Random Thoughts: Walking on Sunshine

Nope.  Not another thought or post regarding weather-related issues our spring sports have battled in 2012-13.

Instead, a bevy of items for your perusal.

Senior tennis stand-out Brandi Dohmen was presented with
this year's Georgene Brock Award as Minnesota State's top
senior female student-athlete. Pictured with Dohmen is Bob
Bresnahan of Federated Insurance (MAA corporate partner)
and Kevin Buisman, MSU's Director of Athletics.

The 27th annual Maverick Achievement Awards Dinner took place last Sunday in the CSU Ballroom.  In addition to recognizing this year's 58 Maverick Achievement Award recipients (senior student-athletes with cumulative GPAs of 3.0+), awards for the top senior athletes and top senior student-athletes were announced and presented. Over 900 student-athletes have been recognized as Maverick Achievement Award recipients since the program was inaugurated in 1987. Tennis stand-out Brandi Dohmen, who has a 3.98 GPA and is majoring in spanish took home the Georgene Brock Award as the top senior female student-athlete and baseball catcher Ben Keller (4.00 in mechanical engineering) won the Don Buchanan Award as the top senior male student-athlete.

We had a tremendous turn out for the annual spring football game held this past Saturday at historic Blakeslee Stadium. We've also announced the 2013 schedule, which by the way, is just 129 days away from starting.

Following the conclusion of the 2012-13 season, Minnesota State men's hockey Most Valuable Player Eriah Hayes signed a pro contract with the National Hockey League's San Jose Sharks.  The Sharks assigned Hayes to their American Hockey League affiliate in Worcester (Mass.), where he tallied three goals and had an assist in seven games.  With Worcester's season now done and following a short stopover in Mankato, Hayes headed to San Jose where, according to one of the Sharks' PR-dudes "Eriah is on his initial trip to San Jose. He isn't eligible to play, but he will able to get a feel for the organization and the area."

The 19th-rated MSU softball team, which earned a share of this year's Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference regular-season title, begins league postseason play Thursday in Rochester when it plays the winner of St. Cloud State and Mary at 1:30 p.m.  Editor's note - sorry, this is the one time we'll mention weather-related issues - (from the NSIC): "NSIC officials have decided to move the 2013 NSIC Softball Tournament indoors due to the poor weather forecasted in Rochester, Minn.  The games will be moved into the Rochester Community and Technical College Dome for all of Thursday and Friday’s games." 

Currently rated tenth, the Maverick Baseball team has concluded league regular-season action and will close out its regular-season schedule with a trio of nonconference games at Truman State in Kirksville, Mo., this weekend. The Mavericks are 31-8 overall and will finish second in NSIC regular-season standings with a 20-4 mark. The league postseason tournament is set for May 8-11 in St. Cloud.  Head coach Matt Magers reached the 200-win plateau April 27th when MSU claimed a 15-7 victory at Wayne State (Neb.). Magers, who is in his fifth season in charge of the Mavericks, started his career with a 38-win season in 2009. Then came 44 wins in 2010, 40 wins in 2011 and then 51 wins last year.

A short list of some of the great names of former MSU student-athletes.  Some of the favorites include:  Kevin Welp (baseball), Adrian Battles (football), Kreg Kapitan (football), Elisha McSweeney (basketball), Fritz Polka (baseball), Sarah Schneekloth (women's hockey), Heidi Schnagl (volleyball), Katija Opitz (women's soccer), Randi Warhol (women's soccer), Shelly LaFave (softball), Ronna Puck (softball), Brian Klinkhammer (men's hockey) and Baylor Dieter (men's hockey).

The Maverick men's golf team had a string of consecutive trips to the NCAA postseason come to an end at 11 when it failed to qualify for this year's go-round.  MSU, which finished second at this year's NSIC tournament, had qualified every year beginning in 2001-02 through 2011-12.  MSU senior Greg Werner was invited to this year's regional tournament which is scheduled for May 6-8 in Kenosha, Wis.

Lastly, the MSU Reporter ran a commemorative issue this past Tuesday with an eight-page insert highlighting the 35-year coaching career of Mark Schuck.  Schuck, who is retiring following the end of this year's track and field season, is a Nicollet, Minn., native who went to school here and basically never left.  A couple of the stories in the insert mentioned a few of Mark's trademark sayings including:

"Eighty percent of success in life is just showing up. Ten percent is staying awake and the last ten percent is putting forth at least a little bit of effort."

