MSU goalies receive honors

Minnesota State men's hockey freshman Dryden McKay was named WCHA Goaltender of the Month for February.

McKay led all college-hockey goaltenders with 0.98 goals against average in February, allowing six goals on 133 shots. The Downers Grove, Ill., native went 4-1-1 and ranked third in the country for the month with a .954 save percentage. He was twice named the league's Goaltender of the Week in February.

Meanwhile, MSU women's freshman goalie Abigail Levy was named All-WCHA Second Team and All-Rookie this week, while teammate defenseman Anna Wilgren was also named to the All-Rookie Team.

Levy has started 32 of 33 games for the Mavericks, compiling a .932 save percentage and 2.34 goals-against average  with five shutouts. She's the first MSU player to be named to an all-conference team since third-team pick Danielle Butters in 2013-13.

Wilgren compiled 12 points, including four goals, in her first season of college hockey and led the league and was second in the country with 119 blocked shots. Levy and Wilgren are the first two MSU players to be named to the All-Rookie Team since Holly Snyder in 2006-07 season.

Nanooks 1, Mavericks 0

Freddy's three thoughts from afar ...

1. Streak snapped: The No. 4 Mavericks won outright the MacNaughton Cup as the league’s regular-season champion on Friday but suffered a bit of a hangover on Saturday as its seven-game unbeaten streak was snapped. The loss was Minnesota State’s first since Jan. 19, which was also a 1-0 defeat at home to Lake Superior State.

2. Scoring goes dry: Nanooks goaltender Anton Martinsson stopped 32 shots to shut out the Mavericks for the second time in his career. He also did it last season in Fairbanks, making 26 saves on Jan. 12, 2018. The Mavericks made a strong push to try and tie the game in the third period, getting their only two power plays of the game and outshooting the Nanooks 11-3. Jake Jaremko also blasted a shot off the post.

3. Where things stand: Neither MSU nor Alaska changed its playoff position in the game. Minnesota State will be the top seed for the WCHA tournament, and Alaska will be seventh.  The Mavericks will close out the regular season at home next weekend against Bemidji State. After the weekend split the Mavericks ended up No. 4 in the Pairwise Rankings.

Read more here.

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

Mavericks 6, Nanooks 1

WCHA photo

Freddy's three thoughts (from afar):

1. Theirs alone: Kudos to the WCHA for flying officials and the MacNaughton Cup to Fairbanks and awarding the trophy to the Mavericks after they clinched sole possession of it on Friday night. The team deserved to have its moment on the ice with the trophy and got it after the game. Minnesota State made the league's effort worthwhile with a strong performance coming off a bye week in which it clinched at least a share of the regular-season championship.

2. Power players: Minnesota State put the game away when it scored three power-play goals in a span of 1:45 early in the second period during a five-minute major power play. Parker Tuomie, Reggie Lutz and Marc Michaelis scored the power-play goals. The Mavericks finished 3 for 6 with the man advantage. Penalties were dished out freely after that, and the teams combined for 100 penalty minutes in the second period alone. Alaska was 1 for 3 on the power play, a 5-on-3 goal.

3. Too Schied: Junior defenseman Ian Scheid had an outstanding night with a goal and two assists. He scored the game's first goal, the lone score of the first period and assisted on two of the power-play goals. Josh French finished with a goal and an assist, and defenseman Jack McNeely and forward Jared Spooner each had two assists. Defenseman Connor Mackey had the other MSU goal.

Deep thought: The Mavericks are now No. 3 in the Pairwise Rankings.

Read my game story here.

Around the WCHA: Alabama Huntsville 2, Ferris State 0 ... Michigan Tech 3, Alaska Anchorage 2 ... Northern Michigan 4, Lake Superior State 2 ... Bowling Green 3, Bemidji State 1

Friday Morning Skate

The Mavericks are back in action after a bye week— a bye they hope came at a good time — with a trip to Fairbanks, Alaska, to take on the Nanooks. Minnesota State needs to gain just one point on Bowling Green and Lake Superior State to claim the MacNaughton Cup outright along with the No. 1 seed for the WCHA tournament. The Mavericks might even have that sewn up before they hit the ice at 10:07 p.m. CST.

