Seawolves 3, Mavericks 1

Freddy's three thoughts (from afar) ...

1. Hand him the award: I haven't looked at all of the other box scores too closely, but it's hard to imagine Anchorage goalie Chris Kamal not earning WCHA defensive player of the week honors this week. Kamal stopped 35 of 36 shots on Saturday to help the Seawolves sweep the Mavericks. For the weekend the senior stopped 62 of 64 shots. It was Anchorage's first sweep of MSU since the 2010-11 season and the first ever in Anchorage in the Division I era. Anchorage is a different team at home this season; it's now 9-2-1 at Sullivan Arena.

2. What happened? Zach Lehrke scored MSU's lone goal. He finished off a 2-on-1 rush with J.P. LaFontaine, shooting the puck with his stick between his own legs. Lehrke had two points in the series. Stephon Williams got the start in goal and stopped 12 of 15 shots before getting the hook at 1:34 of the second period. That's when Ben Matthews scored UAA's third goal. Looked like a shot Williams should have stopped. Cole Huggins came in and faced just one shot the rest of the third period. The Mavericks had a 13-4 shot advantage in the third period and even had a major penalty to work with, along with an extra attacker, over the final 3 1/2 minutes but couldn't beat Kamal.

3. Where they stand: The Mavericks went 1-3-0 on their road trip to Alaska, gaining just two points for the WCHA standings. Certainly, the hope was to get at least four points. They're now in third place in the WCHA, one point behind Bowling Green and two ahead of Bemidji State. MSU has played two fewer league games than those two teams. At 12-10-0 overall, the Mavericks have dropped to 23rd in the Pairwise Rankings. They went into the weekend 16th. Minnesota State returns home where it will play the league's first-place team, Ferris State, which has yet to lose in conference play.

Around the WCHA: Notre Dame 5, Alabama Huntsville 0 ... Alaska 1, Bowing Green 1 (OT) ... Ferris State 3, Michigan Tech 2 ... Bemidji State 3, Lake Superior 1