Mavericks 4, Seawolves 2

Freddy's three thoughts of the game

1. Sunday Funday: Alaska Anchorage, specifically goaltender Kris Carlson, did its best to try to upset MSU and force a Game 3, but the Mavericks prevailed and will get Sunday off. "It will be nice to get the extra day of rest," said Jake Jaremko, who scored the game-winning goal. "It was a hard series; they were a physical team." Minnesota State will have to wait until Sunday to find out who it plays. It will be either Michigan Tech, which swept Northern Michigan at Marquette, or Lake Superior State, which defeated Bemidji State on Saturday to force a Sunday game in Bemidji.

2. River rises: Jaremko centered the Mavericks' best line in the game, playing between Reggie Lutz and Charlie Gerard. Jaremko had the GWG, finishing off a play with the two linemates. Lutz had a goal and an assist, and Gerard assisted on two scores. If the trio sticks together, you can call them the River Line. Jaremko and Lutz are from Elk River, and Gerard is from Rocky River, Ohio. Gerard's two assists put him at 30 points for the season and 70 for his career.

3. Up to No. 2: Marc Michaelis had one assist on Saturday, putting a laser pass on the tape of Nathan Smith for the Mavericks' second goal. That gave him five points for the series and also put him at 162 points for his career, tying him with Matt Leitner for second place on MSU's D1 era scoring list. He's now two points shy of first place. For the season, he's now at 44 points, a career high, on 20 goals and 24 assists.

Read my game story here.



Around the WCHA: Lake Superior State 5, Bemidji State 3 (series tied 1-1) ... Michigan Tech 4, Northern Michigan 3, 3OT (Tech wins 2-0) ... Bowling Green at Alaska, late (BG leads 1-0)

Deep thought: The Gustavus Adolphus women's team won the MIAC playoff title on Saturday and advanced to the NCAA tournament. Read Kevin Dudley's coverage of the game.

Mavericks 8, Seawolves 1

Freddy's three thoughts of the game ...

1. Depth becomes them: Eight players had goals and seven players had multiple-point games as the Mavericks won Game 1 of the best-of-three WCHA playoff series between the WCHA's 1 and 8 seeds. Coach Mike Hastings mixed things up a bit from last week, moving Parker Tuomie back to the top line with Marc Michaelis and freshman Nathan Smith back to center. Tuomie (1G, 1A) helped his line finish with a 10-point game, playing with Michaelis (1G, 3A) and freshman Lucas Sowder (4A). As for Smith (1G, 1A), who centered Dallas Gerads (1G) and Julian Napravnik (2A), Hastings said, "Nathan Smith is a good hockey player. Doesn’t matter where we seem to put him, he’s productive. I like the maturation of his game."

2. Milestone night: The Mavericks hit a few milestones on Friday night. They won their 30th game for the third time in their history and the second time in two years (they won 32 games last year). Dryden McKay won his 29th game in goal, tying the mark set by Steve Carroll during the 1980 national-championship season. And Ian Scheid (1G, 1A) broke the program's Division I era record for points by a defenseman, reaching 97 points. That total also puts him third all-time for MSU D-men. (Read more about Scheid in my game story).

3. Milestone in sight: As for Michaelis, his four points put him at 161 for his career, just three points from tying the program's D-I era scoring record of 164 held by Aaron Fox, who played from 1996-2000). Michaelis, who reached a career-high for points in a season with 43 (despite missing seven games with an injury) is one point behind Matt Leitner, who had 162 points for the Mavericks from 2001-15.

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

Minnesota State vs. Alaska Anchorage, Game 1

The Mavericks and Seawolves will play in the first game of a best-of-three, first-round WCHA series at 7:07 p.m. at Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center.

Here are tonight's lines:

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

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

29-McKay
31-Berger

Scratches: Borchardt, Bukes, Malinowski, McMahan, Sandelin, Spooner, Van Os-Shaw

ALASKA ANCHORAGE
10-Schachle, 13-Frye, 12-Nazzarett
16-Court, 9-Wicks, 24-Brown
28-St. Onge, 14-Nash, 15-Lantz
29-DeGraaf, 25-Mitchell, 17-Masson
20-Renwick

7-Nicholas, 23-Sinclair
18-Hiekkavirta, 22-Buono
27-Trinkberger, 8-Pears

30-Carlson
1-Perrone

Friday Morning Skate

It's playoff time, and the Mavericks are hoping to begin a long run, starting with the WCHA tournament. Third-ranked MSU hosts Alaska Anchorage this weekend in the 1-8 matchup. This is Minnesota State's third straight season as the No. 1 seed, and the Seawolves' first time in the postseason since 2014.

Minnesota State's depth has been a strength all season, and it's showing now with some unlikely players coming through at important times. One player who fits that bill is junior forward Walker Duehr, who has 12 points in 2020, including a team-high eight points in February.

For more on the series and start of MSU's Sauer Trophy defense, check out the College Hockey Gameday preview.

In case you missed it from earlier in the week, I opine on the Mavericks' third straight MacNaughton Cup and how MSU's dominance in the WCHA should be appreciated.

As for the Seawolves, they're making their first postseason appearance since 2014 when they went to that first WCHA Final Five in Grand Rapids, Mich. (I liked Grand Rapids as a host city for that, by the way. It was too bad it didn't catch on.)

Here are the WCHA's other first-round matchups:

7-Lake Superior State at 2-Bemidji State: The Lakers have lost twice in their last 11 games and are 7-3-3 in their last 13, finding ways to get points in WCHA play. They'll go to Bemidji where the Beavers have been red-hot, losing just twice (albeit once last Saturday to MSU).

6-Michigan Tech at 3-Northern Michigan: The U.P. rivals square off for the second week in a row, and why do I have a feeling this is the series most likely to go three games? Tech won the season series 3-1, but last week was a split. NMU has won 2 of 3 but that came after a five-game skid. Someone to watch for this weekend is WCHA scoring champion Griffin Loughran, who was involved a play last weekend that caused a bit of buzz on social media:

As @wilson_marvin brought up earlier...what exactly is @GriffinLoughran doing here? Is he upset he didn't get the call on his dive so he checks the Ref for missing the "call?" I don't think I've ever seen anything like this before. @mtuhky @NMUHockey @WCHA_MHockey @ChasingMacPod pic.twitter.com/wQWDAFxDFG

— Tim Braun (@TBraunTHG) March 2, 2020

5-Bowling Green at 4-Alaska: The Nanooks are hosting a playoff series after going 6-5-1 with two extra-point wins in its last 12 games. The Falcons enter the weekend on an eight-game unbeaten streak, so these teams certainly could be playing on Sunday, too. Bowling Green has made some interesting travel plans. Knowing they could be playing on Sunday, if they win the series, they'll likely fly to Minneapolis from Fairbanks on Tuesday for the next round, which, if things go as expected, likely will be in Mankato or maybe Bemidji.

In other hockey action:

• The Gustavus Adolphus women's team will play Augsburg at 2 p.m. Saturday in the MIAC championship game at the Don Roberts Ice Rink in St. Peter.

• Mankato East/Loyola went 0-2 at the state tournament, running into some pretty good teams, but the future of the Cougars remains bright.

• The WCHA women's Final Faceoff takes place this weekend in Minneapolis. The league also announced its individual award winners with Wisconsin's Abby Roque winning Player of the Year.