the speed of the college game.

I really hope the idea of putting forwards at the point on the powerplay dies soon. It almost cost us the game tonight, and really isn't making the powerplay that much more efficient. The two powerplay goals mask how dreadful the powerplay looked for most of the night.

Dan Tormey looked excellent in net tonight. He's got an unteachable confidence about him. He really saved the Mavericks tonight.

Mike Zacharias didn't dress due to his injury.

Nick Canzanello's play hasn't been perfect, but he's doing an excellent job given the circumstances. He doesn't have the strength he needs to really push people around, since he's coming straight out of high school, but he's doing a fairly solid job defensively and contributing a little offensively as well. Kyle who?

The crowd, especially the student turnout, was excellent tonight. The Mavericks finally have a pretty student section. Since last Christmas, the Mavs are 10-1-1 at the Middy, including three overtime victories.