Mavericks 2, Beavers 0

Freddy's three thoughts of the game ...

1. Feeling better: I'm not sure if Minnesota State completely flushed Saturday's clunker against St. Cloud State, but bouncing back to beat Bemidji State with a really solid first period and a shutout from Dryden McKay (his fifth of the season and ninth of his career) was a big-time rebound for the Mavericks. Marc Michaelis and Reggie Lutz scored first-period goals, and that was enough to get through the next 40 minutes against a really good defensive team.

2. Shot-blockin': The Mavericks closed out the game by blocking six shots during a penalty kill with under 4 minutes to play. The Beavers pulled goalie Henry Johnson for an extra attacker, and although  Minnesota State couldn't pot an empty-netter, its efforts to get in front of shots and preserve the win was impressive. "You knew Bemidji was going to take a push, especially when we took a penalty. ..." coach Mike Hastings said. "I thought we had some selfless acts on the penalty kill, and we didn’t have a lot of that last night."

3. Newbies come through: Saturday's debacle led to some major line changes on Sunday. Out were Charlie Gerard, Dallas Gerads, Walker Duehr and Chris Van Os-Shaw. In were rookies Ryan Sandelin, Cade Borchardt and Colby Bukes, along with Jared Spooner, who was out sick on Saturday. (Connor Mackey remained out with a lower-body injury.) Bukes, a defenseman, was playing just his second college game and assisted on Lutz’s goal for his first collegiate point. Borchardt was playing in his sixth game and got some power-play time. "Best thing for the coach is there’s some competition right now," Hastings said.

Read my game story here.

Minnesota State vs. Bemidji State

The Mavericks and Beavers will play for the first of at least five times this season in the third-place game of the Mariucci Classic. This is a nonconference game. Minnesota State's lines are mixed up after Saturday's 7-2 thumping by St. Cloud State.

Here are the lines:

MINNESOTA STATE
6-Tuomie, 20-Michaelis, 21-Sowder
16-Lutz, 5-Jaremko, 8-Smith
15-Napravnik, 11-Spooner, 28-Borchardt
23-Rivera, 26-French, 14-Sandelin

4-Carroll, 3-McNeely
25-Zmolek, 18-Scheid
7-Aamodt, 12-Bukes
24-Hookenson

29-McKay
31-Berger

Scratches: Gerads, Gerard, Mackey, Malinowski, McMahan, Van Os-Shaw

BEMIDJI STATE
19-Brady, 17-Armour, 26-Cardelli
9-Somoza, 27-Kirkup, 16-Miller
11-Combs, 12-Sillinger, 14-Ierullo
6-Solensky, 23-Sjodahl, 25-Adams

3-Muck, 22-Vold
2-Zmolek, 28-Rosen
7-Looft, 18-Johnson
8-Gula

29-Johnson
35-Carr

Huskies 7, Mavericks 2

Freddy's three thoughts of the game ...

1. Total system failure: It's hard to find anything that went right for Minnesota State in that game. St. Cloud State was the better team in all three zones and at all three positions. "I thought they played in groups of five," coach Mike Hastings said. "It didn’t matter what five were out there." And it didn't seem to matter which five MSU players were on the ice. It wasn't like the Huskies just took advantage of one bad matchup. Then again, who would have expected freshman Zach Okabe, who had no points going into the game, to end up with four goals, including the first three of the game?

2. Injury report: Minnesota State played without junior defenseman Connor Mackey, their best D-man, as he is out with a lower-body injury. Wyatt Aamodt took his place in the lineup, getting his fourth game of the season after missing time with his own injury. He actually ended up with a team-high four shots on goal. Not sure how much difference Mackey would have made with the way things went, but the Huskies found ways to get behind MSU's defense to take control of the game. Junior center Jared Spooner was also out with an illness. He participated in warmups but ended up not playing.

3. Losing streak: The Mavericks have now lost two games in a row after winning 10 straight. The last time they lost two in a row was this time last year when they dropped three straight, two at Bowling Green and one against Minnesota Duluth at Arizona State's tournament. The last time they gave up seven goals in a game was a 7-4 loss at Ferris State on Nov. 7, 2015. The last time they allowed seven with none being an empty-netter (like Saturday's game) was March 21, 2013 against Wisconsin in the WCHA Final Five when they lost 7-2. The Mavericks will try to break the losing streak against either Minnesota or Bemidji State on Sunday,

Read my game story here.

Minnesota State vs. St. Cloud State, Mariucci Classic

The Mavericks and Huskies will square off in the first game of the Mariucci Classic at Mariucci Arena today. Minnesota State will be without defenseman Connor Mackey (lower body) and will decide between Chris Van Os-Shaw and Jared Spooner as the extra skater after warmups.

Here are the lines:

MINNESOTA STATE
6-Tuomie, 20-Michaelis, 9-Gerard
16-Lutz, 5-Jaremko, 15-Napravnik
22-Gerads, 8-Smith, 21-Sowder
23-Rivera, 26-French, 17-Duehr
19-Van Os-Shaw or 11-Spooner

4-Carroll, 3-McNeely
25-Zmolek, 18-Scheid
7-Aamodt, 24-Hookenson

29-McKay
31-Berger

Scratches: Bukes, Borchardt, Mackey, Malinowski, McMahan, Sandelin

ST. CLOUD STATE
3-J. Poehling, 28-Fitzgerald, 7-N. Poehling
26-Brodzinski, 19-Hentges, 20-Walker
27-Brand, 13-Krannila, 14-Okabe
21-Wahlin, 16-Hammer, 15-Miller

12-Ahcan, 25-Perbix
5-Trejbal, 9-Meier
18-Bushy, 6-Jaycox
8-Anderson or 2-Kuster

40-Castor
34-Hrenak
30-Lamoreaux

Saturday Morning Skate

The Mavericks are back in action after a brief holiday break, playing today in the Mariucci Classic in Minneapolis. For the first time, Minnesota's holiday tournament is an all-Minnesota affair, featuring St. Cloud State and Bemidji State, too.

Minnesota State plays St. Cloud State at 4 p.m. today, with Minnesota and Bemidji State squaring off at 7 p.m.  The two winners and two losers will play each other on Sunday, with the Gophers getting the late game either way. For more on each team, see the College Hockey Gameday in The Free Press.

The games will be the final ones, not only of the year, but of the decade for the Mavericks, and what a decade it's been for them and for college hockey.

Read more previews of the Mariucci Classic from the Star Tribune, and The Rink Live.

As for other WCHA teams, Lake Superior State is in Vermont's Catamount Cup this weekend, playing Providence today and Vermont on Sunday.

On Monday and Tuesday, the Great Lakes Invitational takes place in Detroit, with Michigan Tech playing Michigan State and Ferris State playing Michigan to start the tournament.

Also Monday, Bowling Green and Miami play each other again, as the Falcons take on former coach Chris Bergeron again, this time at Miami. They played on Oct. 6 at Bowling Green with the Falcons winning the season-opener 7-4.

Mavericks drop to No. 2

After losing for just the second time this season, Minnesota State dropped to No. 2 in both national polls. The Mavericks are also No. 3 in the Pairwise at the midway point of the season. Here's a look at the USCHO poll:

USCHO.com Division I Men's Poll
Minneapolis, Minn./December 16, 2019

   Team             (First Place)    Record   Pts  Last Week
 1 North Dakota              (33)   14- 1-2   979     2
 2 Minnesota State           (13)   15- 2-1   948     1
 3 Cornell                   ( 4)   10- 1-0   917     3
 4 Clarkson                         12- 3-2   813     4
 5 Boston College                   11- 4-0   789     5
 6 Denver                           11- 4-3   699     8
 6 Ohio State                       10- 4-2   699     6
 8 Penn State                       13- 6-0   647     7
 9 Massachusetts                    12- 4-1   628     9
10 Minnesota Duluth                  9- 6-1   506    11
11 Bowling Green                    12- 6-1   463    10
12 Northeastern                     11- 5-2   450    12
13 Providence                        9- 5-3   407    13
14 UMass Lowell                     10- 4-4   397    14
15 Notre Dame                        9- 7-2   311    15
16 Arizona State                     9- 5-2   278    16
17 Harvard                           6- 4-0   174    17
18 Michigan State                    9- 8-1   145    18
19 Western Michigan                  7- 7-2    77    19
20 Sacred Heart                     11- 6-1    56    20

Others receiving votes: Army 31, Michigan Tech 31, Northern
Michigan 31, Alaska 7, Bemidji State 5, Boston University 4,
Quinnipiac 4, RIT 3, Dartmouth 1.

You can find the USA Hockey/USA Today poll here and the Pairwise here.

As for the WCHA standings, Minnesota State is in first place with 30 points in 12 games (two games shy of half). Bemidji State is in second place with 25 points in 12 games. Alaska and Michigan Tech are tied for third with 24 points in 14 games.

Wildcats 4, Mavericks 1

Freddy's three thoughts (from afar):

1. Berger Time: Jacob Berger made his college debut in goal on Saturday and got off to a good start. But two goals on six shots in the second period, combined with having to kill 13 minutes worth of penalties, made it a less-than-memorable experience for the sophomore. After giving up the game-winning power-play goal late in the second period, Dryden McKay returned and faced just four shots the rest of the way. Northern Michigan added two late empty-net goals.

