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.
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