Updating the list

Minnesota State's beautiful Taylor Center will host the
2014 NCAA DII men's basketball Central Regional

Local college sports fans are in for a treat this weekend with Minnesota State hosting the Men's Basketball NCAA Division II Central Regional and a first round Western Collegiate Hockey Association play-off series.

For basketball, that means an additional seven games of postseason action in Taylor Center with four regional quarterfinal games Saturday, a pair of semi-final games Sunday and a championship game Tuesday.  Teams from the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC), the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) and the Great American Conference (GAC) make up the Central Region and in addition to ninth-rated Minnesota State (NSIC) taking on Harding (GAC), the other three first-round games include Missouri Southern (MIAA) vs. Fort Hays State (MIAA), Central Missouri (MIAA) vs. Arkansas Tech (GAC) and Winona State (NSIC) vs. Northwest Missouri State (MIAA).  The regional champion advances to the NCAA DII Elite Eight championship tournament, which is slated for March 26-29 in Evansville, Indiana.

The Mavericks, who stand 29-4 on the year, are hosting the regional tournament for the fourth time in the last five years.

The Minnesota State men's hockey team, meanwhile, squares off against Northern Michigan in a best-of-three series beginning Friday with the hopes of advancing to the WCHA Final Five. The winner of the league post-season tournament gets the league's auto-bid to the NCAA tournament.  The Mavericks, who enter this weekend with a 22-13-1 overall record and have fashioned a nine-game unbeaten streak, finished second in the league regular-season standings.

Minnesota State is the only school in the country hosting the unique NCAA DII men's basketball regional/men's hockey league play-off series this weekend, but hosting postseason events is nothing new for the Mavericks.  We've blogged a little on this in the past, but have added a few events to this burgeoning list.

Events Hosted by Minnesota State Athletics
Year          Event                                                                                           
1983-84    NCC Baseball Tournament
1985-86    NCC Baseball Tournament
1987-88    NCAA DII Baseball Midwest Regional
1988-89    NCAA DII Softball Midwest Regional
1989-90    NCC Baseball Tournament
1993-94    NCAA DII Wrestling Regional/NCC Championship
1997-98    NCC Baseball Tournament
1998-99    NCC Baseball Tournament
2000-01    NCC Baseball Tournament
2002-03    WCHA Play-Offs First Round
2002-03    NCC Softball Tournament
2003-04    NCAA DII Wrestling National Championships
2005-06    NCC Baseball Tournament
2007-08    NCAA DII Wrestling Central Regional
2007-08    NCC Indoor Track & Field Championships
2007-08    NCAA DII Indoor Track & Field Championships
2007-08    WCHA Play-Offs First Round
2007-08    NCAA DII Softball Central Regional
2008-09    NCAA DII Women’s Basketball Central Regional
2009-10    NCAA DII Men’s Basketball Central Regional
2009-10    NSIC Indoor Track & Field Championships
2010-11    NSIC Women’s Soccer Tournament
2010-11    NSIC Baseball Tournament
2010-11    NCAA DII Men’s Basketball Central Regional
2010-11    NCAA DII Softball Central SubRegional
2011-12    NSIC Indoor Track & Field Championships
2011-12    NCAA DII Indoor Track & Field Championships
2011-12    NSIC Baseball Tournament
2011-12    NCAA DII Softball Central SubRegional
2011-12    NCAA DII Baseball Central Regional
2012-13    NSIC Women’s Soccer Tournament
2012-13    NCAA DII Football Second Round Game
2012-13    NCAA DII Football Quarterfinal Game
2012-13    NCAA SII Football Semifinal Game
2012-13    NCAA DII Women’s Soccer Central Regional
2012-13    WCHA Play-Offs First Round
2012-13    NCAA DII Men’s Basketball Central Regional
2012-13    NCAA DII Softball Central SubRegional
2012-13    NCAA DII Baseball Central Regional
2013-14    NCAA DII Football Second Round Game
2013-14    NCAA DII Men’s Basketball Central Regional
2013-14    WCHA Play-Offs First Round
2013-14    NCAA DII Softball Central SubRegional
2014-15    NSIC Women's Soccer Tournament
2014-15    NCAA DII Women's Soccer Regional 1st & 2nd Round
2014-15    NCAA DII Football Second Round Game
2014-15    NCAA DII Football Quarterfinal Game
2014-15    NCAA DII Football Semifinal Game 
2014-15    NSIC Indoor Track & Field Championships
2014-15    NCAA DII Wrestling Super Region 3 Championship
2014-15    WCHA Play-Offs First Round
2015-16    NCAA DII Women's Soccer Regional 1st & 2nd Round
2015-16    NCAA DII Football First Round Game
2015-16     NCAA DII Women’s Soccer Regional 1st & 2nd Round
2015-16    NCAA DII Football First Round Game (loss)
2015-16    NSIC Indoor TF Championships
2015-16    NSIC Men’s Basketball Play-Offs - First Round
2015-16    WCHA First Round series (3 games)

