Freddy's three thoughts of the game ...
1. First place: With the smoke cleared from this weekend's games, Minnesota State finds itself in first place in the WCHA standings, one point ahead of Michigan Tech, which split with Northern Michigan over the weekend. The Mavericks are now 14-2-0 and 9-1-0 in league play after Saturday's dominating performance and series sweep over Alaska Anchorage. Friday's game probably should have been a similar result, but UAA's goaltender and some bad puck luck kept things close until the end. Speaking of that, not sure why the Seawolves coach Matt Curley not only didn't start Brody Claeys in goal Saturday but didn't even dress him.
2. Terrifying top line: Minnesota State's No. 1 line of Marc Michaelis, Parker Tuomie and Charlie Gerard was back to its old self with seven points in the game. Michaelis finished with two goals and an assist, and Tuomie and Gerard each had a goal and an assist. Of MSU's 58 shots on goal, that group accounted for 15 with Tuomie leading the way with six. Tuomie now has 22 points (nine goals) in 16 games, and Michaelis has 21 (10 goals). Gerard has 14 points (6 goals).
3. Going deep: As good as the top-line players were, the Mavericks' secondary scoring came through all weekend. Josh French scored for the second night in a row and now has four goals (remember: he had just one total in his first two seasons), and Shane McMahan scored his first career goal. That comes a night after Alec Vanko, French and Walker Duehr scored (along with Jared Spooner), and in a weekend in which No. 2 center Jake Jaremko missed both games with an illness. "Other guys getting in on the scoring is helpful; it takes some of the weight off Michaelis' line," said Nick Rivera, who had two assists Saturday and three in the series.
Read my game story here.
Around the WCHA: Bowling Green 4, Ferris State 3 (OT) ... Michigan Tech 3, Northern Michigan 1 ... Alabama Huntsville 4, Bemidji State 1
Programming note: No postgame video tonight, as I'm a little under the weather all of a sudden, and you don't want to watch me sneeze for 15 minutes in a row. Sorry about that.
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