59 Teams in 59 Days Minnesota State

The 59 Teams in 59 Days tour continues with a trip to Mankato, Minnesota where the Minnesota State Mavericks are featured.

Minnesota State had a tough off-season starting with the departure of top players David Backes and Ryan Carter, and continued with some controversy on campus. Now that it is solved the Mavericks look to prepare for the season.

The good news for the Mavericks is that Co-leading scorer Travis Morin returns for his Senior season. Morin tallied 20 goals and added 22 assists for a total of 42 points. The bad news, he is the only returning player who had recorded double digits in the goal department. Head Coach Troy Jutting will have his work cut out for him as he will try to find not only a leader, but another scorer.

Defensively the Mavericks were pretty strong last year. Four defensemen return from last years team. This will help goaltender Dan Tormey who had a pretty solid Freshman year. That is what Minnesota States strength will be this year. Expect the Mavericks to win their games on defense.

Overall the Mavericks have some issues to adress. If they want to be a strong team this year they need to forget what happened during the sexual assult case in the early off-season. I think the Mavericks will be focused now that, that is behind them and will look forward to this season.

The predicted ceiling for Minnesota State is sixth in the WCHA, while their gutter is ninth.

Tommorrow we will make a trip to Omaha, Nebraska, where the Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks will be featured as the 59 Teams in 59 Days tour hits day number 37.