Brett Moravec is an optimist.
If he gets one good scoring chance, he figure he should stay alert because more opportunities are coming.
“Obviously, it’s disappointing (when you miss),” he said. “You want to score on every opportunity. But I know if I get one opportunity, more and more will come.”
Moravec scored off a rebound in the second period, and Minnesota State tied St. Thomas 1-1 in a CCHA men’s hockey game in front of 4,463 fans Saturday at Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center.
The Mavericks won the shootout 3-2, thus earning the extra point in the conference standings. The Mavericks won 5-3 at St. Thomas on Friday, scoring four goals in the third period.
“Last night was taxing,” coach Luke Strand said. “You get back late, you’re excited to be home. We probably didn’t like the start, but we found a different way to win, which is exciting for us.”
The Mavericks had some good scoring chances in the first period, including one shot that bounced off the crossbar and a breakaway by Moravec, who shot it just wide.
The Tommies got on the board at 15:29 when Jake Braccini collected a rebound near the left circle and snapped a shot past Alex Tracy for the 1-0 lead.
Moravec got another chance in the second period, though he had to deal with heavy traffic. Planted a few feet in front of the net, Moravec was in the perfect spot to get to a rebound, taking a baseball swing to hit the fluttering puck in mid-air into the net at 9:54. Brian Carrabes and Mason Wheeler had assists.
“We do practice that a lot, end of practice,” said Moravec, a sophomore. “Almost fooling around, whacking pucks out of the air back and forth to each other. “
Strand said he wasn’t surprised to see Moravec take advantage of another good scoring chance, netting his fifth goal of the season.
“He plays with a lot of different players. There’s a lot of player requests for him to be their centerman,” Strand said. “When you get a freshman a year ago that wanted that success and didn’t have it right away, the sophomore year becomes very valuable.”
The Mavericks had several other good chances the rest of the period, a couple involving Rhett Pitlick, but it remained tied at 1 heading into the third.
The Mavericks had several good chances in the third period but couldn’t get one into the net.
In the scoreless five-minute overtime, Moravec had Minnesota State’s best chance with 1:40 to play. Tracy made a couple of big saves, including a breakaway off the first faceoff.
Tracy finished with 26 saves.
“He stands tall in tall moments,” Strand said. “He’s the biggest teammate as far as deflecting credit. He just keep performing. He’s a winner on the ice, he’s a winner off the ice. When you have that behind you, you feel pretty good.”
Pitlick, Luc Wilson and Carrabes scored in the shootout.
“The second and third periods, we’ve been a really good team all year,” Moravec said. “I think we’re one of the best-conditioned teams in the country.”
The Mavericks (7-4-1, 2-1-1 in CCHA) host Northern Michigan in another CCHA series Friday and Saturday.
Follow Chad Courrier on X @ChadCourrier.