Men’s college hockey series of the week: No.18 Minnesota State vs Saint Thomas

Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time this year, the men’s college hockey series of the week does not involve the Big Ten nor Hockey East. This week, it’s a CCHA vs NCHC matchup as No.18 Minnesota State will stay in state, but will also still be on the road to face unranked Saint Thomas.

To start the year, Minnesota State has been decent, but not good and not even close to great. The Mavericks’ three wins have come against Omaha and RPI, which are both unranked teams. They also lost to Wisconsin twice in shootouts, and they dropped their first game of the year to Omaha.

Perhaps the Mavericks’ struggles have come because they do not have a guy who is a dominant goal scorer. Minnesota State’s leading goal scorer is junior forward Charlie Lurie, who has only three goals through six games.

Despite not having a dominant goal scorer, one skater has set himself apart in assists. This skater is junior forward Luigi Benincasa, who is the head of the assist department at Minnesota State, with five so far.

In the net is where things start to look a little brighter. Senior goaltender Alex Tracy has allowed 12 goals and made 154 saves. This statline gives Tracy the 20th best save percentage in the country with a .928.

For the 2-4 Saint Thomas Tommies (yes, that’s their real name), things have been extremely rough. Their two wins have come against Saint Cloud State and Air Force.

The only offensive brightspot is graduate student forward Alex Gaffney who leads the Tommies in goals with five and assists with six.

The seemingly only redeeming quality for the Tommies on defense is between the pipes. Senior goaltender Aaron Trotter has only allowed six goals and made 79 saves. This gives him a .929 save percentage, which ranks 19th in the country.

If the Minnesota State Mavericks want to get a road sweep, it has to lean on other offensive stars on their roster instead of just one player. On top of that, it has to play stronger on defense and not solely rely on Alex Tracy to make every save.

For the Saint Thomas Tommies to pull off the at-home upset, the goal is simple. Play better. On offense, somebody not named Alex Gaffney needs to play well. Then, the defensive unit must be stronger and not completely reliant on Aaron Trotter.

This series will be played at Lee and Penny Anderson Arena, the home of Saint Thomas. Puck drop for game one is set for 7:07 p.m., and game two is set for 6:07 p.m. The games will be broadcast on CCHATV.

Max Malec is a first-year student majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email mvm7264@psu.edu.