Bentley, Holy Cross Headed Towards Another Showdown
CHN Staff Report
Minnesota State was a 27-win team last season, and it has shown no signs of slowing down as it plows through the first half of the season.
But the Mavericks did face a hiccup, as they saw their seven-game winning streak snapped by Ferris State at home Saturday, losing 4-1.
It was their first regulation loss in almost two months.
“We went up a sandhill and we slid back down,” Minnesota State coach Luke Strand said. “You gotta keep fighting and climbing and you got to do it together. … You can’t hope your way through it. Lessons are what you learn from it. … We haven’t really had this happen to us. The crazy part is, that’s a long stretch of games. So we just have to make sure it’s not something we repeat.”
Minnesota State has been led again by its stellar netminder Alex Tracy, who, despite the loss, is still putting up a .934 save percentage this year, after his .946 last year. He has played every minute of every game. Players like Tristan Lemyre and Evan Murr have been consistent and reliable, too, but not Saturday.
“There’s some things to learn individually,” Strand said. “There are no victories here, so we have to move on from that. We saved some energy, so we have some legs to use up early in the week to amke sure we’re competitive. And maybe get some bodies back to, that can be a bonus.”
Bemidji State has been right behind as far as the league goes, but after losing Friday, it had its game against Augustana postponed because of unplayable ice conditions. The game is now scheduled to be played Sunday.
A number of teams have all had their moments this season, including St. Thomas, which was strong in November, then suffered a setback with a 5-3 loss to Lake Superior State on Friday. Saturday, the Tommies snapped back with a 4-1 win, with Lucas Wahlin scoring twice, while Carsen Musser stopped 27 of 28 shots.
Northern Michigan, after going 0-16 to start the season, nearly had a weekend sweep. But holding off Bowling Green on Friday for its first win, the Wildcats led 3-2 late Saturday only to have the Falcons tie it with 1:15 remaining. Defenseman Breck McKinley then scored just his second career goal to win it in overtime.
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Holy Cross and Bentley again have been battling atop Atlantic Hockey in the first half of the season, and both won games Saturday to remain neck-and-neck in the standings.
Last season, Bentley defeated Holy Cross in the Atlantic Hockey championship game.
Bentley suffered its first league loss Friday, to Niagara, while Holy Cross was idle.
Except for what’s dubbed an exhibition game against Masschusetts-Lowell on Dec. 28 for Bentley, the teams have off until they meet in Worcester on Jan. 2
“We can never undo what happened the last game of the year last year,” Holy Cross coach Bill Riga said. “‘Oh, rematch,’ no one cares. They’ll still have the banner in the rink and still have been in the NCAA Tournament. We just gotta focus on where we are this year. We need to improve on the power play … and some of our turnovers and be a little better defensively consistently. I like where our offense has been. But we’ve played every weekend since the beginning, so we need the rest.”
Bentley coach Andy Jones also stressed the importance of steady growing throughout the season, and the importance of each game.
“I’ve seen a lot of growth collectively. You saw that (Saturday),” Jones said. “The composure was a big deal as the game wore on. I don’t know if we do that early. I’m excited about the second half. I see a group that has improved, I see a group that can improve even more.”
First-year coaches Zach McKelvie at Army and Matt Thomas at RIT have also had their moments in the first half. Mercyhurst has a coach at the opposite end of the spectrum; this is Rick Gotkin’s last season after 38 years at the helm. Unfortunately, since its last regular-season title in 2018, its been tough for the Lakers, and this year, they are 0-15-1 as the first half comes to a close.
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Stonehill closed out its first half with two wins at Alaska-Anchorage.
Among the independents, the class has been Lindenwood, which is currently 17 in NPI, and has two games at Maine next weekend. It was off this wekeend.