Here are a few other things to know about the series against the Nanooks, who are playing their final home games of the season.

Questions about the future of college hockey's two Alaska teams are starting to surface again. No doubt this is something we'll all be paying attention to in the offseason.

Going around the WCHA:

Bowling Green at Bemidji State: Unbeaten in their last five games, the Beavers hope to keep things going as they vie for home ice in the first round of the playoffs. They'll host the Falcons, who could still get a share of the MacNaughton Cup but, more importantly, want to stay in the top four, if not the top two in the standings.

Lake Superior State at Northern Michigan: The Lakers, winners of four in a row and six of their last seven games, are also in line to get a share of the MacNaughton and also go on the road for a tough series against a motivated Wildcats team that is trying to maintain a top-four position, if not move up.

Alaska Anchorage at Michigan Tech: The Huskies are desperate to break out of their funk, a five game winless streak that's dropped them into sixth place in the standings. The last-place Seawolves could cure what ails them, although UAA did play them to a 0-0 tie and won the shootout in the first game of that slide. Anchorage has a win and two ties in its last five games.

Alabama Huntsville at Ferris State: The host Chargers currently hold the eighth and final playoff spot and are facing their closest challenger to the spot, the Bulldogs, on the road. Huntsville enters the weekend on a six-game winless streak. Ferris has one win in its last six games.

The hockey season is winding down for many other teams around the Mankato area:

• The MSU women will close out the regular season with a home series against Minnesota Duluth. The Mavericks need points to leapfrog St. Cloud State, avoid a last-place finish and get a more favorable matchup for the first round of the conference tournament.

• The Gustavus women defeated St. Mary's in the MIAC tournament play-in game on Thursday and will take on No. 1-ranked St. Thomas in the semifinals on Saturday. The men's team's season came to an end last week, as they did not make the postseason.

• The Mankato East/Loyola girls hockey team went 0-2 at the state tournament, but had a memorable opening game in which senior goalie Andrea Schreiber stopped a tournament-record 69 shots in a 4-2 loss to Mound Westonka.

• The Mankato East/Loyola boys won their section opener 8-0 over Winona on Thursday and will move on to the semifinals Saturday against Rochester Lourdes. Lourdes ended Mankato West's season on Thursday with a 6-3 win.

Respect the Cup

Yes, there are higher aspirations and expectations for this Minnesota State team. Yes, it clinched just a share of the WCHA title during last week's bye week. Yes, it's the Mavericks' fourth title in five years. Yes, it ain't your father's WCHA.

But winning another MacNaughton Cup should be acknowledged with more than a collective yawn, as it was last Saturday. I think they're still waiting for the league to acknowledge that they won. 

My column.

Meanwhile, MSU moved up to No. 4 in the U.S. College Hockey Online Rankings and the USA Today/USA Hockey poll. The Mavericks are fifth in the Pairwise.

USCHO.com Division I Men's Poll
Minneapolis, Minn./February 18, 2019

   Team             (First Place)    Record   Pts  Last Week
 1 St. Cloud State           (45)   21- 4-3   995     1
 2 Massachusetts             ( 4)   23- 6-0   947     3
 3 Minnesota Duluth                 18- 8-2   851     4
 4 Minnesota State           ( 1)   24- 6-2   842     5
 5 Quinnipiac                       22- 6-2   779     6
 6 Ohio State                       19- 7-4   756     2
 7 Denver                           16- 7-4   745     7
 8 Western Michigan                 17-10-1   553     9
 9 Cornell                          15- 7-3   536     8
10 Providence                       18- 9-5   532    13
11 Arizona State                    21-10-1   523    12
12 Northeastern                     19- 9-1   497    14
13 Clarkson                         20-10-0   430    11
14 UMass Lowell                     17-10-2   358    10
15 Bowling Green                    19- 8-4   266    16
16 Notre Dame                       16-11-3   256    15
17 Harvard                          14- 8-3   211    18
18 Lake Superior                    20- 8-2   183    19
19 Penn State                       17-11-2   126    17
20 Union                            15- 9-6    55    20

