Sunday, February 24, 2019

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)

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