Saturday, February 6, 2021

Mavericks 5, Falcons 1

Freddy's three thoughts of the game ...

1. Super sweep: It looked to be the toughest weekend on the schedule, but Minnesota State cruised to a pair of wins over No. 8 Bowling Green to stay undefeated in WCHA play (8-0-0, 11-2-1 overall). Although it was the second straight sweep over the rival Falcons, sweeps have been historically rare between the two teams. And there certainly haven't been many blowouts along the way. Following Friday's 4-0 MSU win, Saturday's series finale was a tight, defensive game — until a three-goal outburst by the No. 6 Mavericks in the final 3:15 of the second period. Ryan Sandelin, Jared Spooner and Reggie Lutz scored those goals, and Lutz scored again 3:00 into the third period to all but put the game away.

2. Shane, Shane, come back: Sophomore forward Shane McMahan scored the game's first goal, sniping a shot over goalie Zach Rose's stick-side shoulder less than five minutes into the game. It was his first goal of the season and the fourth of his career. It must have been a sweet feeling, however, as McMahan missed all of last season for personal reasons. He has played in eight of MSU's 14 games this season, contributing as a solid fourth-line forward. He was the unsung hero against Bowling Green in the 2019 WCHA championship game, doing the hard work along the boards to secure the puck before it got across to Nick Rivera for the game-winning overtime goal. "Shane McMahan had an outstanding weekend," coach Mike Hastings said. "He killed penalties and played a real honest game."

3. No shutout tonight: Dryden McKay finished with 20 saves to improve his record to 11-1-0 this year. It was also his 65th career victory. He blanked the Falcons until 7:22 remained in the third period when Bowling Green scored a power-play goal on Brendan Furry's major penalty. With the exception of early in the first period, he wasn't as busy as he was in Friday's impressive shutout, but he continues to be as steady as it gets back there. Meanwhile Bowling Green, which has two good goalies in Eric Dop and Zack Rose, had to make a goalie change after two periods, going to Friday's starter Dop after Rose allowed the three late goals in the second.

Deep thought: Things got a little out of hand in the final minute when BG's Will Cullen viciously checked Spooner from behind. That led to a fight (fighting majors were called) between MSU captain Riese Zmolek and BG's Sam Craggs. Sandelin was also involved in another wrestling match, but that was not ruled a fight. Cullen got a DQ for the hit, which Hastings called "incredibly dangerous," "terrible" and "actually embarrassing" and hopes "the league takes care of it." He also said Spooner is "not very good" after the hit, which you can see here:


Around the WCHA: Lake Superior State 5, Northern Michigan 4, OT ... Michigan Tech 4, Alabama Huntsville 1 ... Bemidji State 7, Ferris State 2

Posted by Shane Frederick at 8:28 PM

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