2. Streak ends: Minnesota State's impressive 10-game winning streak came to an end with the series split at Marquette. Credit Wildcats goaltender Nolan Kent for his 30-save performance, along with some shut-down defense by Northern Michigan once it got the 2-1 lead. The Mavericks finished 0 for 4 on the power play, while the Wildcats were 1 for 5. The loss was MSU's first since Nov. 1 and just its second of the season. It was also the Mavericks' first road loss of the season.

3. Idle chat: The Mavericks will be off next week and return to play at the Mariucci Classic on Dec. 28-29 at Minnesota. They'll start that tournament against St. Cloud State and will play either host Minnesota or Bemidji State in the second game. The Mavericks are 15-2-1 at the halfway point of the season and will look to get their road game back on track in a couple of weeks. Including the games at the U, six of their next eight games will be away from Mankato.

Read my game story here.

Around the WCHA: Clarkson 4, Michigan Tech 2 ... Bowling Green 2, Lake Superior State 1 ... Alabama Huntsville at Ferris State.

Mavericks 5, Wildcats 2

Freddy's three thoughts (from afar):

1. 'Momentum injector': The Mavericks got an early major power play to work with and scored twice to get off to a good start on the road. "It's either a momentum injector or it can suck the energy out of you if you don't score," coach Mike Hastings said of the power play. MSU's power play finished 3 for 5 on Friday, getting two goals from Marc Michaelis and one from Reggie Lutz. The power play and has clicked at 47.2% over the Mavericks' winning streak, now up to 10 games, and 34.3% for the season.

2. Bump in the road: Northern Michigan's first goal really could have tripped up the Mavericks, considering it came on a misplay and turned a 2-0 lead into a 2-1 lead. The Wildcats got some momentum out of it and made a good push, but the Mavericks survived that and then all but delivered the dagger with a pair of late goals in the period to take a 4-1 lead into the third period. That was an impressive stretch, even for the No. 1 team in the country, preventing a pretty potent offense from taking control on its home ice.

3. Streak ends: The winning streak continued but the Mavericks' streak of allowing one or fewer goals ended late in the game when the Wildcats netted a second goal. It was the first time since Nov. 1 that a team scored more than one goal on MSU. It's happened three times this season, a tie (4-4 against North Dakota), a loss (3-2 in overtime to Bowling Green) and now a win. The Northern Michigan announcers made kind of a big deal out of it at the end, although I'm guessing the Wildcats aren't crazy about moral victories.

Read my game story here.

Around the WCHA: No. 10 Bowling Green 2, Lake Superior State ... Alabama Huntsville 2, Ferris State 2 (OT, Chargers win 3x3 OT) ... Michigan Tech 2, No. 4 Clarkson 2 (OT)

Friday Morning Skate

The Mavericks are in Marquette to take on the Wildcats in what should be a good WCHA series (sadly Puckato will be watching from afar, not making the trip this year).

The series features two of the more-experienced defensemen in the WCHA, a league that has a lot of good, older D-men with a lot of games under their belts. I once heard another team's radio play-by-play guy say it seems like Ian Scheid's been at MSU for six years; Mike Hastings said the same thing about NMU's Philip Beaulieu and Bowling Green's Alec Rauhauser — because they've all been lineup staples since they arrived on their respective campuses.

For much more on the series, see The Free Press' College Hockey Gameday feature.

From the Wildcats' perspective, coach Grant Potulny says the No. 1 Mavericks are a team without a weakness.

Although Minnesota State won't play in Mankato again until January 3-4, the Star Tribune's Randy Johnson does a nice piece on taking in a game at the civic center as a paying (sort of) fan, not as a hockey writer.

Going around the WCHA ...

Clarkson at Michigan Tech: To the west of Marquette, in Houghton, the Huskies will host the No. 4 Golden Knights in a nonconference series. Tech has won seven of eight and hopes a good weekend can carry over for a stronger second half than it had last year. Clarkson has won eight of its last nine games and is 11-3-1.

Bowling Green at Lake Superior State: To the east of Marquette, in Sault Ste. Marie, the No. 10 Falcons will be on the road to face the Lakers. Bowling Green is unbeaten in seven of its last eight games but is still seeking some consistency. Lake Superior State, which was swept in Mankato last weekend, has just one win in its last 10 games. The two teams played just three weeks ago, splitting at Bowling Green.

Alabama Huntsville at Ferris State: The Chargers will try to get out of the WCHA cellar, while the Bulldogs will try to separate themselves from the bottom of the league this weekend in Big Rapids (yes, all of the WCHA games this weekend are in Michigan). Ferris State has gotten points each of the last three weekends. UAH has gotten points in its last two series.

Mavericks 2, Lakers 0

Freddy's three thoughts of the game ...

1. Doing it all: Marc Michaelis continued to impress. One night after making two fantastic passes on on power plays, he scored a short-handed goal to help the Mavericks sweep the series. His second-period goal was the only score for most of the game. The shorty was the ninth of his career, tying Bryce Gervais for the record. Lots of season left to get the record outright. Something tells me he's going to do that.

2. Another clean sheet: Dryden McKay was praised all week long with conference weekly and monthly awards and national recognition as well. He just went about his business, stopping 21 shots for his fourth shutout of the season and eighth for his career. Giving up just one goal in the series, his save percentage is now up to .957 and his goals-against average is down to 1.06. Marek Mitens might have had the flashier saves in an outstanding performance for the Lakers, but McKay is as steady as they come.

3. J.J. is dy-no-mite: Jake Jaremko scored MSU's other goal, giving the Mavericks a little insurance with under three minutes remaining in the game. He now has five goals and eight points in seven games. Imagine if he hadn't come down with mono and missed eight games. That's quite the one-two punch MSU has as its top centers, Michaelis and Jaremko. But don't forget about Jared Spooner at the No. 3 center spot, too, who had a three-point weekend.

Read my game story here.

Around the WCHA: Michigan Tech 4, Alaska Anchorage 1 ... Alaska 5, Bemidji State 3 ... Alabama Huntsville 2, Bowling Green 2 (OT, BG wins 3x3)

Minnesota State vs. Lake Superior State, Game 2

Here are tonight's lines. A few changes for the Mavericks, with Duehr, Sandelin and Borchardt inserted (Sowder, Napravnik, Van Os-Shaw are out).

MINNESOTA STATE
6-Tuomie, 20-Michaelis, 9-Gerard
16-Lutz, 5-Jaremko, 8-Smith
22-Gerads, 11-Spooner, 17-Duehr
23-Rivera, 26-French, 14-Sandelin
28-Borchardt

2-Mackey, 3-McNeely
25-Zmolek, 18-Scheid
4-Carroll, 24-Hookenson

29-McKay
31-Berger

Scratches: Aamodt, Bukes, Malinowski, McMahan, Napravnik, Sowder, Van Os-Shaw

LAKE SUPERIOR STATE
26-Veillette, 24-Eriksson, 16-Calder
11-Gelsinger, 29-Boudon, 21-Humitz
27-Esposito-Selivanov, 9-Ambrosio, 14-Miura
18-Basilico, 10-McKay, 8-Manz

3-Riedell, 5-Henrikson
22-Kaelble, 15-Nordqvist
6-Semandel, 4-Anderson
7-Oliver

30-Mitens
31-Eisele

Mavericks 5, Lakers 1

Freddy's three thoughts of the game:

1. Power up: I wrote extensively about the red-hot power play in my game story (linked below), so be sure to take that deep dive. In the meantime, here's the play that I devoted a few too many words to in the gamer (I defy anyone who was in the building not named Marc Michaelis or Parker Tuomie to tell me they knew this was a pass, not a shot):

🎥 Check out Parker Tuomie's goal off some pretty passing back in the second period! #HornsUp😈 pic.twitter.com/4KRAvVvQqF

— Minnesota State Hockey (@MavHockey) December 7, 2019

2. Close, for a bit: Early on tonight, Alabama Huntsville had a 3-0 lead over Bowling Green and Lake Superior State goalie Mareks Mitens was making some tough saves and keeping the game here in Mankato scoreless. Just when you thought it might be a weird night in the WCHA, things returned to normal, and BG won 9-3 and Minnesota State exploded for five goals, making the Lakers pay for their penalties. In the end, the Mavericks won their eighth game in a row, a streak in which the opposing team has yet to score more than one goal. Minnesota State has outscored its opponents 32-6 over those eight games.

3. It's like that: The Run-TMG line was accounted for five points tonight — a goal from Tuomie and two assists each from Michaelis and Charlie Gerard. Michaelis now has 19 points in 15 games. Tuomie is over a point per game with 14 in 13 games, and Geard is just under with 13 in 15. "(Michaelis is) playing some of the best hockey that he’s ever played since he’s been here, being a lot more consistent night in, night out, day in, day out as far as practices, prepareing," coach Mike Hastings said. "That’s what you need out of one of your captains and a senior."

Read my game story here.

