A slightly edited news release from MSU Mankato:
Minnesota State began the New Year with a a 6-1 nonconference home win over Rochester Institute of Technology Friday.
Senior forward Jared Stewart, of Hastings, scored twice and junior forward Rylan Galiardi had a goal and an assist to pace the Maverick offense and freshman netminder Phil Cook stopped 30 of 31 shots.
Senior forward Nick Canzanello, who hadn't scored since Nov. 22 of 2008, slipped the puck past RIT netminder Jared DeMichiel to give the Mavericks a 1-0 first-period lead. Stewart's 10th goal of the year, which came at 14:47 of the second and Tyler Pitlick's seventh at 15:51 of the second, gave the Mavericks a 3-0 lead into the third period..
Sophomore Michael Dorr, a transfer from Minnesota who recently became eligible, scored on a wrap-around at 4:53 of the third before RIT's Stevan Matic beat Cook from in front at 6:41 to make it a 4-1 MSU lead. Galiardi's fifth goal of the season at 14:22 and Stewart's team-high 11th goal at 18:05 closed the scoring.
Now 6-2-1 in its last nine games, MSU outshot the visiting Tigers 32-31. The Mavericks are now 10-9-2 overall for 2009-10.
The two teams play again at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Verizon Wireless Center in downtown Mankato.
