Mavericks 1, Huskies 1 (OT)

Freddy's three thoughts of the game ...

1. Run to the Cup comes up short: The Mavericks needed to win nine games in a row to clinch a conference championship, and instead they went 8-0-1. The anticlimactic ending left the Mavericks without a share of the MacNaughton Cup (Ferris State won it outright), and it also left the Huskies to go on the road for next week's playoffs. With 13.1 seconds left in overtime, the Mavericks called timeout before an offensive-zone faceoff. Coach Mike Hastings put five forwards on the ice but didn't pull goalie Cole Huggins, figuring a loss might hurt the team's Pairwise Ranking and NCAA tournament chances. That might not have made a difference There wasn't much time for number crunching at that point but a loss would have been a big blow. Bryce Gervais scored MSU's lone goal.

2. Tech tightens up (so does MSU): The Huskies blocked 25 shots, the same number goalie Pheonix Copley stopped. Minnesota State had trouble generating goals against a team that had allowed 24 goals in its previous five games before this weekend. Matt Leitner and Jean-Paul LaFontaine lost out on the league's scoring title, as they were held without a point in the game. Meanwhile, MSU allowed just one goal in the series, and Huggins (25 saves) won the goaltending title with a 1.73 goals-against average in league play. That marks the second year in a row that a Maverick goalie won that honor. Stephon Williams won it last year.

3. Penalty problems: The Mavericks did themselves no favors on the penalty front. While they did not allow a power-play goal, they still got themselves in trouble. Dylan Margonari's unnecessary hit late in the first period put his team down a man for five minutes and also got him kicked out of the game. The latter likely hurt more, as he has been one of MSU's better players over the course of the unbeaten streak. At the end of the second, when Tech's Bradley Stebner got a major/game for a hit to Johnny McInnis' head, the first two minutes of that penalty were nullified by Jon Jutzi's retaliatory cross-check to Stebner. Minnesota State ended up scoreless on the power play for the weekend.

Read my game story here.

Around the WCHA: Ferris State 2, Lake Superior State 1 ... Bowling Green 5, Bemidji State 2 ... Northern Michigan 5, Alabama Huntsville 2 ... Alaska Anchorage 3, Alaska 1

First-round playoff matchups: Bemidji State at Ferris State ... Northern Michigan at Minnesota State ... Alaska Anchorage at Alaska ... Michigan Tech at Bowling Green

MSU vs. Michigan Tech - Game 2 live blog

Lines are posted below the chat ...



MINNESOTA STATE
12-LaFontaine ... 18-Leitner ... 9-Gervais
21-Grant ... 23-Blueger ... 22-McInnis
25-Stepan ... 26-Margonari ... 19-Lehrke
24-Knowles ... 17-Huntebrinker ... 8-Gaede

27-Stern ... 7-Palmquist
28-Jutzi ... 5-Foguth
11-Flanagan ... 2-Josh Nelson

34-Huggins
35-Williams
31-Karambelas

Scratches: Buchanan, Herndon, Knoll, C. Nelson, Jor. Nelson, Thompson

MICHIGAN TECH
15-D. Johnstone ... 19-Pietila ... 7-Sturos
18-Eick ... 25-Neville ... 14-Gould
20-Hietala ... 10-Kero ... 23-Petan
11-Holmberg ... 9-Rix ... 8-J. Johnstone

3-Stebner ... 22-Hanna
6-Leibinger ... 29-Hyland
2-Watson ... 17-Sweeney

31-Copley
30-Phillips

Referees: Pete Friesma, Butch Mousseaux. Linesmen: Rick Nelson, Matt Tyree.

Mavericks 3, Huskies 0

Freddy's three thoughts of the game ...

1. It just got real: Minnesota State will play for the MacNaughton Cup on Saturday night after winning a tightly played, playoff-like game against a defensive-minded Michigan Tech team. Ferris State also won, which means the two teams could share the trophy and the regular-season championship, although MSU currently has the tiebreaker for seeing purposes. The Mavericks have never won a WCHA title. The closest they came was a tie for second in 2002-03 when they finished six points out of first. Last year, they were just four points out of first but in a three-way tie for fourth. "We still have to look at it as just another game," goalie Cole Huggins said. "We need to come out tomorrow better than we were tonight."

2. Floodgates open: The game was scoreless until the final 3:42 when the Mavericks scored three goals to end the game. Dylan Margonari redirected a great, heads-up slap pass from Stern to get the scoring started. It was a rare clean play allowed by Tech, which did a great job bottling up the Mavericks, especially their power play, which was scoreless on five chances, getting seven shots. "Stern and I were talking about the goal after the game and said it was like the Red Sea parted," Margonari said. "It was tape to tape." Two minutes later, Chase Grant made it 2-0, with 69 seconds remaining, Bryce Gervais added an empty-net goal.

