Freddy's three thoughts of the game ...
1. Hard ice: Just as Minnesota State shut down Michigan Tech on Saturday night, the Huskies did the same to the Mavericks on Sunday to clinch Game 3 and advance to the WCHA tournament championship. Tech held MSU to just three shots on goal in a momentum-grabbing second period and blocked 11 shots for the game to end Minnesota State's season. They made life difficult for the Mavericks for much of the second and third periods after a fairly even and very physical first period. "It was a hard-fought battle," junior forward C.J. Franklin said. "Sometimes the bounces don't go your way. They made some plays, and it was game over."
2. Tough call #1: The game turned midway through the second period on a pair of power play goals by Tech's Gavin Gould, who finished the game with a hat trick. He put the home team up 3-1 with goals 85 seconds apart following back-to-back too-many-players penalties on Minnesota State. Those are penalties that shouldn't happen this time of year. The first was clearly an MSU mistake, as they skated with six on the ice for several seconds before getting caught. The second occurred during a line change, and coach Mike Hastings said he didn't agree with that. But, he added, they still needed to kill the penalties, and they didn't.
3. Tough call #2: For the second game in a row, the Mavericks had a goal taken off the board. On Sunday, it came with 3:05 to play in the game. A Daniel Brickley 6-on-4 power play goal would have made it a 3-2 game and undoubtedly made for a wild finish. But the officials went to the video review and determined that Franklin was in the crease making contact with goalie Angus Redmond on the play. Franklin said he didn't think he made contact. Hastings said, "No comment," and that he didn't want to take away from Tech earning the victory. I didn't get a great look at it on the TV monitors here. Would have liked the above-goal angle.
Deep thought: Sunday was the last game for senior skaters Carter Foguth (144 games), Sean Flanagan (140 games), Zach Stepan (136 games) Jordan Nelson (134 games) and Michael Huntebrinker (124 games) as well as for goalie Cole Huggins (88 games), who was the backup. That's a group that's accomplished a lot over its time at MSU, winning 98 games. "I'm going to miss them," Hastings said. "I thanked them for moving the needle for our program." Pretty classy group to deal with from a sportswriter's perspective, too, I might add.
Read my game story here.
Around the WCHA: Michigan Tech will host Bowling Green for the Broadmoor Trophy and the WCHA's lone bid into the NCAA tournament on Saturday in Houghton. "Whoever comes out of our league is going to be a real good representative at the national tournament," Hastings said.
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