Others receiving votes: Yale 18, North Dakota 17, American
International 8, Bemidji State 5, Bentley 5, Minnesota 5,
Brown 1.

Idle Mavericks clinch share of MacNaughton

There was no trophy presentation, no parade with the prize around the Verizon Center ice in front of cheering fans. But the Minnesota State men's hockey team won a championship on Saturday night — without even lacing up their skates.

Despite being on their final bye week of the season, the No. 5 Mavericks clinched their second straight MacNaughton Cup as the Western Collegiate Hockey League's regular-season champions.

"That thing is hard to win," coach Mike Hastings said. "Our league is hard to win. It's hard to sweep, and it's hard to string things together in the regular season to get some separation."

Minnesota State did that, though, going 10-1-1 in their last 12 WCHA games to build a 16-point lead atop the standings going into the weekend.

They claimed at least a share of the title on Saturday when second-place Bowling Green and Alaska tied 3-3 at Bowling Green, Ohio, and the visiting Nanooks took the extra league point with a goal in the 3-on-3 double-overtime tiebreaker.

Minnesota State is sitting at 59 points in the WCHA standings with two weeks still to play in the regular season. Both Bowling Green and Lake Superior State can max out at 59 points by running the table. If Bowling Green wins out and Minnesota State loses out, the Falcons would hold the head-to-head tiebreaker for the top seed in the conference playoffs based on their 2-0-0 record against them this season. MSU has the tiebreaker over the Lakers with a 3-1-0 record against them.

With just one point the rest of the way, the Mavericks can avoid tiebreaker scenarios, win the championship outright and keep the silver MacNaughton Cup in Mankato for another year.

"To me, we're still playing for that," Hastings said.

Minnesota State (24-6-2, 19-4-1 in WCHA) plays Alaska next weekend at Fairbanks, Alaska. After that, the Mavericks will close out the regular season at home against Bemidji State.

"We just have to keep plugging along," Hastings said. "We've still got quite a bit to play for. ... By how we've played up to this point, we're in the position that we're in."

The regular-season championship is Minnesota State’s fourth in five years. They won their first MacNaughton Cup in 2015, shared the title with Michigan Tech in 2016 and won it outright again last season.

Friday Morning Skate

The Mavericks are idle this weekend but could actually win the MacNaughton Cup if things go in their favor, such as both Bowling Green and Northern Michigan losing a game. After getting some rest this weekend, MSU will prepare for the stretch run, which includes a trip to Alaska and a home series against Bemidji State to end the regular season. In all likelihood, the Mavericks will be the top seed for the WCHA tournament, which means home-ice advantage throughout.

Here's who is in action in the WCHA this weekend ...

Alaska at Bowling Green: The host Falcons would like to keep the MacNaughton race going for at least another week and earn as high a spot in the standings as possible. They have split every series the've played in 2019 so far. The seventh-place Nanooks would also like to work their way up the standings. They're 5-2 in their last seven games (including a home split against BG).

Northern Michigan at Bemidji State: Tied for second place with Bowling Green but only two points out of fourth and four out of fifth where the Beavers sit, the Wildcats are hoping to create some separation in the standings. Bemidji State, of course, is hoping to keep things muddled, if not separate itself from the pack, in order to clinch a first-round home-ice spot. The Beavers have lost just once in their last six games. College Hockey News takes a look at Northern Michigan's season so far.

