The Sky Is Falling

Well, okay, maybe not literally, but as everyone knows by now, the sky did fall on the HHH Metrodome in Minneapolis on Dec. 12 (video can be found HERE for those who somehow missed it).

Not only did the Dome collapse screw up two of the remaining four Minnesota Viking games, it is now effecting some 300 college baseball games this up coming winter and spring.  Mavblog spoke with Minnesota State head coach Matt Magers today and he had this to say about the Dome, "The biggest thing is you can't control the weather.  Even if it is not in the Dome, baseball in Minnesota, in the spring,  weather is something you have to deal with.  We are trying to decide if we go back to Colorado in February or down to Missouri or add a couple of games on our spring trip.  There are other teams in our situation so now it is the matter of getting together with them, finding a location and seeing if we can play."

Several newspapers around the NSIC have localized this story, including the Argus Leader, The St. Cloud Times, Minneapolis Star Tribune (part two of the Stibs Coverage) and the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

The Mavericks were slated to play four series (eight games) in the MetroDome, including their season opener on Feb. 15, against Lincoln.  MSU was also to play Concordia in a nonconference twinbill (Feb. 18), as well as nonconference double-dips against the University of Mary (March 14) and Bemidji State (March 22).

Here is a breakdown of how the NSIC will be affected by the Dome's temporary closing (unofficially)

School Dome Games
Bemidji State 16
St. Cloud State 16
Concordia 10
Minnesota State 8
Winona State 8
Wayne State 8
Minnesota Duluth 6
Minnesota, Crookston 6
Southwest Minnesota State 6
Northern State 4
Augustana 4
U-Mary 3
Upper Iowa 0
Total 95

Providing the estimates of 300 games will be played in the Dome this winter are accurate, 31.6 percent of them were to include teams from the NSIC.

Finally a non-baseball related read.  Tuesday night, the University of Iowa defeated Missouri, 27-24, in the Insight.com Bowl.  One of Iowa's Co-MVPs for the season is senior defensive lineman Karl Klug, twin brother of former Maverick (and 2009 First-Team All-NSIC South Division Linebacker) Kevin Klug.  The Winona Daily News ran THIS story on the brothers, well worth the read.

In closing, we in the Athletic Communications Office wish everyone a Happy and Safe 2011!

Go Mavericks

Merry Christmas from the Mavericks!

Former MSU DB Dan Rotchadl mans the Red Kettle 

So I'm heading to Walmart for some last minute stuff and on my way into the store, as I'm dropping a buck into the Salvation Army kettle, the guy ringing the bell and wearing the Santa hat says to me...."Merry Christmas, PA!"  It was noneother than former Maverick safety Dan Rotchadl!

Rotch, who played for MSU from 1975-79, is a former head football coach at Loyola High School here in Mankato where he skippered the Crusaders for six seasons. Dan has served as a clock operator at Maverick football home games for the past several seasons and took Loyola to the state tournament in 2007.

A very Merry Christmas back at yah, Rotch and to everyone out there in Maverick Country, a very Merry Christmas to you as well!

All the best to you all from everyone at Minnesota State Athletics.

It's great to be a Maverick.

Field of Dreams......

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Every little girl dreams of being in a movie someday.  For former Minnesota State softball player Erin Goettlicher that childhood dream came true.

Goettlicher - a Mankato native - and MSU softball standout from 1998-2001 appears in a cameo role in the new Reese Witherspoon comedy, "How Do You Know?"

The Mankato Freep's Amanda Dylson penned an article about Goettlicher in today's print edition of the paper.  Unfortunately the story never made it to the online edition of the paper's website but a check back to the www.mankatofreepress.com often to see if it gets posted.

For those who don't remember, Goettlicher went onto play professional softball on the East Coast following her career at Minnesota State.  HERE is a link to Jim Rueda's column from 2007 discussing Goettlicher's exploits.

You can follow Goettlicher on Twitter by clicking HERE

Below you will find the trailer for "How Do You Know?"

Snowpes

Yeah, we live in Minnesota, so typically  a few inches of snowfall and a drop in the temperature in the second week of December isn't really that big of a deal.  But this past weekend was, as Ron Burgundy would say, "kind of a big deal."

After freezing rain late Friday, the worst part of this winter storm came rolling through Saturday with about nine inches of snow accompanied by strong winds causing drifting and white-out conditions that would have made Yetis in Nepal cringe.

We were able to get our women's hockey game vs. Bemidji State in, but with on-ice officials unable to make it to Mankato for the MSU vs. North Dakota men's hockey game later in the evening, that game was postponed until yesterday (Sunday, Dec. 12).

In case you were wondering if a postponed WCHA game is unusual, the folks from North Dakota don't think they've ever had a game cancelled or postponed and that program dates back to the 1929 season.  The University of Minnesota, by the way, also postponed its men's and women's hockey games from Saturday to Sunday.  And our men's and women's basketball teams and our wrestling team, which were in St. Cloud for Saturday competition, ended up spending the night in St. Cloud.

It's great to be a Maverick.

Friday Funday & Link-O-Rama

A George Jones once sang, it's Finally Friday and this is the last "busy" Friday prior to the New Year.

