By Shane Frederick
Free Press
MANKATO - What is it about when Minnesota State and Denver get together for a Western Collegiate Hockey Association game?
Is it the southern Minnesota water? Or the Rocky Mountain air?
Last season, the two teams combined for 47 goals in four wild and wacky games in both teams' rinks.
The trend continued Friday night at Midwest Wireless Civic Center, as they scored 13 times in the Mavericks' 8-5 upset over the No. 1-ranked Pioneers before a crowd of 3,557.
Red-hot rookie Ryan Carter recorded his first collegiate hat trick, and David Backes scored two goals, including a back-breaking breakaway midway through the third period to hold off a Denver comeback attempt.
Joel Hanson, Brock Becker and Jeff Marler also scored as the Mavericks (11-16-6, 8-15-4 in WCHA) hit a season high for goals and won at home for the first time since Dec. 10.
"Our kids have kept a good attitude," coach Troy Jutting said. "We've been frustrated about not scoring, but we haven't lost confidence...
"I don't think the kids have ever doubted that we can skate with these teams."
Denver, the defending national champion, had a chance to move into first place in the WCHA standings Friday, while Minnesota State is trying to stay out of 10th in its last weekend of the conference schedule.
"The way I look at it, a dog is most dangerous when its back is against the wall," said Carter, who has five goals in his last three games. "We have our backs against the wall, and I think we're dangerous."
Carter scored his first goal just 12 seconds after Backes gave the Mavericks a 1-0 lead on the power play at 3:38 of the first period. Carter's second made it 4-1 just 10:11 into the opening period, and his third, with six minutes remaining in the game, sealed the win.
"We haven't built on our momentum this season," Jutting said. "We score a goal and it takes 25 minutes to score the next one. Tonight, we finally got the momentum."
Hanson's goal, which made it 3-0 at 7:35 of the first period, chased starting goalie Glenn Fisher from the game. Fisher returned after giving up five goals.
Meanwhile, MSU goalie Chris Clark, starting his sixth consecutive game, got his fifth win, making 25 saves.
Last season, the Mavericks climbed out of a six-goal hole to beat the Pioneers 8-7 in Mankato, and later in Denver, they erased a five-goal deficit before losing 9-7.
On Friday, MSU took a 5-1 lead at 7:42 of the second period on Becker's power-play goal.
"(The comeback) is something that crosses your mind," Pioneers forward Jon Foster said.
Denver, the highest-scoring team in the WCHA, scored four of the next five goals - including Foster's second of the game - to make it a 6-5 game with 11:34 to play.
The Mavericks' goal in that stretch was a fluke, as, 22 seconds into the final period, Jeff Marler simply threw the puck toward the net from the end boards. The puck hit the back of Mannino's skate and caromed in behind the goalie.
"Those are the breaks we haven't had all season," Jutting said.
Less than a minute after Denver's Kevin Ulanski made it a one-goal game, Becker, playing in his first regular-season game in six weeks, poked the puck out of the defensive zone, setting up Backes' breakaway. The Mavericks' leading scorer scored his 16th goal of the season to make it 7-5.
"For the first time, instead of playing prevent defense, we went on the attack and played in their zone," Backes said.
The Mavericks and the Pioneers (22-8-2, 17-6-2) will play again at 7:07 p.m. tonight.
Mannino replaced Fisher at 7:35 of first period
Fisher replaced Mannino at 14:00 of third period