Around the WCHA: Bowling Green 9, Alabama Huntsville 3 ... Michigan Tech 2, Alaska Anchorage 1 ... Bemidji State 3, Alaska 1

Minnesota State vs. Lake Superior State

Here are the lines for tonight's game:

MINNESOTA STATE
6-Tuomie, 20-Michaelis, 9-Gerard
16-Lutz, 5-Jaremko, 8-Smith
22-Gerads, 11-Spooner, 21-Sowder
23-Rivera, 26-French, 15-Napravnik
19-Van Os-Shaw

2-Mackey, 3-McNeely
25-Zmolek, 18-Scheid
4-Carroll, 24-Hookenson

29-McKay
31-Berger

Scratches: Aamodt, Borchardt, Duehr, Malinowski, McMahan, Sandelin

LAKE SUPERIOR STATE
26-Veillette, 24-Eriksson, 16-Calder
11-Gelsinger, 29-Boudon, 21-Humitz
27-Esposito-Selivanov, 9-Ambrosio, 14-Miura
18-Basilico, 10-McKay, 8-Manz

3-Riedell, 5-Henrikson
22-Kaelble, 15-Nordqvist
6-Semandel, 4-Anderson
7-Oliver

30-Mitens
31-Eisele

Friday Morning Skate

The Mavericks are back home where they hope to extend their seven-game winning streak to eight or nine when they host Lake Superior State. The Lakers were the only opposing team to win in Mankato last season.

Minnesota State has been so strong defensively this season, and much has been made about the play of Dryden McKay in goal. But there are a few defensemen who go about their business quietly without flash or much offense to their game. Jack McNeely has been one of those blueliners, and he's embraced the role.

Patrick Reusse from the Star Tribune stopped by the civic center this week to check in on the Mavericks.

Lake State got a 3x3 win against Bemidji State on Saturday, but since that's technically a tie, they've won just one game in their last eight outings. However, that was a road win at Bowling Green.

Read more about the series in the College Hockey Gameday feature.

Going around the WCHA ...

Alaska at Bemidji State: First place in the WCHA is on the line when the second-place Nanooks (who are tied with Minnesota State, although MSU has four games in hand, two in hand on BSU) go on the road to play the first-place Beavers. opened the season with two losses to Denver and two wins at Michigan Tech. Since then they've split every series. Bemidji State is on a five-game unbeaten streak (albeit with a 3x3 loss on Saturday) and have just one real loss in their last eight games and two in their last 10.

Alabama Huntsville at Bowling Green: The Chargers got their first win of the season last weekend and now go on the road to take on the Falcons, who have won five of six and six of eight, including an impressive sweep of Notre Dame last weekend.

Alaska Anchorage at Michigan Tech: The Seawolves take a six-game winless streak (although they got a shootout win on Saturday) to Houghton. The Huskies also are coming from Alaska where they split last weekend at Fairbanks. Winners of five of their last six games, they'll be at home for the next four games.

P.S. I appeared on a couple of podcasts this week. Take a listen: College Hockey News' CHN'siders and Maverick Hockey Live.

Mavericks still No. 1; three get WCHA honors

Three Minnesota State men's hockey players earned WCHA awards this week for their play in this weekend's sweep at Minnesota Duluth.

Jake Jaremko was named the league's forward of the week after a three-point weekend. He had an assist in Friday's 4-1 victory and two power-play goals in Saturday's 3-1 win.

Dryden McKay was named goaltender of the week after stopping 64 of 66 shots in the series. That included a career-high 37 saves on Saturday.

Nathan Smith was named rookie of the week after a three-point weekend. He scored a power-play goal on Friday and assisted on two goals Saturday.

The Mavericks (12-1-1), who are ranked No. 1 in the U.S. College Hockey Online poll for the fourth week in a row, will host Lake Superior State on Friday and Saturday.

Here is the latest USCHO poll:

USCHO.com Division I Men's Poll
Minneapolis, Minn./December 02, 2019

   Team             (First Place)    Record   Pts  Last Week
 1 Minnesota State           (44)   12- 1-1   994     1
 2 Cornell                   ( 6)    9- 0-0   947     2
 3 North Dakota                     12- 1-2   889     3
 4 Denver                            9- 3-2   826     4
 5 Clarkson                         10- 3-1   758     6
 6 Penn State                       11- 4-0   656     7
 7 Ohio State                        9- 4-1   620    11
 8 Northeastern                     10- 4-2   528    12
 9 Notre Dame                        8- 4-2   527     5
10 Boston College                    9- 4-0   522    14
11 Massachusetts                     9- 4-1   491    10
12 Harvard                           6- 1-0   488     9
13 Bowling Green                    10- 5-0   478    16
14 Minnesota Duluth                  7- 6-1   429     8
15 Providence                        8- 4-3   388    13
16 UMass Lowell                      9- 3-4   375    15
17 Western Michigan                  7- 5-2   200    17
18 Omaha                             6- 4-2   128    18
19 Wisconsin                         7- 8-1    41    19
20 Arizona State                     7- 4-1    39    NR

Others receiving votes: Maine 27, Quinnipiac 21, Northern
Michigan 20, Michigan State 19, Army 17, Sacred Heart 14,
Alaska 12, Bemidji State 12, Michigan Tech 10, Dartmouth 7,
RIT 7, New Hampshire 6, Robert Morris 3, Minnesota 1.

Mavericks 3, Bulldogs 1

Freddy's three thoughts of the game ...

1. Special team: Minnesota State won a tough game on Saturday night to pull off the sweep of Minnesota Duluth in Amsoil Arena. Thanks to three power-play goals and an outstanding penalty kill that had to put in "some road miles," Mike Hastings said, they ground out the the win. Minnesota State killed nine minutes of penalties over the final 10:45 of the second period. That included Jared Spooner's five-minute major that was called after a video review. Kudos to veterans Josh French and Nick Rivera, along with defensemen Riese Zmolek, Connor Mackey, Jack McNeely and Edwin Hookenson, the latter of whom Hastings said had his best weekend of the year.

2. Don't forget the goalie: And then there was Dryden McKay, who stopped 37 of 38 shots, including all 16 he faced in that tough second period. McKay made some crazy back-door saves early in the second period and, really, was the difference between an MSU sweep and a series split. In each game of the Mavericks' current seven-game winning streak, he has not allowed more than one goal. The Mavericks have outscored teams 27-5 over that stretch.

3. Welcome back, Sowder: Freshman Lucas Sowder had such a good start to the season then hit a little bit of a rookie lull and was a scratch for a few games, including Friday night. He was back in the lineup on Saturday and ended up with a goal and an assist. He set up the first of Jake Jaremko's two goals in the first period, making a heady play by taking the rebound of a Reggie Lutz shot around the net and dishing to Jaremko in the left circle. In the third period, he was involved in a very similar play, only that time, he took the Lutz rebound and jammed in in for a 2-1 lead less than two minutes after UMD had tied the game.

Read my game story here.

Around the WCHA: Bemidji State 2, Lake Superior State 2 (LSSU wins the 3x3 OT) ... Bowling Green 5, Notre Dame 2 ... Northern Michigan 3, Alabama Huntsville 1 ... Ferris State 4, Alaska Anchorage 4 (UAA wins the shootout) ... Michigan Tech at Alaska (late)

Minnesota State at Minnesota Duluth, Game 2

Here are tonight's lines for Game 2 between the No. 1 Mavericks and No. 8 Bulldogs. Couple of changes for Minnesota State, as Lucas Sowder and Chris Van Os-Shaw are in, and Walker Duehr and Julian Napravnik are out.

MINNESOTA STATE
6-Tuomie, 20-Michaelis, 9-Gerard
16-Lutz, 5-Jaremko, 8-Smith
22-Gerads, 11-Spooner, 21-Sowder
23-Rivera, 26-French, 14-Sandelin
19-Van Os-Shaw

2-Mackey, 3-McNeely
25-Zmolek, 18-Scheid
4-Carroll, 24-Hookenson

29-McKay
31-Berger

MINNESOTA DULUTH
21-N. Cates, 20-J. Cates, 10-Roth
17-Koepke, 19-Richards, 13-Laderoute
15-Olson, 18-Jacques, 16-Loheit
11-Bender, 26-Miller, 22-Puricelli
28-Meyer

4-Samberg, 7-Perunovich
3-Anderson, 6-Roehl
12-Hilderman, 27-Rosenbaum

32-Shepard
36-Patt
39-Fanti

Mavericks 4, Bulldogs 1

Freddy's three thoughts of the game ...

1. First line shines (again): The Run-TMG line (yes, I'm going with that) was really good at home a week ago against Alaska Anchorage, but would they be able to do it on the road against No. 8 Minnesota Duluth? They answer was yes. Parker Tuomie and Marc Michaelis each had a goal and an assist, and Charlie Gerard had an assist in Friday's win. The trio hooked up for the game's first goal at 4:30 of the second period. Tuomie scored from Michaelis on a power play goal that made it 2-0 at 9:39 of the frame. They had 11 shots on goal in all.

2. Happy homecoming: Ryan Sandelin said he caught himself looking over at his dad (UMD coach Scott Sandelin) a couple of times during the game and thinking about what he might be thinking. For the most part, though, he was into the game and assisted on a big goal — Josh French's that made it 3-0 at 14:13 of the second period. "It was different," he said about returning to the Duluth area to play as a visitor. "But it was a good experience. I'm glad we got the win. It was a tough start, but we found a way to play together the last 40 minutes. I hope that carries over to tomorrow."

3. McKay keeps going: Dryden McKay stopped 27 of 28 shots, allowing a power-play goal with 10:40 remaining in the game. He's allowed one or fewer goals in a game in each game of the Mavericks' six-game winning streak. He made 10 saves in the first period, including a point-blank stop on Quinn Olson on a low 2-on-0 after a bad turnover late in the first period. "When we made  mistakes, he's been there for us," coach Mike Hastings said.

