Frozen Four: Minnesota State rolls past Minnesota to move on to national championship

By Patrick Donnelly

BOSTON — The Minnesota State University Mavericks scored five unanswered goals to come back and win 5-1 against the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers on Thursday at TD Garden to advance to the national championship against Denver.

Sophomore forwards Ondrej Pavel and David Silye each had a goal and an assist for Minnesota State (38-5-0, 20-1-0 CCHA), who have won 18 games in a row. Senior goaltender Dryden McKay made 16 saves.

“I thought we played a very good first period even though we were down,” Mavericks head coach Mike Hastings said. “The guys did a really good job of just sticking with it. There wasn’t a lot of panic on the bench or in the locker room. As they have this entire season, they stuck with it and they were rewarded for it. It was a good effort for us. We’re excited to have an opportunity to play for a national championship.”

Freshman forward Matthew Knies scored for Minnesota (26-13-0, 18-6-0 Big Ten), and junior forward Justen Close made 26 saves.

“Mankato, you got to give them an enormous amount of credit. For big chunks of the game they kicked our butt,” Golden Gphers head coach Bob Motzko said. “I’m so proud of our guys. This is a terrific group of guys we had. This is not indicative of what the season we had was. Been a terrific season, a terrific team. We just ran into a really good hockey team tonight.”

Knies gave the Gophers a 1-0 lead with 11 minutes remaining in the first, finishing a 2-0n-0 with junior forward Bryce Brodzinski.

“I kind of saw Matt out of the corner of my eye,” Brodzinski said. “I turned around, and I knew I kind of had to get him involved. That was kind of our only way of beating [McKay], kind of getting him to move laterally. ... It was a big opportunity, especially being our first shot of the game, being able to crack them early kind of kept us in it for a while.”

McKay did not think giving up the 2-on-0 deflated Minnesota State very much.

“I couldn’t tell you the last time I faced a 2-on-0 in a game,” McKay said. “Wish I could have come up with it. I think we do enough of them in practice. It is what it is. Puck took a bounce. All that was really going through my head is that would have been a huge save if I would have made it, a momentum builder. It didn’t really seem to matter for the guys. We stuck with it. Eventually we were rewarded.”

Senior defenseman Benton Maass tied it 1-1 at 12:38 of the second on a wraparound that found a way through Close’s pad.

“Lucas Sowder made a pretty good play to get the puck down low to me, and I kind of did a little shoulder check and saw I had more time and space than I thought,” Maass said. “I was able to get to the side of the net. Coach is a big preacher of, if we get there, it’s got to go to the net. I kind of just threw it on net and hoped for a rebound because I knew we had guys in front. Fortunately it was able to go in the far side.”

Senior forward Reggie Lutz put the Mavericks ahead 2-1 with 6:29 remaining in the second. Sophomore forward David Silye’s one-timer found a way through before hitting the post and dropping straight down. Lutz found it and banked in a wraparound.

“When I was younger, every time I would score a wraparound goal, my dad would take me to McDonald’s, and I’d get a Happy Meal,” Lutz said. “I’ve been working on it for a while and it was pretty cool to see it work on the big stage. Like I said, ever since I was probably five, I’ve been practicing wraparound goals. It was able to pay off tonight, so it was pretty cool.”

Minnesota State outshot the Gophers 21-11 through the first two periods.

“I mean, we had to get in front of [McKay’s] eyes,” Knies said. “Our [defense] did a hell of a job tonight getting pucks on that, but we just weren’t there. I think we had a plan that the boards were bouncy behind the nets, the more we could get on top of those, the better we can become. But we just weren’t there tonight.”

Pavel made it 3-1 just 1:03 into the third, redirecting senior defenseman Jack McNeely’s slap shot from the point.

Silye extended it to 4-1 with 6:43 left after Minnesota turned it over on the breakout, picking the top left corner, and junior forward Brendan Furry scored on an empty net with 1:09 left for the 5-1 final.

It was the second time in NCAA history that there were no penalties assessed in a Frozen Four game.

Puck drop on Saturday is set for 8 p.m. It will be the first time the Mavericks will play for the Division I title.