Frozen Four-bound!

The Associated Press

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

1. Carrying the banner: At the beginning of each season, Mike Hastings makes sure to emphasize that it's a new year, a new team, one that has to build its own "book of business" or "go back to the basement" and "build a new foundation." The past being the past and all. But this Mavericks team, which is Pittsburgh-bound after defeating — really, dominating — Minnesota 4-0 on Sunday, might have been playing for all of those MSU teams that suffered through bad bounces, controversial goals, comebacks and collapses. Certainly they must have had last year's team — the one that so many thought would be competing for a national title, only to have its chances wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic — on their minds. With the weight of 0 for 6 off their backs after defeating Quinnipiac in OT on Saturday, the Mavericks played one of their finest, most-complete games in recent memory to get to their first Frozen Four.

2. 29 on the Richter scale: Dryden McKay, as usual, got a lot of help from his defense, which blocked 23 shot and held the Gophers to just nine shots on net over the first two periods. But he still came up big when he had to, stopping 13 shots in the third period and finishing with his 10th shutout of the season and the 24th of his career in the biggest game of his career (so far). McKay is one of three finalists for the Mike Richter Award, which goes to the nation's top goaltender. He out-dueled one of the others tonight in the Gophers' Jack LaFontaine (23 saves), while the other, Boston College's Spencer Knight, lost 4-1 to St. Cloud State, MSU's opponent in the national semifinal. McKay is also the only one of the 10 Hobey Baker Award finalists whose season is still alive.

3. Breakout weekend: Ryan Sandelin was named the regional's MVP after his two-goal, on-assist weekend that included Saturday's OT winner. He scored the second goal on Sunday, tipping in a Jack McNeely point shot. Sandelin, Sam Morton and Brendan Furry earned Hastings' trust over the course of the weekend and seemed to get more and more playing time as the weekend went on. Morton scored the first goal against Minnesota. Nathan Smith also had a two-goal weekend, and his goal in the third period was the backbreaker. Dallas Gerads added an empty-netter. It was quite a weekend for the Sandelin family, of course, after Minnesota Duluth, coached by Ryan's dad, Scott, made a fourth straight Frozen Four after a five-OT win over North Dakota late Saturday night.

Relive the historic night in Colorado! #HornsUp😈 #FrozenFourBound pic.twitter.com/zom09vq2tu

— Minnesota State Hockey (@MavHockey) March 29, 2021

Mavericks 4, Bobcats 3 (OT)

THE CURSE IS DONE FOR GOOD! 😈 pic.twitter.com/eMKgnz7c8m

— Minnesota State Hockey (@MavHockey) March 28, 2021

Freddy's three thoughts ...

1. Finally! Minnesota State got its long-awaited NCAA tournament victory, ending a six-game string of bad luck, heartbreak and failure with a win over Quinnipiac. To exorcise their cruise, the Mavericks had to make a remarkable, two-goal, third-period comeback that included Cade Borchardt's game-tying, extra-attacker goal with 1:02 remaining in regulation. Ryan Sandelin was the overtime hero, slamming in a loose puck on a scramble in front of the Bobcats net and sending his team on to a regional final for the first time. (Mike Sullivan's radio call of the GWG is in the above tweet.) Goaltender Dryden McKay stopped 27 shots for his 20th win of the season.

2. Tough start: The Mavericks came out of the gates slow — not ideal — and Quinnipiac grabbed a 2-0 lead, outshooting MSU 13-6, in the first period. But MSU had early leads in its previous two NCAA games — 3-0 against Providence in 2019 and 2-0 against Minnesota Duluth in 2018 — and let them slip away. On Saturday, they didn't let their deficit bring them down and took over from the second period on, outshooting the Bobcats 32-17 the rest of the way. Jake Jaremko scored in the second, and even though they fell behind 3-1 in the third period, they kept up the pressure, cutting their deficit to one score on a Nathan Smith goal with 5:06 left in regulation. 