Michigan Tech at Lake Superior State: The Lakers have lost just two games in their last 14 and would like to leapfrog Northern Michigan and Bowling Green if possible. Standing in their way this weekend are the Huskies, who need to rebound from a one-point Winter Carnival series against Minnesota State last weekend.

Ferris State at Alaska Anchorage: At ninth- and 10th-place, respectively, the Bulldogs and Seawolves currently sit on the outside looking in for WCHA playoff position. Simply said, it's been a tough year for both teams, who have three combined wins in 2019. Anchorage's one win was a home victory last Friday against rival Alaska.

Mavericks 3, Huskies 2

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

1. Carnival cruise: The Mavericks came from behind again to force overtime but this time got the first-overtime win to take five points for the weekend and claim Michigan Tech's Winter Carnival championship. Connor Mackey scored the game-winner in overtime, and Marc Michaelis scored two goals and assisted on Mackey's goal to earn the Winter Carnival MVP award. Minnesota State trailed 2-0 late in the second period before scoring three unanswered goals. The tying goal came with 4:43 remaining in the third period.

2. Special teams work: "We spent a lot of time killing penalties," coach Mike Hastings said of the game in which four of the five goals came on power plays (only Mackey's game-winner was at even strength). Michigan Tech was 2 for 6 on the power play, while MSU was 2 for 3. Credit goalie Dryden McKay (33 saves) for his play on the kill; both goals were tips. Michaelis scored both of MSU's power play goals off of Ian Scheid shots, and Parker Tuomie had the second assist on them. The second goal came during a five-minute major on Seamus Donohue

3. MacNaughton in sight: The Mavericks are off for a week before playing the final four games of the regular season, starting with a series at Alaska and concluding with a home weekend against Bemidji State. There's a chance they could clinch the league's regular-season title while at rest, as losses by Bowling Green and Northern Michigan, who are in second place, 16 points behind MSU after this weekend's results. The Mavericks have one loss in their last 13 games (11-1-2).

Read my game story here.

Around the WCHA: Northern Michigan 6, Alabama Huntsville 3 ... Bemidji State 6, Ferris State 1 ... Alaska Anchorage at Alaska (late)

Mavericks 1, Huskies 1 (MSU wins shootout)

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

1. Avoiding bookends: Minnesota State on Friday night was 54 seconds away from having 1-0 losses sandwiched around a four-game winning streak that included 21 goals, but Jake Jaremko's goal with the goalie pulled (pulled with 2:23 remaining) for an extra attacker tied the game. The Mavericks ended up with two WCHA points thanks to Chris Van Os-Shaw's shootout goal, the only one either team scored in four rounds of sudden death following 3x3 overtime.

2. Great goaltending: Hats off to Matt Jurusik, who entered the game on a two-game shutout streak and was fantastic throughout the night for the Huskies. His glove save on Jaremko's almost-sure game-winner with 49 seconds remaining in the first overtime was one for the highlight reels. Jaremko, Van Os-Shaw, Dallas Gerads, Walker Duehr, Parker Tuomie and Shane McMahan all had Grade A scoring chances throughout the game, and had to be shaking heads in disbelief as they were held off the board. Jurusik needs to credit his defense, too, which blocked several shots.

3. Injury report: The Mavericks got Nick Rivera back in the lineup on Friday night but lost Jared Spooner to an upper-body injury when he was checked into the stanchion at the end of the wall at the edge of the Minnesota State bench, one of the worst places a player can crash into. Inexplicably, no penalty was called on the play, as it certainly looked like a check from behind, right into the numbers on the back of Spooner's jersey. Coach Mike Hastings said Spooner was "held out" for the rest of the game. No word on his availability for Saturday's rematch.

Here’s the hit that ended Spooner’s game last night. No penalty called on the play. Thoughts? pic.twitter.com/iSLrgOEXzs

— Shane Frederick (@puckato) February 9, 2019

Read my game story here.