"Can we get a discount? We're from a poor Christian school in Minnesota." (to all the restaurant owners on road trips)

"Just do what you did to get to nationals and you'll be an All-American." (words of wisdom to athletes at national competitions)

"The hay is in the barn."

"You can't undo 18 years of bad parenting."

"You don't get anything for losing."

"You've got to be good, and a little bit lucky, but mostly, I don't know...it's magic, I guess." (on convincing outstanding student-athletes to come to MSU)

Quite the character that Coach Schuck.


It's great to be a Maverick!

Have Wheels, Will Travel (providing you have a playable field)

Minnesota State "hosted" MSU-Moorhead April 7th
at Gustavus. The Mavericks have yet to play a game in Mankato.

As the Minnesota State baseball and softball teams try to stay hot in conference play, they are also spending their whole season trying to stay warm in their dugouts.

Due to the “normal” spring weather that Minnesota has provided, both squads are scrambling just get as many games in as they can.

According to MSU baseball head coach Matt Magers the team doesn’t expect they will be playing where their schedule says anymore. After getting 14 games in the Metrodome and eight games down in Florida in March, the squad has only played on their own field for four games.

Back near the end of March, the Mavericks had a four-game conference series slated with Northern State, but both teams didn’t have a playable field. The Mavericks and the Wolves ended up driving to Rapid City, S. D., home of junior outfielder Parker Sullivan, to get those games in.

A week later the team found themselves in the same situation as the University of Mary didn’t have a playable field so they drove an hour and a half west of Bismark, N.D., to Dickinson, N.D., for the doubleheader.

Mapquest tells us that the Mavericks drove more than 2,100 miles to get those six games in.

On April 14-15, the Mavericks had to go south to Sioux City, Iowa for their four games against Southwest Minnesota State.

 “It can take a toll on the body, sitting there for so many hours, but we just want to get out and play. We will drive that distance just to get some games in,” said utility infielder Lucas Skjefte.

Senior catcher Ben Keller has accepted all the challenges they have faced this season with the traveling and they just have to roll with it.

“It’s nothing like playing at home, but we deal with it,” Keller said. “It’s baseball and we are young guys.”

The softball team has found themselves in a similar situation, but the team has been fortunate enough to use sports domes to get its games in. The Mavericks have played four games in Rochester, Minn., at the RCTC Dome, six games at the sports dome in Savage, Minn., and they traveled to Saint Peter, Minn., to use Gustavus’s turf football field for games vs. Northern State and MSU-Moorhead, respectively.

Softball head coach Lori Meyer has been through this before in her 28 seasons here and it’s just something the team needs to work through.

“We’ve had other difficult springs, but I think it’s much more glaring this year because the last couple of years we haven’t had that many (cancellations) and again with the expanded schedule and travel this one has been a challenge,” said Meyer.

The overall atmosphere going through the two squads is frustration, especially for the softball team as they haven’t even had a home game at MSU so far this season and we're nearing the end of April.

“We are just really frustrated at this point and we just want to be able to play outside. I couldn’t imagine being a senior and not being able to have a home game in your last season,” said junior infielder Lindsay Erickson.

To look at it in a positive way, both teams are having the most luck getting games in in the NSIC. The baseball team has put in 18 conference games in the books and that is the most in the conference, compared to teams like Minot State who has only played eight.

“We think it’s pretty bad here, but it’s worse somewhere else and that’s the case with some teams in our conference haven’t played a home game yet and they might not this year,” Magers said.

Even though this isn’t what the teams has signed up for, some of the players have embraced all of the driving and traveling as they enjoy the time they have with their teammates.

“Some of the best times we have are on the bus rides, 10 hours out to Bismark or out to Rapid City. We have a lot of fun on the bus and kind of enjoy that,” Skjefte said.

                                                                                      - Joey Denton, intern, Athletic Communications

 

 

Behind the Scenes: Dan Rickbeil



Dan Rickbeil is in his seventh year as Minnesota State equipment manager

For Minnesota State Athletics, game days start early and end late for Dan Rickbeil and his staff.

Making sure that everyone looks good and and everything's working properly is a full-time job for the Maverick equipment manager and and his army of student workers. Getting prepared for a home game takes a lot of time and effort from the equipment room and the Worthington, Minn., native does his job with equal parts elbow grease, comedic give-and-take and mechanical know how.

MavBlog took a few moments to do a Q & A with one of MSU's most integral pieces to the puzzle.