3. Making plays: Borchardt's goal was set up by a brilliant play by freshman defenseman Jake Livingstone, who carried the puck deep, going through traffic, and dished a perfect pass for Borchardt to fire in. (Sully's radio call of that goal is in the tweet below.) Sandelin's was set up by hard plays around the net by Brendan Furry and Reggie Lutz. Sandelin had been knocked to the ice but got up quickly and went to the net where he appeared to be the only player to notice the loose puck that goalie Keith Petruzzelli couldn't find to cover.

Yeah I did record ourselves watching the game. And yeah, I did sync it to radio. And yeah, winning is personal. Huge moment for @MavHockey. Long time coming! So excited for everyone😀 pic.twitter.com/Ck5aUAYU1K

— Greg Vandermause (@GregVandermause) March 28, 2021

The Mavericks will play Minnesota in the West Regional Final at 7 p.m. Sunday. The game will be on ESPN2.

Saturday Morning Skate

Minnesota State will try to snap its NCAA winless streak today when it plays Quinnipiac in the West Regional at 4 p.m. in Loveland, Colo. (ESPN3). 

It's been an interesting tournament so far, with two teams, Notre Dame and Michigan, pulled from the field due to positive COVID tests. Those results came after Monday, so their games were declared no contests, and Boston College and Minnesota Duluth advanced to their respective regional finals.

Bemidji State pulled off the big upset on Friday with a decisive 6-3 victory over Wisconsin in Bridgeport, Conn. The Beavers got up early and never really looked back against the East Region's No. 1 seed. Bemidji State will play UMass at 4 p.m. today (seriously, NCAA, how hard is it to not have these games be played at the same time!) for a trip to the Frozen Four. UMass knocked off WCHA playoff champion Lake Superior State 5-1. 

In other first day action, North Dakota beat American International 5-1 and will play NCHC-rival UMD at 6:30 p.m. today in the Midwest Regional final in Fargo, N.D.

First-round games today include Minnesota vs. Omaha at 8 p.m. on the other side of the West bracket and St. Cloud State vs. Boston University at noon in the Northeast Regional in Albany, N.Y., with BC awaiting the winner.

As for the Mavericks, they feel they need to establish their "ground game" early in order to break through. They've had some slow starts this year and can't afford to do that in an elimination game. Perhaps last week's loss to Northern Michigan in the WCHA semifinals helped them hit the reset button. Minnesota State is also trying to be COVID cautious and avoid any situation such as whatever got Notre Dame or Michigan in trouble.

The Free Press' Kevin Dudley is in Loveland and has been reporting on the Mavericks, including a nice feature about goalie Dryden McKay and his father, Ross. McKay on Friday was named one of three finalists for the Richter Award as the nation's top goalie, along with Minnesota's Jack LaFontaine and BC's Spencer Knight.

The Rink Live's Jason Feldman gives you 10 things to know about MSU's matchup with Quinnipiac, and the Star Tribune's Randy Johnson is also covering the Mavs, along with the Gophers.

Mavericks heading West

Minnesota State is heading to the West Regional in Loveland, Colorado, for the NCAA tournament. The Mavericks will be the No. 2 seed in the region and take on No. 3 Quinnipiac at 3 p.m. The game will be shown on ESPN3. Minnesota is the No. 1 seed in the region and will play No. 4 Omaha.

"We’re excited," MSU coach Mike Hastings said. "Everybody’s excited. I think anybody that gets into this tournament is excited about what their opportunities are. The idea is getting there and then having the opportunity to win a championship."

For the first time ever, all five of Minnesota's Division I men's programs are in the national tournament. Besides the Mavericks and Gophers, Minnesota Duluth will be the No. 3 seed at the Midwest Regional in Fargo; St. Cloud State will be the 2 at Albany, N.Y.; and Bemidji State will be the 4 at Bridgeport, Conn.