The Minnesota State men's and women's hoops teams open a four-game roadtrip tonight, while the men's and women's hockey teams close the books on a pair of four-game homestands this weekend.

Additionally, the Maverick wrestling squad will head to the Granite City (good ole St. Cloud for those who aren't down with the Upper Midwest vernacular) to participate in the St. Cloud State Open, its final tune-up before next week's ever so prestigious Reno Tournament of Champions.

Lots to read about with Maverick Athletics in the paper over the last couple of days.

The Maverick men's hockey team is playing well right now following four consecutive victories including its first-ever home sweep against Minnesota.  Sophomore netminder Phil Cook turned away 82 of the 85 shots he faced last weekend and was named the league's Co-Defensive Player of the Week for his efforts.  The Mankato Free Press's Shane Frederick previewed this weekend's WCHA series with North Dakota and highlight cook in this article.  Senior forward Ryan Galiardi previews the weekend for a video on msumavericks.com which can be found HERE.

For those wondering about this weekend's series with North Dakota, tickets are still available for each night - contact the Verizon Wireless Civic Center (507.389.3000) for details.

A final couple of notes on last weekend's win over Minnesota - video highlights of the sweep can be found HERE.  Head coach Troy Jutting and sophomore Eriah Hayes join Paul Allan and Kyle Bradt on the Maverick Magazine today at 10 a.m. (CST).  To listen live, click HERE or listen to the podcast HERE.

The women's hockey team looks to get back on track this weekend as it hosts Bemidji State in its final series before the holiday break.  Head Coach Eric Means previews the weekend in a video which can be found HERE.

The Maverick men's and women's basketball team take to the road this weekend to open a four-game roadtrip.  The Mavericks play tonight at Concordia University (women's game starts at 5:30, men's at 7:30) and then tomorrow afternoon and evening at St. Cloud State (women's game at 4, men's at 6).  Always a great roadtrip.  Livestats and live video for the weekend can be found on the schedule page on msumavericks.com for each team.

Juniors Laura Weber and Lauren Barber preview the weekend in video which can be found HERE.  Additionally, Chad Courrier pens this column in today's Mankato Free Press about the men's basketball team, discussing how the team is tougher this year and playing better defense.

A live chat with Scott Nelsen will be available for both the men's and women's games this weekend.  The link for the chat can be found HERE.

In a follow up to Mavblog's discussion with head wrestling coach Jim Makovsky following his hip replacement surgery, Jim Reuda of the Mankato Free Press inked this column about Makovsky.

In closing former Maverick golfer Bryant Black - now a graduate student at Minnesota State - was mentioned in a front-page story today in the Freep about his class collecting and donating new and used sports equipment to charity.  The article can be found HERE

One last sidenote.  It was reported this morning that the voice of the Maverick men's hockey program and Oldies 100.5 FM Deejay Mike "Sully" Sullivan as playing this classic Christmas hit.  Enjoy.

Taking Solace

Jim Makovsky

"I wasn't the best technician in amateur wrestling. But I was strong, had great conditioning, and a hard head. Nobody could break me." Brock Lesnar, former NCAA wrestling and UFC heavyweight champion.

You can see it in his eyes.  Minnesota State coach Jim Makovsky thrives on working in the wrestling room with his team.  He'd played football and wrestled at Valley City State (N.D.) as a student-athlete prior to embarking on his now lengthy coaching career and the years of drilling with the boys have started to take its toll.  Makovsky, who's in his 18th year with the Maverick wrestling program, recently had his right hip replaced and although the pain from the procedure is undoubtedly tremendous, you just know that not being able to work like he normally would with his team is something he's struggling that pains him even more.

MavBlog:  "I suppose this hip-replacement thing isn't something that just cropped up."

Makovsky:  "(laughing) No, no.  It's been chronic for a while and have known since 2004 that I was going to have to get this done eventually."

MavBlog: "Can you describe what you had done and how's the recovery going?"

Makovsky: "I had what's called a Birmingham Hip Resurfacing Procedure.  Basically it's a pretty new procedure for people that are younger and active and need hip replacement.   I was pretty excited to have this rather than the other procedure which involves a total hip replacement.  You retain more bone with this process."

"The recovery is going o.k.  It's probably been mentally harder than physically.  I'm not good at sitting around.  I like being around the program with the comaraderie you have with the guys.  I like the work part of it and being around positive people.  I started rehab right away and I'm at the point now where it's more of a workout pain and feels pretty good."

MavBlog: "Where does it go from here?"

Makosky:  "I'm going to listen to my doctors and physical therapists.  Try not to push too much, which I'm not good at.  I'm not going to to our meet at UNI this weekend and that was a tough decision.  But long term it will be good for me."

MavBlog:  "What are your thoughts on the team this year and have you had a chance to be back into the room this week?"

Mavovsky:  "It's tough, because we're relatively inexperienced and don't have that national championship meet experience you like to see.  But I think we have a chance to be good.  We won't really know what we have until we get into the second half of the season.   But, I love our guys.  I'm not sure if they were happy to see me or not when I came into the room today.  They gave me some grief about my cane, but that's the nature of our guys.  Just another experience along the way."

Currently ranked seventh in the nation, Minnesota State is at the UNI Open in Cedar Falls, Iowa this weekend.

It's great to be a Maverick.