Read my game story here.

Around the WCHA: Bowling Green 5, Notre Dame 2 ... Bemidji State 4, Lake Superior State 1 ... Alabama Huntsville 4, Northern Michigan 2 ... Ferris State at Alaska Anchorage (late) ... Michigan Tech at Alaska (late)

Minnesota State at Minnesota Duluth

Here are tonight's lines for Game 1 between the No. 1 Mavericks and No. 8 Bulldogs:

MINNESOTA STATE
6-Tuomie, 20-Michaelis, 9-Gerard
16-Lutz, 5-Jaremko, 8-Smith
22-Gerads, 11-Spooner, 17-Duehr
23-Rivera, 26-French, 14-Sandelin
15-Napravnik

2-Mackey, 3-McNeely
25-Zmolek, 18-Scheid
4-Carroll, 24-Hookenson

29-McKay
31-Berger

MINNESOTA DULUTH
21-N. Cates, 20-J. Cate, 10-Roth
17-Koepke, 19-Richards, 13-Laderoute
15-Olson, 18-Jacques, 16-Loheit
11-Bender, 26-Miller, 22-Puricelli

5-Wolff, 7-Perunovich
4-Samberg, 6-Roehl
3-Anderson, 12-Hilderman
27-Rosenbaum

32-Shepard
36-Patt
39-Fanti

Friday Morning Skate

The No. 1 Mavericks are on the road for the holiday weekend, taking on No. 8 Minnesota Duluth in what should be a great matchup between two of the country's top teams.

This weekend marks the first clash of the Sandelins as MSU freshman Ryan has the chance to go up against his dad, UMD coach Scott. What better time than Thanksgiving for that to happen? There are other story lines, of course, which you can read about in the College Hockey Gameday.

This has been an interesting week for the Mavericks, who lost freshman goaltender Jaxson Stauber after he opted to return to junior hockey because he wanted to play games, something he wasn't doing behind Dryden McKay. The Mavericks got Stauber's future replacement with a commitment on Thanksgiving from Bismarck Bobcats goalie Andrew Miller, although that doesn't solve their short-term situation, if they want a third goalie for the rest of this season and next.

The Duluth News-Tribune also takes a look at the Sandelin matchup, as well as the relationship between the two coaches, Mike Hastings and Scott Sandelin. Like Minnesota State, Minnesota Duluth has fought through some early season injuries, but also like MSU, UMD is getting healthier.

Going around the WCHA ...

Bowling Green at/vs. Notre Dame: This is another nonconference matchup between top teams with the No. 16 Falcons playing the No. 5 Fighting Irish home and home.

Bemidji State at Lake Superior State: The red-hot Beavers, who have won three in a row and five of their last six, will take on the Lakers for the second time in four weeks. On Nov. 8-9 in Bemidji, BSU swept LSSU 7-1 and 5-1. That began a five-game Lakers losing streak that finally ended last Saturday at Bowling Green. The Bemidji Pioneer takes a closer look at senior defenseman Tommy Muck.

Northern Michigan at Alabama Huntsville: The Wildcats, who have lost three straight, will try to get back on track when they take on the winless Chargers. UAH is 0-11-1. Don't chalk down two Ws for the Wildcats just yet, though. As with Bemidji and Lake State, this will be the second meeting already between these teams.

Ferris State at Alaska Anchorage: The Bulldogs will play their second week of back-to-back series in Alaska when they take on the Seawolves, who are fresh off their weekend in Mankato.

Michigan Tech at Alaska: The Huskies take a four-game winning streak to Fairbanks where, in yet another quirk in this year's WCHA schedule, they and the Nanooks are already meeting again. Alaska swept Tech in Houghton on Oct. 11-12. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner features shot-blocking senior Tyler Cline.

Mavericks 3, Seawolves 0

Freddy's three thoughts of the game ...

1. Saturday night special: As coach Mike Hastings hints at in my game story (linked below), Saturday nights are rarely carbon copies of Friday nights in college hockey. Indeed, before the game, a few people asked me if it would be another blowout. I said it was doubtful. I figured it would be closer, and it was. Kudos to Anchorage for its defensive play. The Seawolves seemed content to keep the game scoreless as long as possible. Marc Michaelis' power-play goal with 41 seconds left in the second period was the turning point.

2. Speaking of defense: The Mavericks were pretty good in their end, too, even with a bit of a different lineup than they've used pretty much all season. That's because Riese Zmolek was out with a foot injury suffered when he blocked a shot with his skate on Friday. Zmolek, who was wearing a boot as he watched from the stands, said he's OK, just sore. No word on how long he's expected to be out. Wyatt Aamodt played in Zmolek's stead, and freshman Colby Bukes played for the first time this season. He was listed as the extra skater on the line chart.

3. Don't forget Dryden: Dryden McKay recorded his third shutout of the season and the seventh of his career, making 20 saves. He only had to make a couple of tough stops, but the Mavericks know they have someone very steady between the pipes. After allowing just one goal on the weekend, McKay's season save percentage is up to .951 right now. In 12 games this season, Minnesota State has allowed just 14 goals while scoring 46. The competition stiffens next weekend when the Mavericks go to Minnesota Duluth for a pair of games.

Read my game story here.

Around the WCHA: Michigan Tech 3, Northern Michigan 2 ... Bemidji State 7, Alabama Huntsville 0 ... Lake Superior State 3, Bowling Green 1 ... Ferris State at Alaska (late)

Minnesota State vs. Alaska Anchorage, Game 2

A few changes to Minnesota State's lineup, most notably Riese Zmolek being out. He blocked a shot late in the game last night and didn't return. Not sure how serious that is. Wyatt Aamodt goes in his place, and freshman D Colby Bukes will make his debut. Julian Napravnik is back in the lineup, and freshmen Lucas Sowder and Ryan Sandelin are out. Once again, just two goalies are dressed.

Here are tonight's lines:

MINNESOTA STATE
6-Tuomie, 20-Michaelis, 9-Gerard
16-Lutz, 5-Jaremko, 8-Smith
22-Gerads, 11-Spooner, 17-Duehr
23-Rivera, 26-French, 15-Napravnik

2-Mackey, 3-McNeely
7-Aamodt, 18-Scheid
4-Carroll, 24-Hookenson
12-Bukes

29-McKay
31-Berger

Scratches: Borchardt, Malinowski, McMahan, Sandelin, Sowder, Stauber, Van Os-Shaw, Zmolek

ALASKA ANCHORAGE
40-Camrud, 9-Wicks, 15-Lantz
10-Schachle, 25-Mitchell, 13-Frye
28-St. Onge, 14-Nash, 29-DeGraaf
19-Glover, 20-Renwick, 17-Masson
3-Lane

18-Hiekkavirta, 26-McPheters
22-Buono, 23-Sinclair
7-Nicholas, 4-Robillard

30-Carlson
39-Stead

Mavericks 7, Seawolves 1

Freddy's three thoughts of the game (edited after some late-night scoring changes) ...

1. Top line shines: There have been some tweaks to the top line this season, but eventually, Marc Michaelis, Parker Tuomie and Charlie Gerard end up back together. The all-senior line was as good as its been all season, racking up seven eight points in the rout of the Alaska Anchorage. The trio made nifty plays throughout the game, and Tuomie finished with a goal and two assists two goals and an assist, Michaelis had three assists and Gerard had a goal and an assist. Going into its second season together, doesn't this line need a nickname? Run-T.M.G., perhaps?

2. Early action: The Mavericks jumped all over the Seawolves each period, scoring within the first two minutes of each. Tuomie's power-play goal came at 1:42 of the first period, Gerard's goal came 41 seconds into the second, and Tuomie scored again 1:57 of the third. Anchorage looked like an improved team overall compared to the last couple of years, but it simply couldn't withstand those early blows in each period.

3. Making plays: There was some impressive playmaking around the rink as the Mavericks reached a season-high for goals. Mike Hastings talked earlier in the year about trying to make more plays, in general, and that was the case. The Run-T.M.G. line (it has nice ring to it, no?) made some beauties, especially on Gerard's goal, on which Michaelis went cross-ice to Tuomie, who went right back to the goal scorer streaking down the middle of the ice. But add in Andy Carroll's stretch pass to spring a 2-on-1 for Nathan Smith and Jake Jaremko (read more about Jaremko's return in the link below), and Smith's nice set-up to Jaremko for the finish.

Read my game story here.