2016-17     NCAA DII Women’s Soccer Regional 1st & 2nd Round
2016-17    NSIC Indoor TF Championships
2016-17    NSIC Men’s Basketball Play-Offs - First Round
2016-17    WCHA First Round series (2 games)
2016-17    NCAA DII Softball Super Region 2 Tournament

2017-18    NSIC Women’s Soccer postseason tournament
2017-18     NCAA DII Women’s Soccer Regional 1st & 2nd Round
2017-18    NCAA DII Football First Round Game (win)
2017-18    NCAA DII Football Second Round Game (win)
2017-18    NCAA DII Football Third Round Game (loss)
2017-18    NSIC Indoor TF Championships
2017-18    NSIC Men’s Basketball Play-Offs - First Round
2017-18    WCHA First Round series (2 games)
2017-18    WCHA Second Round series (3 games)

2018-19    NSIC Women’s Soccer postseason tournament
2018-19    NCAA DII Women’s Soccer Regional 1st & 2nd Round
2018-19    NCAA DII Football First Round Game (win)
2018-19    NCAA DII Football Second Round Game (win)
2018-19    NCAA DII Football Third Round Game (loss)
2018-19    NSIC Indoor TF Championships
2018-19    NSIC Men’s Basketball Play-Offs - First Round
2018-19    WCHA First Round series (2 games)
2018-19    WCHA Second Round series (2 games)
2018-19    WCHA Championship (1 game)

2019-20    NCAA DII Women’s Soccer Regional 1st & 2nd Round
2019-20    NCAA DII Women’s Soccer Third Round & NCAA Quarterfinals
2019-20    NCAA DII Football First Round Game (win)
2019-20    NCAA DII Football Second Round Game (win)
2019-20    NCAA DII Football Third Round Game (win)
2019-20    NSIC Indoor TF Championships
2019-20    NSIC Men’s Basketball Play-Offs - First Round
2019-20    NSIC Women’s Basketball Play-Offs - First Round
2019-20    WCHA First Round series (2 games)

It's great to be a Maverick.

Lots Left in the Tank

Minnesota State's basketball teams are looking forward
to hosting postseason games in Taylor Center

What's in store, you ask?

Well, given the fact that we still have another month's worth of men's and women's basketball left in the regular season, ten men's hockey regular-season games, six women's hockey games, four wrestling duals and three weekend's worth of the indoor track & field season, the answer is lots.

The only Minnesota State winter sports program that has completed its regular season is women's swimming.  The Mavericks are tapering toward the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference meet scheduled for Feb. 6-9 in Rochester.

The other winter sports, meanwhile, are in stretch drives, jockeying for position in conference standings and preparing for NCAA postseason competition, as well.

Unless something unexpected happens, both the men's and women's basketball teams will host NSIC postseason first-round games Wednesday, Feb. 26 in Taylor Center.  The NSIC basketball championship round is slated for March 1-4 in Sioux Falls. NCAA Central Region tournaments take place the third week of March (March 14-17 for the women and March 15-18 for the men).

If the season were to end now (it doesn't), the Minnesota State men's hockey team would host a first-round best-of-three WCHA play-off series March 14-16. This year's WCHA Final Five is in Grand Rapids, Mich., March 21-22 with NCAA regional action scheduled for March 28-30.

