Men's Ice Hockey

Thursday Preview: St. Thomas at Minnesota State

There's one game on the docket in the CCHA this Thursday night, featuring St. Thomas at No. 3 Minnesota State. The Mavericks and the Tommies will play at Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center (4,832) in Mankato, Minn. Thursday at 7:07 p.m., CST and the St. Thomas Ice Arena in Mendota Heights, Minn. Saturday at 7:07 p.m.
 

St. Thomas at #3 Minnesota State
Video Stream: FloHockey
TV: Charter/Spectrum 191 (Minn.)
Radio: UST 1500 AM | MSU 1420 AM
Live Stats: Click Here
Game Notes: UST | MSU

In a series that dates back to the 1971-72 season, Minnesota State stands 16-9-2 in the all-time series vs. St. Thomas. The last time the two programs met was during the 1996-97 season, when Minnesota State was playing as a NCAA Division I independent program (St. Thomas won that game 5-4). The week's meetings mark the first meetings between the programs as members of NCAA Division I (St. Thomas is in its first year of DI, Minnesota is in its 26th year of DI-men's hockey).  Both teams are first-year members of the CCHA.

Minnesota State is coming off a weekend home sweep over Bowling Green. The Mavericks are led by Nathan Smith who has recorded 17 points (6G, 11A) in 12 games and is currently on an eight-game point streak. Dryden McKay has the nation's 12th best goals against average (1.78) and a .911 save percentage.

St. Thomas had a bye week after being swept on the road at Bowling Green. St. Thomas has played the most road games so far (nine) among all 59 D-I men’s hockey programs. Kyler Grundy leads St. Thomas goal scorers with four. Christiano Versich, Luke Manning and Grant Loven have scored three apiece. Trevor Zins, Matthew Jennings and Cameron Recchi have chipped in two each. Tommies' goaltender Jacob Berger played for Minnesota State during the 2019-20 season before transferring to St. Thomas for the 2020-21 season.
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