Around the WCHA: Michigan Tech 3, Northern Michigan 2 ... Bowling Green 5, Lake Superior State 0 ... Bemidji State 5, Alabama Huntsville 3 ... Ferris State at Alaska (late)

Minnesota State vs. Alaska Anchorage

Here are tonight's lines:

MINNESOTA STATE
6-Tuomie, 20-Michaelis, 9-Gerard
16-Lutz, 5-Jaremko, 8-Smith
22-Gerads, 11-Spooner, 17-Duehr
23-Rivera, 26-French, 14-Sandelin
21-Sowder

2-Mackey, 3-McNeely
25-Zmolek, 18-Scheid
4-Carroll, 24-Hookenson

29-McKay
31-Berger

Scratches: Aamodt, Borchardt, Bukes, Malinowski, McMahan, Napravnik, Stauber, Van Os-Shaw

ALASKA ANCHORAGE
13-Frye, 9-Wicks, 40-Camrud
10-Schachle, 25-Mitchell, 15-Lantz
28-St. Onge, 14-Nash, 29-DeGraaf
19-Glover, 20-Renwick, 17-Masson
26-McPheters

22-Buono, 23-Sinclair
18-Hiekkavirta, 27-Trinkberger
7-Nicholas, 4-RObillard

39-Stead
30-Carlson

Friday Morning Skate

The Mavericks are back in action after a weekend off and will host Alaska Anchorage in a WCHA series. The break came at a good time for No. 1 MSU as it used the time off to get healthy and work on a few things, such as its power play, Mike Hastings said.

Indeed, Jake Jaremko should be back in the lineup this weekend, and the Mavericks had all of their players on the ice for practice this week for the first time since the season started. Kind of amazing that they're 8-1-1 while missing Jaremko for eight games, Dallas Gerads for four, Chris Van Os-Shaw for four, Nathan Smith for two and Parker Tuomie for one.

Their depth clearly has carried them, as has their defense and goaltending. In goal, sophomore Dryden McKay is off to a great start to the year. While you could say he picked up where he left off last year, he used the offseason to commit himself to eating right and getting fit.

As for Anchorage, it appears to be improved from last year, so the Mavericks need to take this weekend seriously with some big series looming on the schedule after this weekend.

The Seawolves are thinking about their future, too — long-term. According to the Anchorage Daily News, UAA and Alaska Fairbanks are in talks with Alabama Huntsville about preserving the WCHA beyond 2021 after Minnesota State and six other depart, even with Huntsville giving its notice to the league recently.

Going around the WCHA ...

Northern Michigan at/vs. Michigan Tech: The UP rivalry renews with a home-and-home weekend between the Wildcats and the Huskies. After a 6-1-1 start, No. 19 NMU has one once in its last four games and hopes to get back on track this weekend. Tech, meanwhile, got a much-needed sweep against Lake Superior State last week after losing six of its previous seven games.

Lake Superior State at Bowling Green: The aforementioned Lakers have lost four in a row and surprisingly have just four wins this season — albeit amid a tough schedule. That slate gets no easier this weekend with a road trip to face the No. 17 Falcons, who have won three of four and six of their last eight.

Alabama Huntsville at Bemidji State: The Chargers, winless in 10 games this season, go on the road after a week off to face the Beavers, who have won three of four and four of six. The Bemidji Pioneer features BSU's Aaron Miller, who is a gamer on and off the ice.

Ferris State at Alaska: The Bulldogs snapped a six-game losing streak last weekend in the first game of a split with Bemidji State, getting a win in goal from Princeton transfer Austin Shaw, and now head north to face the Nanooks, who are tied with Minnesota State and Northern Michigan for first place in the league standings. The Daily News-Miner features a story on UAF sophomore Caleb Hite, who also played junior hockey in Fairbanks.

Meanwhile, the Minnesota State women's team returns home to face Bemidji State this weekend. On Thursday, Mavericks goaltender Abigail Levy was named to USA Hockey's women's winter training camp next month.

Friday morning skate

The No. 1 Mavericks are idle this weekend, using the week to get healthy — Jake Jaremko is back on the ice practice after an illness has kept him out for about a month — and sign their recruiting class for next year, or at least a good chunk of it.

Four players signed their NLIs on Wednesday and another player, Brendan Furry, was also mentioned in the MSU release. Furry is at Minnesota State but sitting out this season due to signing previously with Niagara before re-opening his recruitment. He can practice with the Mavericks but hasn't due to offseason surgery. By the way, I recently stumbled across a Q&A with Furry from September in which he talks about going to Minnesota State and how he almost ended up going to Bowling Green to play club hockey.

So who is playing this weekend? Let's look around the WCHA ...

Bemidji State at Ferris State: After getting win No. 300 for coach Tom Serratore, the Beavers will try to keep pace in the top half of the league when they take on the Bulldogs. BSU's freshmen defensemen, with names familiar to southern Minnesota, are off to good starts, too. Ferris State is looking for its first win in conference play.

Michigan Tech at Lake Superior State: The Huskies, who were swept by Minnesota State last weekend, are in unfamiliar territory at 1-5-0 in league play, but, perhaps, they're ready to break out after a tough schedule. The Lakers were outscored 12-2 at Bemidji last weekend and are hoping to rebound at home, where they're 4-2 with the two close losses coming against Denver.

Alaska at Northern Michigan: The host Wildcats are looking to bounce back after a tie and overtime loss at home to St. Cloud State last weekend. The Nanooks, meanwhile, are 6-6-0 and hoping to do what they did last time they were in the UP and sweep a conference series (they took two games at Tech on Oct. 11-12).

Bowling Green at Alaska Anchorage: The Falcons had last weekend off following their split in Mankato on Nov. 1-2. They'll go to Anchorage to play the Seawolves (next week's MSU opponent), who already have matched their league win total of last year (two), are on a three-game unbeaten streak (1-0-2) and are 2-1-2 in their last five games. Beth Bragg of the Anchorage Daily News has the story on a UAA player who is a survivor of the tragic Humboldt Broncos bus crash from April of 2018. Brayden Camrud is one of 13 survivors, one of three still playing hockey and the only one playing Division I hockey. Bragg also wrote last week that college sports at the Alaska schools, including hockey, are safe for at least another year.

Mavs No. 1; McKay, Looft honored

Minnesota State moved up to No. 1 in the nation in the USCHO rankings, following their sweep at Michigan Tech (and Denver's tie and loss at Minnesota Duluth. Denver is a close second, and the Mavericks and Pioneers are actually tied top the USA Today/USA Hockey poll (although DU got more first-place votes in that one).

USCHO.com Division I Men's Poll
Minneapolis, Minn./November 11, 2019

   Team             (First Place)    Record   Pts  Last Week
 1 Minnesota State           (25)    8- 1-1   961     3
 2 Denver                    (15)    8- 1-1   913     1
 3 Cornell                   ( 5)    4- 0-0   890     4
 4 Notre Dame                ( 4)    7- 0-1   882     5
 5 Massachusetts             ( 1)    6- 2-0   774     2
 6 Minnesota Duluth                  4- 3-1   734     7
 7 Clarkson                          7- 2-1   671     8
 8 Penn State                        7- 2-0   639     6
 9 North Dakota                      7- 1-1   620    10
10 Providence                        5- 3-2   473    11
11 Ohio State                        6- 3-1   470     9
12 UMass Lowell                      7- 2-3   406    14
13 Harvard                           3- 0-0   389    18
14 Northeastern                      5- 3-2   359    13
15 Wisconsin                         5- 5-0   307    12
16 Boston College                    5- 4-0   193    19
17 Bowling Green                     5- 4-0   166    17
18 Northern Michigan                 6- 2-2   160    16
19 Omaha                             5- 2-1   127    20
20 Western Michigan                  5- 3-2    87    NR

Others receiving votes: RIT 77, Quinnipiac 75, New Hampshire
42, St. Cloud 33, Maine 24, Boston University 11, Arizona
State 7, Alaska 5, Brown 5.

Meanwhile, the WCHA weekly awards came out on Monday, too, and Mavericks goaltender Dryden McKay was named the league's goaltender of the week after allowing one goal on 49 shots in the sweep over the Huskies. McKay stopped 31 shots for his second shutout of the season and sixth of his career on Friday. McKay ranks third in the nation in save percentage (.946) and second in goals-against average (1.32).

Among the other WCHA award winners was Mankato native and former Mankato West player Kyle Looft. The Bemidji State freshman was the league's defenseman of the week. He recorded his first college points, assisting on two goals, and was plus-3 in Friday's 7-1 victory over visiting Lake Superior State. The Beavers won 5-1 on Saturday. Looft has played in four games this season. He's plus-3 with seven shots on goal.

Mavericks 2, Huskies 1

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

1. Clean sweep: Minnesota State finished off the series sweep of the Huskies, winning a low-scoring game against a team desperate to win at home. Michigan Tech is now 0-4 in Houghton this year, while the Mavericks improved to 4-0 on the road. Charlie Gerard and Parker Tuomie scored goals, and Dryden McKay made 17 saves the night after a 31-save shutout.

2. Line sheet shakeup: Coach Mike Hastings shuffled the lines again, making life tough for radio announcers by putting Charlie Gerard and Dallas Gerads on the same line (with Marc Michaelis). Lucas Sowder was a scratch, and Ryan Sandelin was put in. Hastings said Sandelin had one of his best games so far this season "at both ends of the rink."

3. Break time: The Mavericks went 8-1-1 in their first 10 games. A darn good star that deserves a bit of a break. Minnesota State will be off next week before returning to play the following weekend with a home series against Alaska Anchorage. Hastings said he hopes that Jake Jaremko and Chris Van Os-Shaw will be healthy by then.

Read more here.

