Friday, February 9, 2018

Mavericks 3, Chargers 2 (OT)

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

1. Whew! The Mavericks were dominating from a shot standpoint, outshooting Alabama Huntsville 17-2 in the second period. They led 1-0 going into the third, though, and then gave up a pair of quick goals to fall behind 2-1. They found a way, though, with Marc Michaelis tying the game with 2:10 to play and C.J. Suess potting the game-winner 26 seconds into overtime. "For a lot of different reasons, that was really important," coach Mike Hastings said.

2. Killing time: Minnesota State took four penalties in the third period and fell behind on a power-play goal. They killed the next three, including nearly a minute of 5-on-3 time. Hastings singled out Edwin Hookenson and Riese Zmolek for their work on the penalty kill, which kept their deficit at just one goal and allowed them the chance to tie the game late. The Chargers finished 1 for 7 on the power play; the Mavericks were 0 for 6.

3. Keeping pace: As Hastings said, the win was important for a lot of reasons. One of those reasons was the Mavericks were able to keep pace with first-place Northern Michigan, which also won in overtime on Friday night. Minnesota State remains one point behind the Wildcats and still has two games in hand. The Mavericks also stayed in fifth place in the Pairwise rankings with the win. A loss would have dropped them a spot.

Read my writeup of the game here.

Deep thought: Gotta give a shout out to the Minnesota State women's team, who upset No. 5 Ohio State 4-1 at the Verizon Center on Friday. The Buckeyes have the top two scorers in the WCHA and were coming off a sweep of previously top-ranked Wisconsin. Lindsey Coleman scored twice, and Chloe Crosby stopped 35 of 36 shots.

Around the WCHA: Northern Michigan 2, Alaska 1 (OT) ... Bemidji State 4, Michigan Tech 2 ... Lake Superior State 3, Alaska Anchorage 2 (OT)

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