Mavericks 4, Chargers 0 (again)

Freddy's three thoughts of the game ...

1. Back up top: Minnesota State won its fifth game in a row on Saturday. Coupled with Ferris State's loss at Bemidji State, the Mavericks are in a first-place tie with the Bulldogs in the WCHA standings. Ferris State has two games in hand over the Mavericks, though, so it might be tough for the Mavericks to win the MacNaughton Cup. But it could get awfully interesting down the stretch. Minnesota State is idle next weekend and will travel to Lake Superior State after that before closing out the regular season at home against Michigan Tech. As for MSU's Pairwise ranking, the Mavs were tied for 18th late Saturday, so there's some hope for them there, too.

2. Shots, shots, shots: Talk about a tilted rink. The Mavericks outshot the Chargers 65-10 — attempted shots 131-25(!) according to the stat sheet — and the score would have been much more lopsided if not for the play of Huntsville freshman Carmine Guerriero, who set a team record with 61 saves. It's not often that the losing goalie is one of the three stars of the game, while the one who gets the shutout win (Stephon Williams) is left out, but that was the case on Saturday. The last time MSU had 60+ shots on goal was in '02-03 when they had back-to-back 60-shot games against American International.

3. Milestone night: Jean-Paul LaFontaine scored two goals for the Mavericks (Johnny McInnis and Chase Grant had the others), giving him 20 on the season. That's a significant number. He's the sixth player in the country this season to hit that mark. Eriah Hayes had 20 goals last season, and Mick Berge and Travis Morin each had 20-goal seasons in the last decade. No one has had more than 20 since Shane Joseph and Grant Stevenson had 29 and 27, respectively in '02-03. LaFontaine's first goal also gave him 100 points for his career, a plateau Matt Leitner (two assists Saturday) reached earlier in the year.

For more on LaFontaine and the game, read my Free Press story here.

Around the WCHA: Alaska 7, Michigan Tech 2 ... Northern Michigan 5, Lake Superior 1 ... Bemidji State 2, Ferris State 1 ... Bowling Green at Alaska Anchorage (late)