Please tell us a little about your background. Where did you grow up, where'd you go to school, what sports did you play, etc.
Rickbeil says: "I grew up and graduated high school in Worthington, Minn. I played hockey, football, golf, and also did a lot of waterskiing and downhill skiing. I went to college here at MSU."

Tell us about your family.
Rickbeil says: "I have been married to my beautiful wife Angie for almost eight years. We have three amazing children - Eliana is five and ready for kindergarten, Claira is three and loving preschool and Kian is 1½ and loves playing with and teasing his big sisters. I also have three brothers and three sisters. My younger sister, Anne, played hockey here at MSU.

What did you do prior to becoming the Head Equipment Manager at Minnesota State?
Rickbeil says: "I was a golf course superintendent at Red Lodge Mountain Resort in beautiful Red Lodge, Montana."

In general, what does your job entail?
Rickbeil says:  "Ordering, issuing, fitting, inventorying, repairing and laundering equipment and uniforms. Setting up fields, courts and locker rooms for game day.  It’s not equipment management, it’s preparing athletes to succeed."

What's the best part of your job?
Rickbeil says: "Working with great people and helping athletes succeed."

What's the worst part of your job?
Rickbeil says: "Poor communication and last minute “EMERGENCIES”.

Do you think there's any misconceptions about being an equipment manager?
Rickbeil says:  "Some think that all I do is laundry, they don’t see or appreciate the behind the scenes things or long hours. I have heard a coach in the past say that I work a “thankless job.” The only time it is thankless is when people don’t see or appreciate what we do. Slowly, I think that more and more actually understand what I do and they would have to do if we did not have an equipment manager. Though there are many that do understand and appreciate all that we do and the time that we put in."

Who's got the biggest feet in the athletic department?
Rickbeil says: "Staff: Chris Brunkhorst, Strength & Conditioning Size 15

Athlete: Michael Bernarde, Football size 17."

Any funny stories about requests from coaches or student athletes?
Rickbeil says: "Steve Robinson, one of our football players, tried to tell me on a Saturday morning in Duluth that someone got under the bus and stole his helmet. He had me going until he came back and said they took his pants too. Figured out pretty quick then that he had forgotten them in his locker back at home."

Any tips on getting a grass stain out of a pair of baseball pants?
Rickbeil says: "Right water temp and right chemicals. Don’t dry it until the stain is out."

If someone wanted to be an equipment manager, what advice would you give them?
Rickbeil says: "Get involved early and be ready to work extremely long and odd hours."

Thanks Dan!  It's great to be a Maverick!

Comparables

Minnesota State has had varsity men's hockey since the 1969-70 season and has had NCAA Division I hockey since 1996-97.

 

And during the course of its Division I-era, we can point to one MSU team that has made it to the NCAA postseason tournament.  This team, as we talk about quite often, was the team from 2002-03.  That year was memorable for many reasons. 

 

The Mavericks of a decade ago finished with a 20-11-10 mark and ranked second in the final Western Collegiate Hockey Association standings with a 15-6-7 record.  At one point MSU went unbeaten in a school-record 17 straight games. A pair of dynamic forwards from Alberta combined for 128 points and earned All-America honors in Shane Joseph (29 goals, 36 assists for 65 points) and Grant Stevenson (27 goals, 36 assists for 63 points). Captain B.J. Abel, who was named the team's Most Valuable Player at the end of the year, totalled 12-24--36 and four other forwards hit double digits for goals in Cole Bassett (14), Brock Becker (14), Adam Gerlach (13) and Dana Sorenson (12). The MSU blueline corps was solid with veterans Joe Bourne and Pete Runkle anchoring a heady and steady group. And early on the coaching staff, which consisted of head coach Troy Jutting along with assistants Darren Blue and Eric Means, found a goaltending formula that saw Jon Volp play one game one night and Jason Jensen the next. 

 

A nonconference home win and road tie with Nebraska Omaha set up a home WCHA first-round best-of-three play-off series in Mankato with the University of Wisconsin.  The Mavericks won the first game 2-1 before Stevenson's goal at 1:21 of the second overtime period sent the Badgers packing in game two.

.

MSU fell in overtime to the University of Minnesota in the first game of the WCHA Final Five, then dropped a 6-4 decision to Minnesota Duluth in the third-place game the following day.  The Mavericks made the 2002-03 tournament as the 16th seed and headed for the East regional in Providence, R.I., for a first-round game against top-seeded Cornell where, led by future National Hockey League stand-outs Matt Moulson and Doug Murray, the Big Red overcame the Mavericks 5-2.

