Mavericks 1, Falcons 0 (OT)

Freddy's three thoughts of the game

1. A knack for big goals: Johnny McInnis is Mr. Saturday Night for Minnesota State. The Mavericks' captain scored his second huge goal in as many weekends to help his team get a series split. Saturday's overtime goal against Bowling Green was his ninth career game-winner and was reminiscent of an overtime goal he scored against Nebraska Omaha two years ago at the Verizon Wireless Center. He also made life a little more palatable for a sportwriter who didn't know how much copy he'd be able to squeeze out out of a scoreless tie!

2. Huggins has the net: Freshman goaltender Cole Huggins stopped 33 shots for his second career win and first shutout. Huggins, who also won a week ago at Bemidji State, stopped 24 shots over the first two peridos and backstopped a defensive corps that was down to five players -- including two sophomores and two freshmen (neither of which was Carter Foguth) -- after Brett Stern got the early boot for a checking-from-behind penalty. Rookie Casey Nelson rebounded nicely after a tough night Friday, and sophomore Nick Buchanan played his best college game so far.

3. Must win Important win: Being November and all, coach Mike Hastings didn't want to declare Saturday's game to be a must win, but it was huge to get two points out of the series, rather than one or zero, after Friday's rather rough outing. There's a lot of work that needs to be done and plenty of injuries to recover from (Hastings doesn't expect to get any injured players back before next weekend's series at Minnesota), but the Mavericks were able to make sure they didn't get themselves too deep into hole in the WCHA standings.

Box score

Around the WCHA: Ferris State 5, Bemidji State 3 ... Alaska 3, Lake Superior 2 (OT) ... Michigan Tech 3, Michigan State 2 (OT) ... Northern Michigan 5, Western Michigan 4 ... Huntsville at Anchorage (late)