The NSIC indoor track & field championship meet, which MSU has hosted three times in the last four years (2010, 2012 and 2013), takes place in Bemidji this year Feb. 28-March 1. This year's NCAA indoor championship is March 14-15 in Winston-Salem, N.C.

The NCAA DII Wrestling Central Super Region is in Edmond, Okla., March 1-2 and the national meet is March 14-15 in Cleveland, Ohio.

And so it goes and eventually the temperatures will rise and the snow will dissipate.

Minnesota State's women's tennis program takes on Southwest Minnesota State Feb. 2 in St. Peter. The Maverick Softball squad kicks its season off with six games Feb. 14-16 in Bentonville, Mo., and the #1-rated Maverick Baseball program opens its 2014 campaign March 8-9 with four nonconference games in Monticello, Ark.  Our golf teams aren't too far behind.

Think warm thoughts. It's great to be a Maverick.

The Frenchman

Don Amiot served as MSU's
Director of Athletics from
1988-2002

Change.

Not the kind you find in your pocket when you're about to go to bed.

But the kind of change that occurs during the course of a 14-year career as director of athletics and if there's one word that defined Don Amiot's time in that role at Minnesota State which began in 1988 and ended in 2002, it was change.

"If there's one thing I've learned is that change is constant," said Amiot.

Indeed.  During his time in charge of Maverick Athletics, it must have seemed like an everyday occurrence.

When he first came on board the Maverick men's athletic department was separate from the women's and Amiot coupled with Georgene Brock, the women's AD, to run things. When Brock retired in 1999, Amiot oversaw both departments. He was involved with the developent and building of the Mankato Civic Center (now known as Verizon Wireless Center), which opened in 1995. The school added women's soccer in 1996 and women's hockey became a reality in 1998.  The men's hockey program transitioned from NCAA Division III to Division I and was accepted into the Western Collegiate Hockey Association beginning in 1999-2000. Taylor Center came online in 2000 and a new Myers Field House opened the following year.

And while he can't take credit for it, the school that was known as Mankato State became Minnesota State University, Mankato in 1998.

Now, more than ten years removed from the day-to-day running of the department, Amiot says he looks back on his time with great pride.

"We had our challenges, certainly," he said from his Mankato home. "But we worked hard every day to respond to what those were.  We were able to get things done and it's great to see how far things have come since then."

Pointing to the success of several current teams the Crookston, Minn., native feels the Mavericks will continue to ascend.

"Things continue to evolve. With the break up of the North Central Conference and the move to another league in the Northern Sun, unquestionably, that's affected things.  I don't know how anyone can look at the overall success of the programs and say that that's a bad thing.  I watched the football game Saturday online and, while you certainly didn't like to see the game end the way it did, it's incredible to think what those young men have accomplished over the course of the last two seasons.  And they should continue to be one of the top teams in the country the next year and the year after that." 

"The key has always been putting good people in charge of programs.  And the school has done that." said Amiot. " I look at when we hired Matt Margentler to run our men's basketball program in 2001. He hadn't been a head coach at this level, but he brought a tremendous amount of energy and the timing was right.  He's surrounded himself with great people like Mike Schott and it's not a coincidence, especially with Taylor Center, that the men's program is considered one of the best in the country."

Although Amiot and his wife, Jo, still have their home in Mankato, they spend three or four of the winter months at their Arizona residence near Apache Junction. "There's a number of Minnesotans there, including Ron Hybertson (former MSU professor who served as the school's faculty representative during Amiot's career). And we enjoy visiting our grandkids in the Twin Cities and Madison (Wis.)."

It's great to be Maverick!

Got 'em right where we want 'em

John Belushi as Bluto

"Did you say over? Nothing is over until we decide it is!"  - Bluto from Animal House.

There's been alot to celebrate during the course of the past quarter century for Minnesota State Athletics.

National championships in women's basketball in 2008-09 and men's cross country in 1988.  A total of 26 individual national championships, including four by high jumper Jim Dilling from 2004-07 and dominance in the women's pole vault led by the triumvirate of Amanda Frame, Katelin Rains and Lauren Stelten that began in 2003-04 and has totalled seven NCAA titles to date.

