[sureLoss]

https://www.therinklive.com/wcha/msu...innesota-State

Duehr was playing well, yet the senior forward from Sioux Falls, S.D., couldn’t help but notice that nearly two months into the season his stat line still had some round zeros in the places where he expected himself to have some crooked numbers.

“The first few games of the season, the points weren’t falling and that can be frustrating at times,” the 6-feet-2, 211-pound Duehr said. “I tried to not let that get in my way, just play my game and keep sticking with what I’m doing. Eventually the points started to come.”

Have they ever.

After going without a point through the first eight games of this season for the Minnesota State University men’s hockey team, Duehr has caught fire and turned into a point-per-game player.

With his size and speed, he’s been a force to be reckoned with throughout his college career. Over the second half of this season, he has become a force on the scoresheet, too, for the No. 3-ranked Mavericks (18-3-1 overall), who host Ferris State in the opening round of the WCHA playoffs this weekend at Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center.

Duehr enters the postseason with seven goals and 13 points in 22 games played. He’s recorded all of those points in the past 14 games.

“He’s been productive, but also we get a lot of energy from him,” MSU head coach Mike Hastings said after Duehr recorded a goal and two assists in last weekend’s series against Michigan Tech. “He’s big, he can move and he’s starting to produce offensively. Walker is giving us valuable minutes and he’s a handful in that offensive zone.

Perhaps the most impressive part about Duehr’s second-half surge? Regardless of who he’s playing with, he has produced.

He hasn’t played more than seven games with the same linemates all season. Duehr played seven games on a line with fellow senior Jared Spooner and powerful sophomore Brendan Furry. Junior Julian Napravnik took Spooner’s place on that line for six games after Spooner was injured on Feb. 5.

Last weekend, Duehr played on a line with Spooner and standout sophomore center Nathan Smith. That trio accounted for two of the Mavericks’ five goals in a two-game sweep of Michigan Tech to close the regular season.