Around the WCHA: Bemidji State 3, Ferris State 3 (BSU wins 3x3) ... Northern Michigan 2, Alabama Huntsville 2 (UAH wins 3x3) ... Alaska Anchorage 4, Alaska 1

Friday Morning Skate

Minnesota State is back in the UP for the second time in two weeks (unfortunately, this reporter is not), this time to take on Michigan Tech in its annual Winter Carnival weekend. The Huskies always play well during this big event, for which MSU is the opponent for the first time since 2005. The Mavericks are hoping to treat the weekend like any other and keep improving over the final month of the regular season.

The Mavericks have been getting contributions from all over their lineup over their four-game winning streak. Read about that and more in this week's College Hockey Gameday.

As for the Huskies, Winter Carnival is a big weekend for them, but they, too, are trying to get points and move up the standings in hopes of securing home ice for the first round of next month's WCHA tournament.

Minnesota State is closing in on a second straight MacNaughton Cup. The Mavericks have 54 points and can acquire a max of 72. They won last year with 67 points. Here are the other contending team’s numbers: Bowling Green, 43 points (61 max); Lake Superior State, 41 (59); Northern Michigan, 39 (63); Michigan Tech, 36 (60) and Bemidji State, 34 (58).

Going around the rest of the WCHA ...

Bemidji State at Ferris State: The Beavers are coming off a much-needed bye week and hope to make a late-season push starting on the road at Big Rapids where the Bulldogs, senior Jacob Hetz says, are trying to turn their season around with a late push.

Northern Michigan at Alabama Huntsville: The Wildcats went 1-3-0 at home over the last four games against the top two teams in the conference (MSU and Bowling Green) and now head out on a four-game road swing, starting at Huntsville, where the Chargers are playing their final home games of the season and trying to maintain a playoff spot in the standings.

Alaska Anchorage at Alaska: The Governor's Cup is on the line as the Nanooks host the Seawolves in the battle of Alaska. Alaska has won four of its last five games and currently sits in seventh place. Anchorage has just two wins, one in WCHA play, Although it did win the shootout after a scoreless tie with Michigan Tech in its last game, it hasn't won a game since Dec. 15.

Bowling Green and Lake Superior State, the league's second- and third-place teams are on bye.

WCHA honors two Mavericks

Two Minnesota State players were honored by the WCHA this week for their play in last weekend's sweep over Alabama Huntsville.

Julian Napravnik was named the league's Rookie of the Week for his four-point series. He had two goals and two assists in the 6-1 and 4-0 victory. He had nine shots on goal and was plus-3 for the weekend. Napravnik now has 7 goals and 19 points in 29 games.

Another freshman, Dryden McKay, was named Goaltender of the Week after stopping 26 of 27 shots in the series and recording his third career shutout, a 12-save blanking on Saturday. McKay is now 16-5-1 with a .921 save percentage and a 1.91 goals-against average.

Mavericks remain sixth in polls

Minnesota State remained No. 6 in both the USCHO and USA Today/USA Hockey polls this week. Below is the USCHO poll:

USCHO.com Division I Men's Poll
Minneapolis, Minn./February 04, 2019

   Team             (First Place)    Record   Pts  Last Week
 1 St. Cloud State           (46)   20- 4-2   996     1
 2 Massachusetts             ( 2)   20- 5-0   944     2
 3 Ohio State                ( 1)   17- 5-4   887     4
 4 Quinnipiac                ( 1)   20- 5-1   840     5
 5 Minnesota Duluth                 17- 7-2   797     3
 6 Minnesota State                  23- 6-1   774     6
 7 Denver                           15- 6-4   708     7
 8 Western Michigan                 16- 9-1   581     8
 9 Clarkson                         18- 8-0   528    10
10 Cornell                          13- 6-2   521    13
11 Providence                       15- 8-5   454     9
12 Arizona State                    19-10-1   379    16
13 Northeastern                     15- 8-1   370    12
14 Notre Dame                       14-10-3   345    11
15 UMass Lowell                     15- 8-2   332    17
16 Bowling Green                    18- 8-3   319    13
17 Harvard                          11- 6-3   213    19
18 Penn State                       14-10-2   198    15
19 Lake Superior                    18- 8-2   132    20
20 Union                            13- 8-5   109    18

Others receiving votes: North Dakota 30, Yale 23, American 
International 10, Boston University 5, Bentley 4, Bemidji 
State 1.