MSU reaffiliated its men's hockey program to Division I in the mid-1990s and in addition to a national tournament appearance in 2002-03 on a team featuring All-American forwards Shane Joseph and Grant Stevenson, the Mavericks have produced six National Hockey League performers, a Stanley Cup champion in Ryan Carter (Anaheim in 2007) and an Olympian in David Backes.  The MSU women's program boasts a Patty Kazmeier finalist in goaltender Shari Vogt and Olympians in Nina Tikkinen and Emilia Andersson.

The football team broke through to win a North Central Conference championship in 1987 and during the span of the last 25 seasons has made six NCAA postseason appearances.

Gorgeous Taylor Center opened 2000 and in addition to the aforementioned success of the women's program basketball program, the men's program has become a Division II powerhouse with its litany of league titles and NCAA appearances.  The wrestling program competes annually for a spot in the top five in the nation.  The baseball, softball, track and cross country, soccer and golf teams have captured more than 50 league titles between them over the course of this period.

So, that being said, and given the success of MSU teams during this time, surely we can point to situations where Mavericks teams have had to battle back from what would have appeared to be an unwinnable situation to win games.

Well, yes we can.  There are many, as a matter of fact, with a quartet of these situations immediately come to mind.

Feb. 2, 1991, St. Cloud, Minn. (Halenbeck Hall). The MSU men's basketball team trailed North Central Conference rival St. Cloud by ten (93-83) with 1:27 left in the game on SCSU's home court.  With the Mavericks surging, guard Bryon Lindsey scored eight points in the final 39 seconds as MSU fought back to tie the game, 97-97, at the end of regulation.  MSU eventually won in overtime, 108-106.

Oct. 2, 1993, Mankato, Minn. (Blakeslee Stadium). The Mavericks trailed #1-rated North Dakota State 21-0 in its annual Homecoming game, but MSU scored near the end of the third quarter and then twice more in the fourth to make it 21-21.  The Bison, who had never lost to the Mavericks in Mankato, scored with 1:55 left in the game, but a missed PAT left the score at 27-21.  Following the kick-off, the Mavericks lost the ball on downs, but got it back when NDSU fumbled on its next possession.  Jamie Pass hit diminutive receiver Jeff Spikner on a 23-yard strike with :22 left and Kenny Navitsky's successful kick gave the Mavericks an incredible 28-27 win in front of 6,100 rollicking fans.

Dec. 20, 2003, Mankato, Minn. (Midwest Wireless Civic Center). The eventual national champions from Denver built a 7-1 lead before a goal by defenseman Lucas Fransen midway through the second period started the ball rolling for the Mavericks. Travis Morin tallied on the power play and Shane Joseph scored two more power play goals before the end of the period to make it 7-5. Then after Adam Gerlach and Brad Thompson scored to tie it up, Joseph completed his hat trick with the game-winner with five minutes left.  The Mavericks, by the way, used three goaltenders in the game and Chris Clark, who was making his first varsity appearance, stopped all 13 shots he faced to get the win.

May 4, 2011, Sioux Falls, S.D. (Bowden Field). In its opening game of the 2011 NSIC softball tournament, #12 Minnesota State trailed #19 Winona State 7-1 heading into its last at bats.  Abby Sonner lit the fuse after her two-run homer made it 7-3.  Infielder Amanda Umhoefer's solo shot cut the deficit to three and after Melanie Upchurch and Lauryn Morris singled, Natalie Spicer's three-run homer tied the game.  Julie O'Neal then singled and came around to score after Kelly Wood's drive to right was misplayed to end the game.

As mentioned, there are several other instances in which the Mavericks found a way to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.  And as Greg Marmalard said in Animal House in reference to the fraternities at Faber College - "They're each outstanding in their own way."

See you at the ballpark this weekend with MSU hosting the 2011 NSIC baseball tournament at Franklin Rogers and the 2011 NCAA Softball Central Subregional on campus.

It's great to be a Maverick!