1. Teddy Time: It's not often that you see a team score five goals in one period. And when it does happen, it's even more rare that you hear the same player's name announced on every goal. But that's what happened Saturday night, as Teddy Blueger had a hand in all five of Minnesota State's goals in an offensive outburst in the first period. He scored one and assisted on four others, including two to linemate Bryce Gervais. If that pair starts heating up and playing as many hoped they would at the beginning of the season, they Mavericks could be in good shape going forward. "I thought Blueger, Gervais and (Zeb) Knutson were a spark for us the entire night," coach Mike Hastings said. Knutson also had a goal, and the three combined for 18 shots on goal. Gervais had nine of those shots and 17 for the series.
2. Power goes on: The Mavericks finally got their power play going, scoring twice on five chances Saturday to snap an 0 for 29 streak that lasted more than six games. Both goals came during a major penalty in the first period, with Blueger crashing down the weak side to tap in Michael Huntebrinker's shot pass from the others side and Gervais putting back a Huntebrinker rebound just 44 seconds after that. "Good puck movement, decisiveness," Hastings said of the power play. "Made some plays and finished." Special teams were big, as the Mavericks kept the Seawolves' power play off the board and got a short-handed goal from C.J. Franklin that made it 5-0 with nearly five minutes still to play in the first period.
3. Pawloski still unbeaten: Freshman goaltender Jason Pawloski stopped 24 shots, including a few very impressive saves, to improve his record to 5-0-2. He has played five games in a row. He finally got a nice cushion to work with, with the 5-0 lead, but the Seawolves did make a strong push, scoring twice and putting 14 shots on goal in a scoreless third period. The goalie wasn't the only rookie to make an impact on the game. Forward Max Coatta scored MSU's sixth goal of the game, his second of the year, and defenseman Alec Vanko had the second assist on Blueger's goal for his first collegiate point. The fourth line was an all freshman group of Coatta, Ryan Schwalbe and Chandler Madry.
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Around the WCHA: Bowling Green 4, Northern Michigan 3 (OT) ... Lake Superior State 3, Ferris State 2 ... Michigan Tech 3, Alaska 1
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