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
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