"I think it says a lot when you're looking at 5 of 16 teams being within our border," Hastings said. "I'm really happy for the group, considering every one of those head coaches a very good friend of mine. Hopefully we can all go and represent the state of Minnesota the way we want to."

Also, for the first time since 2013 realignment, the WCHA will have three teams in the NCAAs. Lake Superior State, which won the WCHA playoff championship on Saturday in Mankato, will be the No. 3 seed in Bridgeport.

"Very well deserving," Hastings said. "Congratulations to Lake Superior State, and congratulations to Bemidji State. I think our league this year was an incredible grind."

Quinnipiac is 17-7-4 and lost to St. Lawrence in overtime in the ECAC championship game on Saturday (St. Lawrence ended up declining the auto-bid due to a positive COVID test from its coach). The Bobcats have two Hobey Baker candidates in Odeen Tufto and Keith Petruzelli. Tufto has 45 points, including a nation-leading 38 assists in 28 games. Petruzelli, a goalie has a .927 save percentage and a 1.82 goals-against average.

"There are some guys that jump off the paper," Hastings said. "And they're as sound defensively as you'll find in college hockey."

The Loveland regional will be played without fans. The Mavericks will leave Wednesday for the regional and will be required to undergo COVID testing in advance of the tournament.

Wildcats 5, Mavericks 1

Freddy's three thoughts of the game ...

1. Un-Dryden-like: Who would have thought Minnesota State goaltender Dryden McKay was going to give up four goals, including one from the blue line, and get the hook a little more than halfway through a WCHA semifinal game? Hard to blame him on the first two goals, and he made a highlight save in the closing seconds of the first period to keep it 1-0 at the first break, but it was hardly a Richter-esque performance from one of the best goalies in college hockey this season.

2. Out of sorts: The Mavericks didn't have a shot on goal for nearly 13 minutes in the first period and had 26 shots blocked. Northern Michigan was all over them, and MSU began to struggle completing passes and getting to second chances around the net. It's a bit of what happened a week earlier against Ferris State, in the first game of sweep that definitely didn't satisfy them. Reggie Lutz scored the Mavericks' lone goal on a power play in the third period. 

3. What's next? The Mavericks are a lock for the NCAA tournament, but it will be interesting to see where they're seeded and where they'll go? Will the loss keep them from a No. 1 seed? They're still No, 1 in the Pairwise, but that's not being used to determine the field this year. Meanwhile, Northern Michigan at 11-16-1 is a win away from stealing the WCHA's auto-bid and spoiling someone's at-large chance, perhaps one of the two teams playing tonight, Bemidji State and Lake Superior State.

For more coverage, read my gamer on College Hockey News.

Friday Morning Skate

The WCHA championship weekend is here, and it's all taking place in Mankato. I like this format. I'd like it better if the arena could be full. As it stands with COVID restrictions, here is the schedule:

• 1-Minnesota State vs. 6-Northern Michigan, 2:07 p.m.

• 2-Lake Superior State vs. 4-Bemidij State, 7:37 p.m.

• Sauer Trophy championship game, 7:07 p.m. Saturday

The third-ranked Mavericks enter the weekend with four wins in a row and having won 11 of their last 12 games. They're playing well right now, showing off some depth. One player who's rolling is senior forward Walker Duehr, undeterred by his slow start to the season, The Free Press' Kevin Dudley writes. Dudley also reports that Reggie Lutz has been cleared to play after missing last weekend, which should be a boost to MSU's offense.

The, of course, there's goaltender Dryden McKay, who was named a top-10 finalist for the Hobey Baker Award this week, the second year in a row he has reached that point for the nation's top-player honor. He's one of four goalies on the list and the only WCHA player.

In other honors this week, Mavericks coach Mike Hastings was named WCHA coach of the decade for the 2010s, while McKay, Marc Michaelis and Matt Leitner were named to the all-decade team, as the league celebrates 70 seasons. I'm proud to have been part of the season-long project, writing about the 2000s and the 2010s. Be sure to check it out.