Around the WCHA: Bemidji State 5, Lake Superior State 1 ... Alaska Anchorage 3, Alabama Huntsville 1 ... St. Cloud State 5, Northern Michigan 4 (OT) ... Western Michigan 8, Ferris State 2 ... Arizona State at Alaska (late)

Mavericks 3, Huskies 0

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

1. Life saver: Mavericks goaltender Dryden McKay recorded his sixth career shutout on Friday, stopping 31 shots, including 16 in the third period. He also made three big saves in a scoreless first period with his team getting off to a bit of a slow start. McKay equaled his previous high for most saves in a shutout. He also stopped 31 on March 16 in the WCHA playoffs against Lake Superior State. Earlier this season, he made 14 saves in a 5-0 win over Arizona State.

2. Middle men: Minnesota State struggled in the second period of both games against Bowling Green last weekend, and it cost the Mavericks one game. On Friday at Michigan Tech, the second period was MSU's best period, as it scored two goals, including Julian Napravnik's power-play goal during a five-minute major that put the Mavericks up 2-0. Reggie Lutz scored the first goal of the game. Jared Spooner added an insurance goal 61 seconds into the third.

3. Shuffle function: The Mavericks' lines looked a bit different on Saturday, as Napravnik was on the top line with Marc Michaelis and Charlie Gerard. Parker Tuomie was put with the freshmen, Nathan Smith and Lucas Sowder; they were listed as the fourth line. Also, for the first time this year the six defensemen on the lineup were different as Wyatt Aamodt was listed among the group. Andy Carroll was listed as the extra skater, although it appeared he played quite a bit.

Read more here.

Around the WCHA: Bemidji State 7, Lake Superior State 1 ... Western Michigan 4, Ferris State 2 ... St. Cloud State 3, Northern Michigan 3 (OT) ... Alaska Anchorage 4, Alabama Huntsville 4 (OT, UAA wins shootout) ... Arizona State at Alaska (late)

Friday Morning Skate

The No. 3 Mavericks are in Houghton this weekend (Puckato, sadly, is not) for a matchup against Michigan Tech. It is MSU's second road trip of the season.

Minnesota State got Dallas Gerads back in the lineup last weekend, and he provided a boost to a forward group that's had to be mixed and matched throughout the season's first eight games due to injuries and illnesses.

Tech has won once in its last five games and was swept in its only home series so far this season, so it will be motivated for sure.

Going around the rest of the WCHA ...

Lake Superior State at Bemidji State: This should be a good series between a pair of teams vying for the league's upper division. The Lakers have played one of the tougher schedules in the WCHA this season and got a pair of much-needed wins against Ferris State last weekend. The Beavers split at Alaska last week and are hoping to find a way to get their power play going this weekend..

Alaska Anchorage at Alabama Huntsville: These two teams have just one win between them so far. The host Chargers are looking for their first victory of the season, although they should be encouraged that they played Northern Michigan tough a week ago. The Seawolves are on the road for the second time this season.

St. Cloud State at Northern Michigan: The No. 16 Wildcats are 6-1-1 and the surprise of the WCHA, considering how much talent graduated from last year's team. They'll have a tough test this weekend with a nonconference series against the Huskies, a team that outscored them 9-1 early last season.

Ferris State at/vs. Western Michigan: The Bulldogs will try to snap a four-game losing streak with a nonconference, home-and-home series against the Broncos, who are 3-3-2 despite some high preseason expectations.

Arizona State at Alaska: The Nanooks are 5-5-0 and feeling pretty good about their start. They will step out of league play and host the Sun Devils, who have won four games in a row since getting swept at Minnesota State on Oct. 11-12.

Mavericks 5, Falcons 1

Freddy's three thoughts of the game ...

1. Good response: I was curious to see how Minnesota State would respond to losing its first game of the season and first game at home in a long time. They got off to another good start, but, more impressively, closed out the Falcons with three goals in the third period, extending a 2-1 lead to a 5-1 final. "I liked it," said senior forward Parker Tuomie, who had two assists, including his 100th career point. "Obviously, Bowling Green is a really good team. They gave us a pretty hard push, and we were able to (withstand) it."

2. Three apples: Dallas Gerads had three assists in his second game back after missing four games with injury. He made a nice, soft pass to Connor Mackey as the defenseman went to the net for the game's first goal and helped on the Mavericks' first two goals of the third period. Gerads, who was minus-2 playing with two rookies on Friday, was moved to a veteran line with Jared Spooner and Reggie Lutz on Saturday. "I thought Dallas Gerads was influential in the outcome of the game — physically, offensively, defensively," coach Mike Hastings said. "Whenever you play Bowling Green, you’re going to have to play a hard game because they’re going to make you earn everything you get."

3. Good in goal: Dryden McKay continues to be solid in goal. The sophomore made 23 saves on Saturday, none bigger than the breakaway chance he stopped less than a minute after Spooner gave the Falcons a two-goal cushion in the third period. McKay allowed Alec Rauhauser's breakaway goal in the first period, which came 39 seconds after Mackey got the scoring started. McKay actually made the first save on Rauhauser but the rebound went right back to the talented BG defenseman, and he popped it in to tie the game.

Read my game story here.

Around the WCHA: Lake Superior State 4, Ferris State 3 ... Northern Michigan 4, Alabama Huntsville 2 ... North Dakota 3, Michigan Tech 1 ... Bemidji State at Alaska (late)

Minnesota State vs. Bowling Green, Game 2

The Mavericks will try to salvage a series split with the Falcons on Saturday after falling 3-2 in overtime on Friday. A little shuffling of the lines but nothing major ...

MINNESOTA STATE
6-Tuomie, 20-Michaelis, 9-Gerard
23-Rivera, 26-French, 15-Napravnik
22-Gerads, 11-Spooner, 16-Lutz
21-Sowder, 8-Smith, 17-Duehr
14-Sandelin

2-Mackey, 3-McNeely
25-Zmolek, 18-Scheid
4-Carroll, 24-Hookenson

29-McKay
1-Stauber
31-Berger

Scratches: Aamodt, Borchardt, Bukes, Jaremko, Malinowski, McMahan, Van Os-Shaw

BOWLING GREEN
28-Kruse, 10-Johnson, 6-Barber
25-Craggs, 11-Schneider, 8-LeTourneau
17-Linkenheld, 20-Ford, 16-Wright
18-St. Jean, 22-Pitters, 13-Conquest

23-Rauhauser, 7-Lloyd
27-Theocharidis, 2-Cullen
14-Wells, 4-Daly
3-Musser

31-Dop

40-Rose

Falcons 3, Mavericks 2 (OT)

Freddy's three thoughts of the game ...

1. If it's MSU and it's BG, it's OT: The Mavericks and Falcons played their eighth overtime game in 22 meetings since Bowling Green joined the WCHA in 2013-14. The last time that happened in Mankato, MSU erased a 2-0 deficit in the info 2 minutes of regulation and won in overtime for the WCHA playoff championship. On Friday, the Mavericks got up 2-0 before the first period was 10 minutes old and the Falcons erased that less dramatically, with a goal before the first period ended and another in the second before winning in overtime. Prior to the game, the big board showed MSU's goals from last March's championship game. That fired up the crowd, but maybe it fired up the Falcons, too.

2. First loss: The Mavericks suffered their first loss of the season and first loss since Jan. 19 of last season when Lake Superior State beat them 1-0. That was Minnesota State's lone home loss last year, and they went unbeaten in their next 13 games after that, including their first four games at the civic center this season. "We didn’t have everybody on board pulling a piece of the rope," Mavericks coach Mike Hastings said. "We had some passengers. That’s going to happen with some young guys and it did. We just had too many of them." Minnesota State's top line of Marc Michaelis, Parker Tuomie and Charlie Gerard was good, teaming up for a goal and having a combined 12 shots on goal. But credit Eric Dop for his play in goal, especially on a big save on Tuomie that would have made it 3-0 in the first period.

3. Young guns blanked: Freshman Lucas Sowder was held off the score sheet for the first time this season, and fellow rookie Nathan Smith was also blanked. Neither had a shot on goal, and Sowder had a good scoring chance on an gaping net go just under his stick in the third period. They were each minus-2 (along with linemate Dallas Gerads), and Smith took two penalties. "A couple young guys had their first rough night, their first experience of what its like to be on the other side of the coin," Hastings said. "Those are experiences you have to go through." Gerads, a junior, was back in the lineup after missing four games, but veterans Jake Jaremko (illness) and Chris Van Os-Shaw (upper body) were both out. Freshman Cade Borchardt was the extra skater and got limited shifts.

Read my game story here.

Around the WCHA: Lake Superior State 5, Ferris State 4 (OT) ... Northern Michigan 5, Alabama Huntsville 3 ... Bemidji State 4, Alaska 0 ... Omaha 3, Alaska Anchorage 3 (OT)

Minnesota State vs. Bowling Green

The No. 2 Mavericks and No. 18 Falcons will play for the first time since last year's WCHA championship game. Should be a good one. Here are tonight's lines.

