THE CURSE IS DONE FOR GOOD! 😈 pic.twitter.com/eMKgnz7c8m
— Minnesota State Hockey (@MavHockey) March 28, 2021
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.
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