Also, if you haven't already, take a listen to my podcast with Minnesota State senior captain Riese Zmolek. Need to catch up, here's a link to last week's podcast with McKay.

For more on the Mavericks' awards and a look at this weekend, check out The Rink Live's coverage. Jason Feldman also writes about the four goaltenders in the tournament, and FloHockey's Tim Rappleye looks at MSU's German influence that started with Michaelis and Parker Tuomie and continues with Julian Napravnik.

Meanwhile, Northern Michigan enters the weekend as the only remaining team to go three games last weekend and pull off a first-round upset. The Wildcats knocked off third-seeded Bowling Green last weekend and are confident and relaxed heading into today's semifinal matchup, writes The Mining Journal's Ryan Stieg.

While Minnesota State is a virtual lock for the NCAA tournament, and Northern Michigan knows it needs to win twice this weekend to get in, Lake Superior State and Bemidji State appear to be on the NCAA bubble, per the prognosticators, so tonight's matchup could have huge implications. The Lakers haven't been to the national tournament since 1996, the last of nine straight appearances that included three championships.

For the Beavers, meanwhile, Mankato native Kyle Looft is excited to return home for the playoffs.

The Beavers have won six of their last seven games, including a split at home against the Lakers, who have won five of their last six.

I'll be covering games for College Hockey News this weekend, so be sure to go there for further coverage.

Another podcast: My conversation with Riese Zmolek

I sat down with Minnesota State captain Riese Zmolek to talk about this unique season, winning four MacNaughton Cups and this weekend's WCHA semifinals and championship.

Mavericks 3, Bulldogs 1

Freddy's three thoughts ...

1. Better effort: Minnesota State clearly wasn't happy with its performance on Friday despite a 3-0 victory. Jared Spooner described their play as "arrogant" and "ungrateful" afterward. The Mavericks came out much better on Saturday, going hard to the net and making plays amid the Ferris State traffic, which it simply did not do much on Friday. If not for a stellar effort by Bulldogs goaltender Ron Salmenkangas (28 saves, 14 in the first period), the Mavericks would have put the game away early in the first period. As it turned out, the game was scoreless again through the first 20 minutes. Go figure. "It was a battle," coach Mike Hastings said. "The last one is always hard to win in a series, and a Bob Daniels (coached) team is not going to go away."

2. Do it, Duehr: Walker Duehr broke the scoreless stalemate at 9:03 of the second period, burying a nice behind-the-net pass from Spooner. Spooner and Shane McMahan did the dirty work along the wall and behind the net, but Walker had the nice finish and improved his point-scoring streak to five games. He's really come on over the second half of the season after a slow start. His 15 points equal his total from last year and is one shy of his total from his sophomore season. "A real honest, heavy line," Hastings said.

3. And the rest: Sam Morton put MSU up 2-0 at 2:19 of the third period with a shot that hit the pipe but went into the net after hitting Salmenkangas in the skates. Jake Livingstone gave the Mavericks a 3-1 cushion with a 180-foot empty-net goal with 45 seconds to play. Livingstone and his D partner, Riese Zmolek each finished plus-3. As for Dryden McKay, no shutout this night, but he was rock-solid once again, making 23 saves, including a few flurries. Ferris broke through with 7:00 to go on Marshall Moise's power-play goal.

Up next: Minnesota State will host the WCHA semifinals and finals on Friday and Saturday. Schedule to be determined. As of right now, the Mavericks and Lake Superior State, the No. 2 seed, are in. The Lakers swept Alabama Huntsville, 6-1 and 4-1.

Mavericks 3, Bulldogs 0

Freddy's three thoughts ...