MINNESOTA STATE
6-Tuomie, 20-Michaelis, 9-Gerard
22-Gerads, 8-Smith, 21-Sowder
15-Lutz, 11-Spooner, 15-Napravnik
23-Rivera, 26-French, 17-Duehr
28-Borchardt

2-Mackey, 3-McNeely
25-Zmolek, 18-Scheid
4-Carroll, 24-Hookenson

29-McKay
1-Stauber
31-Berger

Scratches: Aamodt, Bukes, Jaremko, Malinowski, McMahan, Sandelin, Van Os-Shaw

BOWLING GREEN
28-Kruse, 10-Johnson, 6-Barber
25-Craggs, 11-Schneider, 8-LeTourneau
17-Linkenheld, 20-Ford, 16-Wright
18-St. Jean, 22-Pitters, 13-Conquest

23-Rauhauser, 7-Lloyd
27-Theocharidis, 2-Cullen
14-Wells, 4-Daly
3-Musser

31-Dop
40-Rose

Friday morning skate

It's a big weekend in Mankato — bigger than the North Dakota weekend, I say — as No. 18 Bowling Green comes to town for the first time since that memorable WCHA championship night in March. Should be a fun weekend of hockey between the No. 2 Mavericks and the Falcons.

For Minnesota State, junior defenseman Connor Mackey is off to a good start again, matured, he says, by the end of last season, a rollercoaster ride that involved the best of times and the worst of times sports can offer, followed by a difficult decision about his future as a player.

The Rink Live takes a look back at last year's WCHA title game with game-winning-goal scorer Nick Rivera.

Bowling Green is coming off a home split against Michigan Tech to start its WCHA schedule.

Going around the WCHA ...

Alaska Anchorage vs. Omaha: This nonconference series started on Thursday night with the red Mavericks winning a tight one, 4-3, in Anchorage.

Alabama Huntsville at Northern Michigan: The winless Chargers are back on the road after dropping two games to the Mavericks. The Wildcats, meanwhile, are back in Marquette after a successful road swing in which they went 3-0-1 against Boston University and Ferris State. College Hockey News takes a good look at NMU coach Grant Potulny, who is starting his third season.

Bemidji State at Alaska: The Beavers are looking for their first win on what they're calling their toughest road trip of the season. They've played St. Cloud State and North Dakota tough and are 0-2-2. The 4-4-0 Nanooks are home for the first time since opening weekend. They split at Anchorage last weekend.

Ferris State at Lake Superior State: The host Lakers begin WCHA play this weekend and will try to stop a six-game losing streak that came against some tough competition — Denver, Michigan and Notre Dame. The Bulldogs dropped two games to start conference play last week at home against Northern.

Michigan Tech at North Dakota: This single game on Saturday is the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Game and should be a good one as the 3-3-0 Huskies go to Grand Forks for the first time since the 2013 WCHA playoffs.

Also this weekend, the Minnesota State women are at home hoping to an extend their four-game unbeaten streak, and the Gustavus Adolphus teams are starting their seasons.

Mavericks 4, Chargers 1

Freddy's three thoughts from afar ...

1. Better late: For much of this early season, Mike Hastings has talked about liking how his team has finished games. The Mavericks needed that good finish on Saturday, scoring three third-period goals after Alabama Huntsville tied the game at 1-all early in the final frame. Reggie Lutz scored the game-winner, batting Julian Napravnik's pass from behind the net out of the air and into the net for a 2-1 lead.

2. New guy in goal: Jaxson Stauber made his first collegiate start in goal and looked the part, getting tested early and stopping 14 of 15 shots for the victory. It was a good time to see what the freshman had and give Dryden McKay a break after five starts and Bowling Green looming on the horizon. The lone goal by the Chargers appeared to get deflected in traffic before going through Stauber's pads at 2:25 of the third period.

3. Still fresh: Lucas Sowder had another point to keep his season-long streak going, assisting on fellow Florida freshman's goal, which came shortly after Lutz's goal. Ryan Sandelin, who was a scratch on Friday, was back in the lineup on Saturday and skated with Sowder and Smith during that shift, also picking up an assist. Sowder has nine points on the year, and Smith has seven.

Read more here.

Around the WCHA: Michigan Tech 4, Bowling Green 2 ... Northern Michigan 6, Ferris State 4 ... Notre Dame 6, Lake Superior 4 ... North Dakota 4, Bemidji State 1 ... Alaska at Alaska Anchorage (late)

Mavericks 5, Chargers 1

Freddy's three thoughts from afar ...

1. Charlie Hustle: Charlie Gerard was taken off the Mavericks' No. 1 line this week, and when Friday's game began, he was listed as the extra forward on the line chart. Perhaps motivated by the demotion, the junior scored the first two goals of the game. Gerard, who had just one assist in four finished with two goals and an assist.

2. Still scoring: The Florida freshmen were still at it on Friday. Nathan Smith, playing in his third collegiate game, had two assists, and now has seven points. Lucas Sowder had an assist and now has eight points. He has scored in each of the Mavericks' five games. They made up the second line with Walker Duehr, who scored an impressive goal in the second period.

3. High five: After the game coach Mike Hastings said he liked that his team scored five 5-on-5 goals, getting them from four different players: Gerard, Duehr, Chris Van Os-Shaw and Parker Tuomie. Eleven different players had points. MSU didn't score on the power play, going 0 for 2, although one of them lasted just 2 seconds.

Around the WCHA: Bowling Green 3, Michigan Tech 1 ... Northern Michigan 4, Ferris State 3 ... North Dakota 2, Bemidji State 1 (OT) ... Notre Dame 5, Lake Superior State 2 ... Alaska at Alaska Anchorage (late)

Friday Morning Skate

The Mavericks are on the road for the first time, opening their WCHA schedule at Alabama Huntsville.

Huntsville is as close as MSU will get to Florida this season. That's the home of freshmen Nathan Smith and Lucas Sowder, who are off to impressive starts to their college careers.

Read more about the series in the College Hockey Gameday feature.

Since this is the unofficial opening weekend of WCHA play (Michigan Tech hosted Alaska a couple of weeks ago), I put together a bit of a conference preview this week.

At 0-4-0 and getting outscored 19-3, the early season's been tough for the Chargers, and it gets no easier with the No. 2 Mavericks in town,

Going around the rest of the WCHA ...

Michigan Tech at Bowling Green: The host and No. 17 Falcons (3-2-0) are coming off an impressive sweep of Western Michigan and head into league play this weekend against the Huskies (2-2-0), who were idle last weekend after getting swept at home by the Nanooks.

Northern Michigan at Ferris State: The Bulldogs (2-1-0) got off to a decent start and now host the Wildcats (2-1-1), who came from behind to tie and then defeated Boston University last week, catching some national attention along the way.

Alaska at Alaska Anchorage: A sellout crowd is expected in Anchorage when the Seawolves (0-2-0) host the Nanooks (3-3-0) for a Governor's Cup series. That's because UAA has moved its home games to an 800-seat on-campus arena this year.  This weekend marks six straight road games for UAF, which went 3-1-0 at Tech and Penn State the last two weeks.

Lake Superior State at Notre Dame: The Lakers (2-4-0) hope to make some waves on national TV by pulling off an upset or two of the No. 5 Fighting Irish.

Bemidji State at North Dakota: The Beavers (0-0-2) also are looking to pull off an upset when they play two games in Grand Forks against a team that went winless in Mankato a week ago.

Hookenson, Smith earn WCHA honors

Two Mavericks were cited by the WCHA for their play in a 4-4 overtime tie and 2-1 win against North Dakota over the weekend.

Senior Edwin Hookenson was named defenseman of the week, and freshman forward Nathan Smith was named rookie of the week.

Hookenson scored a goal in each game, including his first career game-winner on Saturday. Smith had a four-point game in his college debut on Friday, scoring a goal and assisting on three others. He also won 20 of 29 face-offs in the series.

The No. 2 Mavericks (3-0-1) will open WCHA play on Friday at Alabama Huntsville.

Mavericks stay at No. 2

Minnesota State, following its 4-4 tie and 2-1 win against North Dakota over the weekend, held steady at No. 2 in the latest USCHO poll released on Monday morning. The Mavericks received three first-place votes. Denver is No. 1. For more notes on Minnesota State's weekend and results from around the WCHA, see this week's MSU Hockey Review in Monday's edition of The Free Press.

USCHO.com Division I Men's Poll
Minneapolis, Minn./October 21, 2019

   Team             (First Place)    Record   Pts  Last Week
 1 Denver                    (47)    6- 0-0   996     1
 2 Minnesota State           ( 3)    3- 0-1   948     2
 3 Massachusetts                     3- 1-0   824     4
 4 Cornell                           0- 0-0   796     5
 5 Notre Dame                        2- 0-0   691     7
 6 Wisconsin                         3- 1-0   617    17
 7 Providence                        3- 1-0   611    13
 8 Minnesota Duluth                  1- 3-0   601     3
 9 Quinnipiac                        3- 1-0   549     8
10 Boston College                    2- 2-0   524     6
11 Northeastern                      3- 0-1   502    15
12 Penn State                        3- 1-0   459     9
13 Clarkson                          2- 1-1   436    10
14 St. Cloud                         0- 0-2   404    11
15 Ohio State                        2- 1-1   352    12
16 North Dakota                      2- 1-1   290    16
17 Bowling Green                     3- 2-0   187    NR
18 Western Michigan                  1- 2-1   168    14
19 Harvard                           0- 0-0   145    19
20 Minnesota                         3- 1-0    78    NR

Others receiving votes: Northern Michigan 66, Omaha 64,
UMass Lowell 60, Michigan 54, Boston University 18, RIT 15,
Brown 13, Alaska 10, Colorado College 7, AIC 6, Dartmouth 4,
Arizona State 2, Army 1, Holy Cross 1, Mercyhurst 1.