 

A lot of this sounds familiar, in a Back to the Future-kind of way.

 

For example, the long unbeaten streak.  This year's squad, led by first-year head coach Mike Hastings, got off to a pedestrian 3-5-2 start before reeling off a seven-game winning streak. Skill? A trio of forwards in sophomores Matt Leitner (17-30--47) and Jean-Paul Lafontaine (9-26--35) and senior Eriah Hayes (20-16--35) stand atop a scoring chart that boasts an offense that includes a nation-leading 44 power play goals. Secondary scoring abounds with another 11 players in double-digit scoring after the top three. The defensive group has a pair of point producers in Zach Palmquist and Josh Nelson and rangy shut-down types such as Tyler Elbrecht and Brett Stern. And goaltending-wise, the parallel between this year and back then has been that freshman Stephon Williams, the 2012-13 WCHA Goaltending Champion and WCHA Rookie of the Year, has been, not unlike the Volp-Jensen combo of yesteryear, consistently good. All this has led to an unprecented season with a record 24 wins and new heights in the national rankings. 

 

It took three games for the Mavericks to dispatch Nebraska Omaha in a league play-off series played in Mankato in the middle of March. And not unlike 2002-03, the 2012-13 version bowed out in its first game of the WCHA tournament, this time with a loss to the University of Wisconsin. 

 

This weekend the Mavericks will find out where they go for NCAA Regional action. And while there's a sense that there are similarities between this year's team and the one which made the program's first appearance in the NCAA postseason party, this will also signify an opportunity for the guys from the school in southern Minnesota to create a new identity for their hockey program.

 

Can't wait to see how this turns out.

 

It's great to be a Maverick!

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Thundar to Stomper: Examining Division II Athletic Excellence

As a native of West Fargo, N.D., I grew up a fan of North Dakota State University, who along with MSU was a long-time member of the North Central Conference.

Although my parents are alumni of the University of North Dakota and still bleed green and white to this day, my contradicting allegiance to the Bison began when I was only a toddler.  My aunt ran sprints as a member of the NDSU track team and also served as my babysitter during her four years as a student-athlete in Fargo.  Her and her friends took me to countless Bison athletic events over the years and had me hooked, but it wasn't until I grew older that I began to truly appreciate the success NDSU athletics has had and continues to experience.

As my fifth year as a student at Minnesota State draws to an end, I am finding more and more similarities between the former NCAA Division II powerhouse I grew up cheering for and the emerging NCAA Division II powerhouse I call my alma mater.  In my opinion, to be considered a powerhouse an institution must have a majority of its programs finish consistently at or near the top of its respective conference standings in addition to achieving some degree of success at the regional and national level.

North Dakota State's football, volleyball, basketball (M&W), wrestling, softball and track and field programs (M&W) were often considered the class of the North Central Conference and have the conference and national championship banners to prove it. When I look at Minnesota State, I believe MSU has quickly established itself as the class of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and is on the brink of being recognized nationally as an NCAA Division II powerhouse as the championship banners begin to pile up in Taylor Center and Myers Field House.

MSU's Division II team sports have collected four NSIC regular-season titles (soccer, football, men's basketball, men's indoor track and field) and two second-place finishes (wrestling and women's basketball) plus an NSIC tournament championship (men's basketball) in the 11 conference sports that have been decided thus far and have a combined 109-25-5 record (.802) in 2012-13.  The Maverick baseball and softball teams were both selected No. 1 in their NSIC preseason coaches polls and the men's outdoor track and field squad is also the pre-season conference favorite. Individually, 17 different Maverick student-athletes have garnered a total of 21 All-American awards this year for both academic and athletic success.

Did I forget to mention that the DI men's hockey team is No. 10 in the country and after securing home ice for the WCHA playoffs is well on its way to a berth in the WCHA Final Five and NCAA national tournament?

While Minnesota State is three years removed from its last national championship (women's basketball 2008-09), five programs have finished in the top eight nationally the past three seasons with the Maverick baseball team earning two of them (7th in 2010, 3rd in 2012).

Although some people around Mankato and the Upper Midwest may believe MSU is far from a national powerhouse given its history in the NCC, its performance at the national level is beginning to show otherwise. Of the all the sports at MSU that are ranked at the national level, only the women's swimming and diving and women's tennis teams have yet to crack the top-25 this year.