Mavericks 4, Chargers 0

Freddy's three thoughts of the game ...

1. Back to back: It's always impressive when young players put together back-to-back quality performances on a weekend, and freshmen Julian Napravnik and Chris Van Os-Shaw did that against Alabama Huntsville. Napravnik had a goal and an assist and Van Os-Shaw had a goal on Saturday. For the weekend, the duo compiled four goals and seven points. You can read more about them in my gamer (linked below). "We have to stick to what we’ve been doing," said Napravnik, who had a four-point weekend.

2. Clean sheet: Dryden McKay got his third shutout of the season on Saturday, stopping just 12 shots in the process. The freshman goaltender, who allowed just one goal on 27 shots for the series is now 16-5-1 for the season with a .921 save percentage and a 1.91 goals-against average. Minnesota State has won nine of its last 10 games, all with McKay in goal. The Mavericks put 35 shots on UAH's Mark Sinclair on Saturday after putting up 43 on Jake Theut on Friday.

3. Major key: There were two major penalties called in the game, one on each team. First, Connor Wood of UAH checked Connor Mackey from behind and got a five and a game for the dangerous hit that appeared to shake up the MSU defenseman (although he returned to the game). Later, Parker Tuomie was called for spearing Sinclair, knocking the goalie's helmet off. It looked more like a high stick on a follow-through on a shot attempt, but the refs didn't see it that way. “He said he speared him,” coach Mike Hastings said. “My question was: Was it intentional? I thought he was just trying to get his stick back. … He said it didn’t matter what the intent was.”

Read my game story here.

Around the WCHA: Northern Michigan 3, Bowling Green 2 ... Lake Superior State 4, Ferris State 2

Live: MSU hockey vs. UAH, Game 2

The No. 6 Mavericks will go for the series sweep when they host the Chargers in Game 2 of their WCHA series. Follow along with the action below tonight's lines.

MINNESOTA STATE
6-Tuomie, 20-Michaelis, 9-Gerard
16-Lutz, 5-Jaremko, 17-Duehr
10-McMahan, 26-French, 22-Gerads
19-Van Os-Shaw, 11-Spooner, 15-Napravnik

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

29-McKay
32-Israelsson
31-Berger

Scratches: Bigelbach, Coatta, Galambos, Rivera, Schwalbe, Vanko

ALABAMA HUNTSVILLE
26-Jeffers, 15-Gorowsky, 18-Beaulieu
9-Rajic, 14-Dunn, 7-Neudecker
19-Salerno, 10-Dodson, 11-Ohrvall
12-Merkley, 25-Wilcox, 16-Wood

20-Newton, 8-Teets
4-James, 3-Lennon
28-Gosselin, 2-Knight
6-Rappleyea

30-Sinclair
1-Theut

***

Mavericks 6, Chargers 1

Freddy's three thoughts of the game ...

1. Third-period explosion: The Mavericks scored five goals in the final 20 minutes after holding on to a 1-0 lead for most of the first two periods to get the win. "I thought we made some plays, got to the net, got some pucks to the net," coach Mike Hastings said. "I thought we were playing a bit perimeter (in the first two periods), possessed the puck but didn’t quite get rewarded. And I thought in the third period we did. I thought we had some guys finish a little bit." Julian Napravnik, Connor Mackey, Ian Scheid, Parker Tuomie and Chris Van Os Shaw scored in the final frame, all on pretty nice plays.