1. Let's wait awhile: The playoff game between the No. 1 and No. 8 seeds in the WCHA was a tight one and remained scoreless until 8:49 of the third period when Julian Napravnik scored a power-play goal. The WCHA Offensive Player of the Year cashed in with his 10th goal of the season and his sixth game-winner. That loosened up the Bulldogs' tightly packed defense a bit, and the Mavericks added two more goals, one from Jared Spooner just 53 seconds later and another from Walker Duehr, who continues to stay hot.

2. Big day: On Friday afternoon, the WCHA announced that Dryden McKay had won the league's Player of the Year Award, joining Marc Michaelis and C.J. Suess to claim that honor. He backed that up by recording his ninth shutout of the season and the 23rd of his career — 23 of his 72 career wins have been shutouts. Crazy. McKay made just 15 saves but several tough ones, especially over the game's first 10 minutes but also throughout the game's scoreless stretch. "We hung him out to dry a couple times," coach Mike Hastings said. "But he's OK at handling that type of situation. He gave us an opportunity to get our feet underneath us."

3. Playing hard: Watching MSU play Ferris State a few times this season, you figured the Bulldogs might be a tough out. They play hard defensively and block shots, and they were aggressive offensively early on Friday's game to try to get a quick lead. "They played with a lot more jam and desperation," Hastings said. "Thank goodness we had Dryden McKay." It's been a tough season for them, going 1-21-1 with the lone win coming against a Division III team. The Bulldogs look like a better team than than that. They'll try to get a win and keep their season alive in Game 2 at 4:07 p.m. Saturday.

Friday Morning Skate

It was one year ago today, March 12, that sports shut down around the country. I don't think I'll ever forget the deep sadness that lingered around the Minnesota State hockey facility when those players found out their season was over, that their dreams of getting to the Frozen Four, or even winning a national championship, had died. Heartbreaking.

Today, although we're all still under the cloud of COVID-19, the Mavericks begin another playoff run. They will host Ferris State in the first game of a best-of-three series in the first round of the WCHA tournament. This weekend's other matchups include Lake Superior State vs. Alabama Huntsville, Bowling Green vs. Northern Michigan and Bemidji State vs. Michigan Tech. 

As always, the question is: Will anyone be playing on Sunday?

The four winners will advance to a single-elimination semifinal/championship weekend. That will take place in Mankato, if Minnesota State advances past this weekend.

Remember: MSU's game times this weekend are 6 p.m. today, 4 p.m. Saturday and 4 p.m. Sunday (if necessary).

A lot of the coverage this week centers around the WCHA awards, which the Mavericks cleaned up on. Here's coverage from The Rink Live's Jason Feldman and The Free Press' Kevin Dudley.

One player who did not get an award this week was forward Walker Duehr, but the senior has been on a tear over the second half of the season, Feldman writes.

Last season's top WCHA player, Marc Michaelis, made his NHL debut a week ago, and Dudley caught up with the Vancouver Canucks rookie to see how it went.

College Hockey News has a WCHA tournament preview.

If you missed it, be sure to check out the Maverick Hockey Podcast this week. I interview Richter Award finalist and two-time WCHA Goaltender of the Year Dryden McKay.

Mavericks clean up awards

The WCHA announced most of its postseason awards this week, and MacNaughton Cup champion Minnesota State did quite well, not surprisingly.

Mike Hastings was named WCHA Coach of the Year for the fourth time, while Dryden McKay earned the league's Goaltender of the Year award for the second year in a row, forward Julian Napravnik won Offensive Player of the Year and defenseman Akito Hirose was named Rookie of the Year. 

Other individual award winners were Bemidji State goaltender Zach Driscoll, who won Student-Athlete of the Year, while Defensive Player of the Year ended in a tie between BSU's Elias Rosen and Bowling Green's Will Cullen.

Only the WCHA's overall Player of the Year was not announced. The guess here is that McKay takes that hardware. We'll see.

Meanwhile, the All-WCHA Teams were also announced, and McKay and Napravnik were named to the first team. MSU's Nathan Smith made the second team, Hirose and Riese Zmolek were the third-team defensemen and Hirose and Jake Livingstone were the rookie-team D-men.