Since the collapse of the NCC, the Bison have won back-to-back NCAA Division I FCS national championships and along with former NCC-member and bitter rival South Dakota State, have combined for three appearances in the NCAA Division I "Big Dance" in just five seasons.

Minnesota State has filled the void left by schools like NDSU, SDSU and UND and if it can continue the athletic excellence it has achieved the past five years into the next five years... who wouldn't call it a powerhouse?

by Lucas Steckler, Minnesota State Athletic Communications graduate assistant

Rock

Loy "Rock" Young (right) with Kevin Buisman
(Director of Athletics) and men's basketball coach
Matt Margenthaler (middle)

We received an email back in January from a gentleman named Jerry Young.

Jerry was born in Mankato and attended MSU’s Wilson Campus School where he played basketball and football for Wendell Jahnke in high school in the mid-1960's. 

An admitted gym rat in the 50’s & 60’s, he spent a lot of time hanging out wherever his dad happened to be. Jerry's father happened to be school legend Loy "Rock" Young.

Born in 1923 in Summer, Iowa, in the early 1940’s, Rock was a four-year basketball letterman at what was then known as Mankato State Teachers College. His playing career and time in Mankato was interrupted by World War II as he spent four years as a pilot in the Army Transport Command, including 13 months flying a C-47 from India to China over the Himalayan mountain range. More than 1,000 men and 600 planes were lost in that battle. A member of "The Greatest Generation," Rock earned the Distinguished Flying Cross and an Air Medal with an Oak Leaf Cluster.

He returned from overseas to once again play in Mankato, helping the Indians to the NAIA finals in Kansas City, Mo., in 1947.  After graduating, he coached at two Minnesota high schools and was the head football coach at Dickinson State College before heading to Chadron State so he could coach basketball. One of the most successful coaches ever at Chadron, he was inducted into its Hall of Fame in 1992. Rock left Chadron to join the physical education department and serve as an assistant football and basketball coach at his alma mater, where he worked with MSU icons Bill Morris and Bob Otto until his retirement in 1984.  He was inducted into the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame in 1983.

“Rock”  recently turned 90 and for the first time since retirement is back in Mankato - moving into Keystone Communities with his wife of 68 years, Janette.  

We had a chance to meet and visit with Rock prior to the men's basketball game vs. Southwest Minnesota State Feb. 23rd. And from that meeting, it became obvious that the passion for MSU flows strongly through him and his family.

A big thanks to Jerry for helping us all come together.

It's great to be a Maverick!

Spring is Nigh

Rated eighth in national preseason polls, the Minnesota State
Baseball team begins its season Feb. 16th in the Metrodome
with a doubleheader vs. Winona State

While our winter teams (men's and women's basketball, men's and women's hockey, women's swimming and wrestling) hitting their strides, heading towards the conclusion of the regular season and on into the postseason, we must realize that spring is nigh.

We've been extremely fortunate in this part of the country, relative to how the weather gods have been so kind to us.  And it's only now where we've had to don the boots and gloves, grab a shovel and head out to take care of the driveway and sidewalks.

And whereas our fall student-athletes and teams had tremendous success, so has it continued on with men's basketball (currently rated seventh nationally and on the verge of hitting the 20-win mark), women's basketball (16-4 overall and have been ranked as high as 20th), men's hockey (currently ranked 11th, 16-9-3 overall), wrestling (rated 10th, 9-2 on the season), men's indoor track (rated ninth) teams. Women's hockey was rated tenth in the country at one point early in its season and women's swimming and women's indoor track are expected to do well at national meets as well, with qualifiers racking up team points.

This leads into the spring season where our women's tennis team has already started things off by earning a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference win over Northern State last Saturday.

The Maverick Baseball team, which is coming off a third-place national finish in 2012 and rated eighth in preseason polls by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and Collegiate Baseball Magazine, officially kicks off its season Feb. 16th in the Metrodome. MSU Softball, under the guidance of Hall of Famer Lori Meyer, was 49-10 a year ago and enters 2013 rated #6 in the National Fastpitch Coaches Association preseason rankings and starts Feb. 15 with a pair of games in Tucson, Ariz.

That leaves men's and women's outdoor track & field and men's and women's golf - four MSU sports that traditionally do extremely well at conference and national competitions. Spring break, which runs from March 11-15 this year, is typically the line of delineation for those seasons to kick in.

As Carly Simon sings in Anticipation..."We can never know about the days to come, But we think about them anyway."

It's great to be a Maverick.