Update: The Mavs started out with a penalty in the five-minute OT period. With 3:29 to go, Zacharias lost his helmet for the second time tonight and this time he paid for it when Davis caught him with his stick. Zacharias received a large gash on his forehead , but he came right backout after getting bandaged up. That’s heart. Third: Okay so I was right about overtime…kind of. Jason Wiley tied the game when his ice-level shot slipped through the muck in front of Kangas and in. Assists from Nick Canzanello and Kael Mouillierat early in the period. Stoa powered a shot through Zacharius to give Minnesota a 3-2 lead with 11:00 to go with a helper from Schroeder. Like I said, that line is going places. Schroeder has three assists tonight while Stoa has five goals through five games. But it looked like the game was destined for overtime, Cameron Cooper snuck a goal in 1:30 after Stoa. All three of the Mavs’ goals tonight have been either freak accidents or Kangas has been completely screened. It’s tough for the Gophers defense right now, playing an older (and larger) Minnesota State team. The Mavs are just camping out in front of the net and Minnesota can’t move them out of the slot. Half of the Gophers defensive group is under 6 foot and only David Fischer is over 200 lbs. At 6-3, 203, he’s by far the biggest blue-liner Minnesota has. Is it just me or does Aaron Ness have a target on his back? It seems like he’s taking big hits nearly every game. He’s not even Minnesota’s smallest skater at 5-10, 170 lbs. Barriball, Justin Bostrom and Kevin Wehrs are all smaller than the Roseau native. Other reasons? Minnesota Mr. Hockey Award winner last year, second-round draft pick last year, he’s also very young after graduating a year early from high school. Take your pick, but if Ness sticks around for more than a season, I’d say a summer in the weight room will have him laying more hits than he’s now taking. Minnesota leads in shots 47-26 and has had 10 pp chances. OT is on the fly and going to be short and sweet. Second period: I’m done trying to predict the rest of the game. After saying how limited scoring was in the first period, three goals and who knows how many scoring chances came out of the second. The second-period was so full of pipe shots, Gordon Bombay gave up hockey…again. Jay Barriball is already halfway to tying his season total from last year. Barriball caught a centering pass from Jordan Schroeder that caught Zacharias out of position for this third goal of the year. The line of Stoa-Schroeder-Barriball has been hot early this season. Including Stoa, who also earned an assist on Barriball’s goal) the line has contributed 16 points so far this year throught five games. But the Mavs caught a break with just over 10:30 to go in the second, or should I say a bump. Kurt Davis put a shot on net that appeared to hit an anomoly in the ice and bounced over Kangas’ glove to tie the game at 1-1. The unassisted goal extended Davis’ scoring streak to five-games. Cade Fairchild picked up his first goal of the year during a Gophers power-play. Schroeder and Barriball earned helpers. You have to give Joe Miller and Michael Dorr credit. Neither saw a lot of ice time, but both earned what they got. Miller was just cruising on the ice, while Dorr got leveled drawing a penalty, then got up and nearly scored in the open net except for a diving stick save by defenseman Kurt Davis. Minnesota still has maintained a 2-1 ratio on shots, now leading 28-14. First period: Imagine that, Minnesota and Minnesota State playing in a close game. NO? My sarcasm might not carry well over the internet, so I’ll be blatant. Both team’s have had a handful of opportunities, but two really come to mind. First, Trevor Bruess put a shot on Kangas that dribbled through the keeper and went just wide of the pipe. Then Patrick White’s shot bounced off Mike Zacharias and then off the pipe. Minnesota has a sizable 15-7 lead in the shots on goal category, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this one goes down to the wire. Now that those shenanigans are over and done with, it’s time for some fun. Paul Cordes, the Daily sports editor for those of you that he hasn’t facebook stalked, is sitting in on tonight’s game, and although his hockey knowledge is somewhat lacking , he’s counting down the five (well actually more than five) most interesting topics of the night so far. Here’s Paul… 5. The student section is as full and into the game as I have ever seen. 4. That being said, the costumes tonight are disapointing. I’d really like to see the Jamaican bobsled team over at the women’s hockey game. Goldy was by far the best tonight, dressing up as the Joker. Deutsch’s only complaint was his shirt was Mavericks’ purple. 3.. Everytime I see Don Lucia, all I can think about is him saying John McCain and Sarah Palin are on a “power-play.” Maybe McCain would be here if Lucia was a plumber. 2. Sitting on the side of the zamboni as it resurfaces the ice has to be the most awkward ten minutes of someone’s life, especially if they’re an adult. 1. The “Goldy wants you to know your power-plays” bit is hilarious. Tonight’s was roughing and Goldy took down a kid on a bike before the skirmish escalated to a ruckus. 0.5. Ice Cheerleaders falling down and/or colliding with each other. Pre-game: Happy Halloween folks. I have to say Mariucci Arena is a little more colorful tonight, I’ve already seen the Hanson brothers and Thing 1 and Thing 2. Pretty interesting.

On to hockey, where Gophers freshmen forwards Nico Sacchetti and Jake Hansen have both been benched by Don Lucia for a violation of team rules. What that violation is remains unknown, and I doubt we’ll ever find out what is really is. Joe Miller and Michael Dorr will both make their Minnesota debuts in place of the suspended forwards.

Here’s the Gophers line-up for tonight with the adjustments:

Stoa-Schroeder-Barriball

Lucia-Carman-Flynn

Hoeffel-White-Dorr

Miller-Matson-Bostrom

Fairchild-Fischer

Ness-Anderson

Wehrs-Lofquist

Kangas with Patterson backing up.