The USCHO.com Poll consists of 50 voters, including coaches and
beat writers and sports professionals from across the country.
The poll, published weekly by the Associated Press, is a
production of USCHO.com, which provides in-depth coverage of
college hockey.

Mavericks 2, Fighting Hawks 1

Freddy's three thoughts of the game ...

1. Playoff-esque: Sure, it's only Oct. 19, but the end of Saturday's game sure felt like a postseason game with two good teams battling, one to preserve a one-goal lead and one to try to tie it up and force overtime. Perhaps Minnesota State and North Dakota will meet again in March. That's a long way away and conference play for the Mavericks begins next weekend. But with one goal separating the two teams over 125 minutes, it sure would be fun to see a rematch, maybe even in Detroit.

2. Marvelous McKay: I write a lot about goaltender Dryden McKay in my game story (linked below), so check that out, but he was fantastic in the third period, making 14 saves as North Dakota tried to rally after Edwin Hookenson put MSU 2-1 at 5:21. "After we scored I thought we backed off a bit," Mavericks coach Mike Hastings said. "They made a push." The Mavericks killed off two penalties after that, including one in the final minute that allowed North Dakota to pull its goalie and play 6 on 4.

3. Captains come through: Hookenson's goal was his first game-winner at Minnesota State. The senior alternate captain has seven career goals. Marc Michaelis, on the other hand, is a scorer, and after being held off the score sheet on Friday, had a goal and an assist on Saturday. He went hard to the net in the first minute of the second period and slammed in the rebound of a Lucas Sowder shot to tie the game at 1-1. "Marc's pretty dialed right now on trying to be a complete player. ...," Hastings said. "You need your best players to do that if you want to be successful in games like this."

Read my game story here.

Around the WCHA: Northern Michigan 4, Boston University 3 ... Bowling Green 2, Western Michigan 1 (OT) ... Ferris State 3, Miami 1 ... Michigan 4, Lake Superior State 3

Minnesota State vs. North Dakota, Game 2

Mavericks' lineup is essentially the same with a little bit of line shuffling for tonight's game against the Fighting Hawks. Follow along on Twitter for game updates and analysis.

MINNESOTA STATE
6-Tuomie, 20-Michaelis, 9-Gerard
23-Rivera, 26-French, 16-Lutz
19-Van Os-Shaw, 11-Spooner, 15-Napravnik
21-Sowder, 8-Smith, 17-Duehr
16-Sandelin

2-Mackey, 3-McNeely
25-Zmolek, 18-Scheid
4-Carroll, 24-Hookenson

29-McKay
1-Stauber
31-Berger

Scratches: Aamodt, Bukes, Borchardt, Gerads, Jaremko, Malinowski, McMahan

NORTH DAKOTA
8-Blaisdell, 19-Senden, 26-Smith
21-Keane, 14-Weatherby, 9-Bowen
18-Adams, 22-Pinto, 29-Kawaguchi
10-Hain, 11-Michaud, 16-Mismash
28-Caulfield

6-Poolman, 24-Bernard-Docker
3-Kiersted, 2-Bast
15-Frisch, 4-Peski

31-Scheel
1-Thome

Mavericks 4, Fighting Hawks 4 (OT)

Freddy's three thoughts of the game ...

1. Are you not entertained: First off, that was quite the entertaining hockey game between two pretty darn good teams. Lots of pace and skill out there. Although overtimes are a deadline buster for me, it was they type of game where the 4,500-plus folks might have wanted more. Unfortunately for them, NCAA rules now prohibit games from going to 3-on-3 in nonconference play. They still allow it to break ties for conference points, however. The two coaches, Mike Hastings and Brad Berry, discussed continuing the game afterward, Hastings said:“We looked at each other and said why wouldn’t we play 3 on 3? And I think he was thinking the same thing. But it’s my understanding that if it’s nonconference this is it."

2. A star is born: One game does not a career make, but Nathan Smith was certainly impressive in his collegiate debut. Smith, who missed the Mavericks' exhibition and opening series against Arizona State, had a goal and three assists. He centered a line with fellow Floridian Lucas Sowder and Junior Walker Duehr. Hastings said it was associate head coach Todd Knott's idea to put Smith and Sowder together. They've known each other since they were 6, Smith said, and they sure appeared to have some chemistry. "We're just used to each other," Smith said. "We can communicate and know where each other is at." Sowder had a goal and two assists, same as he had last weekend against ASU.

3. Strong finish: Hastings said he liked that, for the third game in a row, the Mavericks' third period was their best period. Trailing 4-3 going into the final frame, MSU knotted the game on Connor Mackey's goal at 6:15. Both teams had chances to score after that, but goalies Dryden McKay and Adam Scheel shut their doors. North Dakota got a late power play that looked like it was going to carry over to overtime, but Marc Michaelis drew a penalty on a short-handed rush in the closing seconds of regulation. The Mavericks couldn't score on their 45-second power play in OT. They outshot the Hawks 2-1 in the extra period.

Deep thought: Hastings said that Jake Jaremko was sick, which is why he was a scratch on Friday.

Read my game story here.

Around the WCHA: Alaska 4, Penn State 0 ... Bowling Green 2, Wester Michigan 1 ... Northern Michigan 4, Boston University 4 (OT) ... Miami 4, Ferris State 3 ... Michigan 4, Lake Superior State 0

Minnesota State vs. North Dakota

Marc Michaelis, Nick Rivera and Nathan Smith are in the lineup for the Mavericks. Dallas Gerads remains out, and, interestingly, Jake Jaremko is one of the scratches.

Here are tonight's lines:

MINNESOTA STATE
6-Tuomie, 20-Michaelis, 9-Gerard
23-Rivera, 26-French, 15-Napravnik
19-Van Os-Shaw, 11-Spooner, 14-Sandelin
21-Sowder, 8-Smith, 17-Duehr
16-Lutz

2-Mackey, 3-McNeely
25-Zmolek, 18-Scheid
4-Carroll, 24-Hookenson

29-McKay
1-Stauber
31-Berger

Scratches: Aamodt, Bukes, Borchardt, Gerads, Jaremko, Malinowski, McMahan

NORTH DAKOTA
10-Hain, 11-Michaud, 16-Mismash
18-Adams, 22-Pinto, 29-Kawaguchi
8-Blaisdell, 19-Senden, 26-Smith
21-Keane, 14-Weatherby, 9-Bowen
5-Johnson

6-Poolman, 24-Bernard-Docker
3-Kiersted, 2-Bast
17-Tychonick, 4-Peski

31-Scheel
1-Thome

Friday Morning Skate

It's another big weekend in Mankato as North Dakota comes to town for the first time since 2013. It will be a matchup of the No. 2 Mavericks against the No. 16 Fighting Hawks.

For Minnesota State, much has already been made about its depth and tough lineup to crack, but, as senior defenseman and alternate captain Edwin Hookenson can attest, hard work and stick-to-itiveness can eventually earn a player a permanent and important role on the team.

The Mavericks' lineup tonight could look a bit different than last week if Nick Rivera and Nathan Smith are ready to return from injury. Both were back on the ice this week this week, as was Marc Michaelis, who left Saturday's game against Arizona State in the third period.

Read more about the matchup between MSU and UND in this week's College Hockey Gameday.

From the North Dakota side of things, Brad Schlossman writes that the Fighting Hawks are going to try to do something few teams have been able to do recently — win in Mankato. Like MSU, North Dakota has been dealing with an injury to an important veteran player.

Schlossman also takes a look at the courtship of college free agents, which this weekend's series will have, notably MSU defenseman Connor Mackey and UND defenseman Colton Poolman. (I'll add Michaelis to that mix, too, as, like Mackey, he met with several NHL teams prior to the season).

Read more on the MSU-UND series from USCHO's Jack Hittinger here and here.

Going around the WCHA ...

There are no league games this weekend, but Alaska, which swept Michigan Tech in Houghton last weekend, opened a series at Penn State on Thursday, losing 7-0. They will play again tonight.

Friday-Saturday matchups include:

• Ferris State at Miami: The Bulldogs (1-0) will take on former Bowling Green coach Chris Bergeron and the Redhawks (0-2-1) in a matchup of two teams trying to make big improvements from a year ago.

• Bowling Green vs./at Western Michigan: These teams will play three games in a row after this weekend, as the Broncos (1-0-1) defeated the Falcons (1-2) in the third-place game of the Icebreaker last Saturday in Toledo.

• Northern Michigan at Boston University The Wildcats (1-1) continue a nonconference schedule against well-known college hockey teams, heading east to take on the Terriers (1-0). Last week, NMU split a home series against Michigan State.

• Lake Superior State at Michigan: The Lakers (2-2) are going downstate to face the Wolverines (0-1-1) in an intratstate matchup. The two teams split at Sault Ste. Marie last season.

Mavericks get D commitment

Minnesota State got a commitment from Langley (BCHL) defenseman Jake Livingstone on Monday afternoon. He tweeted out his commitment, which you can see here:

Proud and very excited to announce my commitment to Minnesota State. Thank you to my family, coaches and those who have helped me along the way. #hornsup

— Jake Livingstone (@jlivingstone99) October 14, 2019

The 6-foot-2, 201-pound Livingstone has 16 points in 13 games this season, which currently ranks second among BCHL defensemen. Another MSU recruit, Akito Hirose of Salmon Arm has 13 points, which ranks fourth.