2. Freshman connection: Chris Van Os-Shaw, playing in his 10th game since joining the Mavericks, scored his first career goal in the game. He looked as comfortable as ever throughout the game, and you could almost see the goal coming. But he showed some poise, too, choosing not to shoot on an open look but instead pass across to Napravnik for the goal that gave MSU a 2-0 lead. "The goalie had a good angle on me," Van Os-Shaw said. "I saw Julian going to the net and got the goalie moving east and west. It was a good finish by (Napravnik)." Said Hastings: "Van Os-Shaw has had a history of being a goal scorer, and those guys have a tendency to value that piece more than any other. And at the collegiate level and levels that you move on to above that, you’ve got to have a well-rounded game. Some of the things we’ve talked about with him is having some value away from the puck a little bit. I thought it was a big-time play by him to Julian."

3. Three-D: The Mavericks got three goals from defenseman on Friday, starting with Edwin Hookenson's first-period goal. Mackey blasted in the third goal of the game, and Scheid put MSU up 4-0, looking like a forward as he weaved around a couple of Chargers defenders before tucking the puck around the goaltender. Another D-man, Jack McNeely, assisted on two goals. In all, the Mavericks' defensemen had seven points in the game.

Read my game story here.

Around the WCHA: Lake Superior State 6, Ferris State 3 ... Bowling Green 3, Northern Michigan 2 (OT)

Live: MSU vs. Alabama Huntsville

The No. 6 Mavericks are back a the Verizon Center tonight against the Chargers. Follow along with tonight's action below the lines ...

MINNESOTA STATE
6-Tuomie, 20-Michaelis, 9-Gerard
16-Lutz, 5-Jaremko, 17-Duehr
10-McMahan, 26-French, 22-Gerads
19-Van Os-Shaw, 11-Spooner, 15-Napravnik

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

29-McKay
32-Israelsson
31-Berger

Scratches: Bigelbach, Coatta, Galambos, Rivera, Schwalbe, Vanko

ALABAMA HUNTSVILLE
26-Jeffers, 15-Gorowsky, 18-Beaulieu
9-Rajic, 14-Dunn, 7-Neudecker
19-Salerno, 10-Dodson, 13-Allen
12-Merkley, 25-Wilcox, 16-Wood

20-Newton, 8-Teets
4-James, 3-Lennon
28-Gosselin, 2-Knight
22-Finnson

30-Sinclair
1-Theut

***

Friday Morning Skate

Minnesota State is back at home this weekend to take on Alabama Huntsville in a WCHA series. The hottest player for the Mavericks right now is Dallas Gerads, who had nine points in January, but don't you dare call him a skilled player. He wants to be known as a tough, blue-collar worker all the way.

(Note: The story's been corrected online to reflect that Gerads is 5-foot-10, not 5-1. I regret the error.)

Gerads isn't the only player who's really come on since the calendar flipped to 2019. Read the College Hockey Gameday to learn more.

The Mavericks are still without Max Coatta and possibly Nick Rivera due to injuries but could be getting Riese Zmolek back this weekend. Lines will be posted later today.

As for the Chargers, the only players in the WCHA who had more points than Gerads in January, were UAH's Hans Gorowsky and Kurt Gosselin with 10 each. Huntsville won just three games over the first half of the season but doubled that in January.

There are just two other WCHA series this weekend. Here's a look ...

Bowling Green at Northern Michigan: The Wildcats were swept at home by first-place Minnesota State last weekend and quickly need to flush the bad feelings from that as the second-place Falcons come to town. Bowling Green is coming off a home split with Ferris State and has a six-point lead over Northern (and idle Michigan Tech) in the standings.

Lake Superior State at Ferris State: The Lakers are alone in fifth place in the conference, one point behind NMU and Tech. They will try to make some noise on the road after splitting at home with Bemidji State last weekend. The Bulldogs are hoping to use their win at Bowling Green to springboard them to a strong February and into league playoff position.

USCHO also featured Minnesota State in its WCHA column this week.