MANKATO, Minn. -- The men's ice hockey team was edged in overtime at 14th-ranked Minnesota State on Friday night at the Verizon Wireless Arena. After a back-and-forth affair that included ties of 1-1, 2-2 and 3-3, Maverick forward Chase Grant scored at 2:26 of overtime off a deflected pass in front of the Friar net to give Minnesota State the win.
Senior goalie Russ Stein (Ridgefield, Conn.) made his second career start in the Friar net and turned in 31 saves, including two in overtime, and Providence (7-7-3, 5-4-2 Hockey East) got goals from Tom Parisi (Commack, N.J.), Paul de Jersey (West Vancouver, B.C.) and Derek Army (North Kingstown, R.I.). But two Minnesota State (13-6-2, 8-6-0 WCHA) power-play goals and a short-handed tally paved the way for the Mavericks' 10th win in their last 11 games. Minnesota State goalie Stephon Williams recorded 29 saves in the win.
The Friars took a 1-0 lead at 2:41 of the first when sophomore Ross Maurmann (Janesville, Wis.) won an offensive zone faceoff back to Parisi at the point and the freshman's wrist shot found the top corner of the net for his third goal of the year and second in as many games. The Mavericks answered right back with two power-play tallies of their own. Open in the slot, Eriah Hayes scored a five-on-three goal at 6:37 to tie the game, 1-1, and then with the ensuing five-on-four advantage Josh Nelson scored 38 seconds later to give Minnesota State a 2-1 lead. Just over two minutes later at 9:27, Providence's de Jersey (West Vancouver, B.C.) tied the game at 2-2 when he knocked down a shin-high pass in front from junior Steven Shamanski (Carberry, Manitoba) and fired a shot into the top of the net before Williams could get across his crease. Mauermann registered his second assist of the night on de Jersey's third goal of the season.
Just 1:11 into the second period, the Friars regained the lead, 3-2, when Derek Army (North Kingstown, R.I.) netted his team-leading sixth goal of the season. Freshman Brandon Tanev (Toronto, Ontario) played a puck around the end boards that bounced in front and senior Kyle Murphy (Fairhaven, N.J.) kept the play alive in front before Army knocked in the loose puck from just outside the crease. The Mavericks tied it up at 3-3 when Brett Stern turned a Friar turnover into a breakaway shorthanded goal at 17:37.
Neither team could find the back of the net in the third, so the Friars and Mavericks headed to overtime of the first time in their brief all-time series (now five meetings). At 2:24, Grant was credited with his sixth goal of the year after the puck went off his body, hit a skate in front and found its way past Stein to give Minnesota State the 4-3 win. It was the third consecutive overtime game for the Friars and sixth this season.
The Mavericks finished 2-for-4 on the power play, while Providence went 0-6 with the man advantage.
The series concludes at 8:07 (7:07 CST) tomorrow, Jan. 5 at Minnesota State's Verizon Wireless Center.
Notes
Russ Stein made his second career start and recorded a career high 31 saves ... The Friars have now played six overtime games this season, including three in a row (they are 1-2-3 in overtime games) ... Providence played a ranked opponent for the sixth time this season ... It was the Friars' first loss this season when scoring first (now 6-1-1) ... Freshman defenseman Tom Parisi scored a goal for the second consecutive game ... Junior defenseman Steven Shamanski notched his seventh assist of the season (he entered the season with three assist in 64 games) and he now has one assist in four of his last five games played (including the last three consecutive games) ... with two assists, sophomore Ross Mauermann recorded his second multi-point game of the year and first since a season opening three-point (1G, 2A) performance against Sacred Heart ... Mauermann's two assists tied his career high mark for one game (done four times) ... Freshman goalie Jon Gillies, who started the first 15 games of the season for the Friars, missed a second consecutive game as he plays with Team USA in the 2013 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Junior Championship in Ufa, Russia ... Gillies and Team USA will play Sweden for the gold medal tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. (EST), with the NHL Network (DirectTV 215, Dish 403) carrying the live broadcast, while NHL.com will provide a live stream of the gold medal game ... Gillies will become the first former Friar to earn a medal at the World Junior Championships and he is the 11th Friar to play in the prestigious tournament, with all 11 suiting up for the U.S. ... The other Providence players to play in the World Juniors include Perry Florio (1985), Tom Fitzgerald (1987), Shaun Kane (1989 & 1990), Mike Boback (1990), Rob Gaudreau (1990), Mike Heinke (1991), Brady Kramer (1993), Jay Leach (1998), Jon DiSalvatore (2001) and Bobby Goepfert.