1. Road woes continue: The Mavericks fell to 1-6 away from Mankato in January with a somewhat inexplicable performance on Friday night. Minnesota State simply wasn't very good, and, credit to Northern Michigan, it put out an excellent effort. The Wildcats blocked 21 shots, knocked away passes, disrupted rushes and finished their own plays. They were the better team. It was the third loss in a row for the Mavericks and fifth consecutive road loss. To paraphrase Chase Grant: playoff games (after the first round) are on the road, too.
2. Unhappy Hastings: Coach Mike Hastings couldn't find much good in this one. "This is one I'm upset about," he said. He talked about his players' commitment right now, saying, "You've got to stay behind your players —and we definitely will — but this one, I look at and say, you know what, our commitment level wasn't where it needed to be throughout the entire game. I thought at times it was, but not throughout the game." Not good for a team expecting to win the WCHA and do something in the postseason. I'm already curious to see what Saturday night brings.
3. Big swing: The Mavericks led 1-0 after Johnny McInnis 5x3 power play goal with 2:38 left in the second period. After the goal, MSU still had a big chunk of a major penalty to work with. But they couldn't get another goal over a stretch of 3:34 of power-play time, including 1:19 of two-man advantage (there was another one before the one McInnis scored on). Instead, MSU ended the advantage when Sean Flanagan and Bryce Gervais committed penalties four seconds apart, and the Wildcats scored on their 4x3 power play with 16 seconds left in the period. Suddenly, it was Northern's game.
Read my game story here and Matt Wellens' Mining Journal story here.
Read my game story here and Matt Wellens' Mining Journal story here.
Around the WCHA: Michigan Tech 5, Bowling Green 2 ... Alaska 6, Alabama Huntsville 1
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