No. 13 Minnesota State gets series split with 5-2 win over Men's Hockey

Mendota Heights, Minn. - First-place Minnesota State received goals from five different skaters and points from 11 players in all in Saturday night's 5-2 road win over St. Thomas in CCHA men's hockey action at the Saint Thomas Academy rink.

The No. 13-ranked Mavericks (19-10-1 overall, 14-7-1 CCHA) avenged a 3-2 overtime loss from Friday to the Tommies. They outshot St. Thomas 38-13 here Saturday. They also converted 2-of-7 on the power play and added a late empty-net goal to seal the victory.

A Division I-era record home crowd of 1,080 watched as the Tommies (8-18-2, 7-11-2) took a first-period lead for the third game in a row. But Minnesota State answered with three goals in a 3:36 span midway through the first frame for a 3-1 lead. The Toms never led again and were unable to gain must traction offensively against a program coming off an NCAA runner-up finish.

Tommie freshman goalie Aaron Trotter had 33 saves here Saturday after recording 43 saves in Friday's overtime victory.

Luc Laylin and Andrew Kangas scored goals for the Tommies. Laylin has connected for six goals over his last seven games, including three power-play goals this weekend against MSU. It was Kangas' first goal of the season.

Quoting Coach Rico Blasi:

"I thought we started the game off really well, but you can't keep give good teams power plays, they'll make you pay...

"We knew they were going to push, they are playing for first place. But that's what good teams do, they come back and play hard and try to impose their will.

"This was a pretty good learning experience for our team. The mindset for our guys has to change. We're not just playing games anymore. I think that happened tonight. I think our guys understood that at this time of the year now, things are a little bit different... now it's about will, it's about determination, it's about discipline. It's a different type of game... obviously I'm talking about playoff hockey. We learned a little bit of a lesson tonight, and that's good because we're growing as a program, and we've never been in this spot before. We have 12 freshmen, and guys that have never been in this spot before. I take it (this weekend) as a huge positive."

Next Up

St. Thomas is home to play Northern Michigan next Friday and Saturday night here on home ice.

Did You Know?

St. Thomas has 10 of its 18 losses to nationally-ranked teams.
Kangas' goal was his second in 43 games of the Division I era. He's the lone forward or defensemen who came to St. Thomas as a freshman in the D-III era that's still in the program. He scored four goals in 25 games in D-III for St. Thomas, including two in six games a shortened 2020-21 Covid season.
Even with Saturday's loss, St. Thomas has taken at least one point in six consecutive conference weekend series.

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Team Stats

Luc Laylin

Andrew Kangas

Cooper Gay

Tim Piechowski

Players Mentioned

Andrew Kangas

Luc Laylin

Aaron Trotter