A conversation with Dryden McKay

I had the pleasure to interview Mavericks goaltender Dryden McKay for the Maverick Hockey Podcast this week. It was a lot of fun. Maybe this will turn into a thing. For now, enjoy my conversation with the Richter Award candidate:

 

Mavericks sweep Huskies

Freddy's three thoughts ...

1. Goal of the game: Julian Napravnik ended up with the game-winning goal on a beauty of a play Saturday to make it 3-1 in what would end up as a 3-2 victory. Napravnik started it with a nice back check at neutral ice that forced a turnover. Walker Duehr, who is playing the best hockey of his career, carried the puck to the hash marks and dropped a behind-the-back pass to Napravnik, who fired past goalie Blake Pietila. Napravnik leads the Mavericks with 24 points and has five GWGs.

2. Save of the game: Not long after Napravnik's goal, Dryden McKay stretched out wide to glove a great scoring chance by the Huskies' Chris Lipe, who had gotten a step on an MSU defender. McKay stopped 16 of 18 shots and picked up his 71st collegiate victory. His career record is now 71-13-4 in three seasons. As for this year, he is now 17-2-0 with a .933 save percentage and a 1.32 goals-against average. Richter-worthy numbers? We'll see!

3. Step right up: Sophomore defenseman Tony Malinowski had a goal and an assist, playing in just his eighth career game (all eight have been this season). The goal was the first of his career. A scratch on Friday, Malinowski got more and more ice time as the game went on, as the coaches showed they were trusting his play. He missed two great scoring chances on one shift, with the second resulting in a Duehr goal. Then, on his next shift, 61 seconds after Duehr's goal, he buried an open shot for a 2-0 MSU lead.

Up next: The WCHA tournament begins next week, with the top-seeded Mavericks hosting eighth-place Ferris State in the best-of-three quarterfinal round. The other matchups will be 2-Lake Superior State vs. 7-Alabama Huntsville, 3-Bowling Green vs. 6-Northern Michigan and 4-Bemidji State vs. 5-Michigan Tech. 

End of the regular season

Minnesota State will close out the regular season at home tonight against Michigan Tech after defeating the Huskies 2-1 in a tight, playoff-like game on Friday.

The Mavericks clinched the MacNaughton Cup a little over a week ago and know they'll be hosting Ferris State in the first round of the WCHA tournament next weekend. Barring an upset in the best-of-three series, MSU will host the single-elimination WCHA semifinals and championship a week later, a sort of mini-Final Five (minus one).

On Friday, the fourth-ranked Mavericks got first-period goals from Sam Morton and Nathan Smith and held on in the third period after giving up an early power-play goal. Goaltender Dryden McKay returned to his Richter Award-favorite form after giving up seven goals in a home-and-home split with Bemidji State last weekend, making some key saves while stopping 25 of 26 shots.

Earlier this week, former Mavericks standout Marc Michaelis made is NHL debut for the Vancouver Canucks, becoming the second MSU alum to skate in the show, following Connor Mackey:

Big welcome to Marc Michaelis, making his @NHL debut! #HockeyFightsCancer pic.twitter.com/RvfMUv1UFV

— Vancouver #Canucks (@Canucks) March 5, 2021

Back to the WCHA there are four games remaining in league play, as this was originally set as an open weekend for COVID-related makeup games. Ferris State plays at Lake Superior State this afternoon, and Alabama Huntsville and Bemidji State begin a Saturday-Sunday series.

Lake State, with a win, can tie Bowling Green for second place in the conference and grab the second seed for the tournament. Bemidji State, meanwhile, can secure home-ice position with a sweep of the Chargers. With its loss to Minnesota State last night, Michigan Tech is still in the fourth spot currently but, even with a win tonight, has to wait out the BSU-UAH results to see if it will be on the road or at home next week.*

* All based on my math.