3. Shutout City: Huggins didn't see a lot of action early on, as the Mavericks allowed just three shots in the first period, one being a dump-in from center ice. But the freshman goalie stayed focused and ended up with a 26-save shutout. It was Huggins' fifth shutout (and 17th win) of the season. He has shutouts in three of his last four starts, and the Mavericks have four shutouts in their last five games. Asked about the confidence the team has in Huggins, Grant said, "Obviously, it's through the roof. It's not just is ability on the ice. He 's just calm out there. He never looks out of sorts."

Deep thought: At game's end, the Mavericks were tied for 15th in the Pairwise Rankings.

Read my game story here.

Around the WCHA: Ferris State 2, Lake Superior 1 ... Bowling Green 5, Bemidji State 3 ... Northern Michigan 4, Alabama Huntsville 1 ... Alaska 7, Alaska Anchorage 2

What was decided Saturday? Alaska clinched home ice and the No. 3 seed for the WCHA playoffs. Bowling Green and Alaska Anchorage secured playoff spots, leaving four teams — Northern Michigan, Bowling Green, Bemidji State and Lake Superior State — vying for three spots on Saturday night.

MSU vs. Michigan Tech - Game 1 live blog

Lines can be found below the live chat ...



MINNESOTA STATE
12-LaFontaine ... 18-Leitner ... 9-Gervais
21-Grant ... 23-Blueger ... 22-McInnis
25-Stepan ... 26-Margonari ... 19-Lehrke
24-Knowles ... 17-Huntebrinker ... 8-Gaede

27-Stern ... 7-Palmquist
28-Jutzi ... 5-Foguth
11-Flanagan ... 2-Josh Nelson

34-Huggins
35-Williams
31-Karambelas

Scratches: Buchanan, Herndon, Knoll, C. Nelson, Jor. Nelson, Thompson

MICHIGAN TECH
15-D. Johnstone ... 19-Pietila ... 7-Sturos
18-Eick ... 25-Neville ... 14-Gould
20-Hietala ... 10-Kero ... 23-Petan
12-Furne ... 9-Rix ... 8-J. Johnstone

3-Stebner ... 22-Hanna
6-Leibinger ... 29-Hyland
2-Watson ... 17-Sweeney

30-Phillips
31-Copley

Referees: Pete Friesma, Butch Mousseaux. Linesmen: Rick Nelson, Matt Tyree.

Friday Morning Skate ('Much at Stake' Edition)

Nearly every newspaper and website that covers the WCHA this week used these words in their headlines: 'Much at stake.' Well, it's true ...

Minnesota State can clinch its first MacNaughton Cup this weekend when it plays Michigan Tech in a series to close out the regular season. The Mavericks are tied with Ferris State atop the WCHA standings. Two wins will give MSU at least a share of the title. The Mavericks could even clinch a share tonight with a win and a Ferris State loss to Lake Superior State.

On Saturday, MSU will honor the team's four seniors — Johnny McInnis, Josh Nelson, Zach Lehrke and Evan Karambelas. That class certainly has given the Mavericks some strong leadership. But remember in November when Lehrke was retired and Nelson appeared to be done for the season? Their return has been a big key to why the team is where it's at this weekend.

Talking to McInnis about that, he mentioned how that class came in as a much bigger freshman group. Besides those four, juniors Chase Grant and Matt Leitner entered college at the same time (both had redshirt year), and the class also included Corey Leivermann (now at Gustavus), Danny Heath (student-assistant with Mavs) and J.P. Burkemper (turned pro).

For Michigan Tech, there are some things riding in this series, too (there is for nine of the 10 teams in the conference), as the Huskies hope to grab one of the two remaining home-ice spots for next week's playoffs. They're currently in position for that now, but the standings are tight.

Read more about this weekend's series (including which MSU players are in contention for individual accolades after this weekend) here.

Going around the WCHA ...

Lake Superior State at Ferris State: Minnesota State beat up on the Lakers last week, now it hopes they can take some points away from the Bulldogs. Ferris State was swept at Alaska last week, which, combined with MSU's seven-game win streak, put it into the first-place tie. Like MSU, the Bulldogs have been very good at home. Lake Superior, meanwhile, is trying to avoid slipping out of playoff contention.

Bemidji State at Bowling Green: Kind of a weird two-series stretch for the Beavers. First, there was a big home split with Ferris State. Then, after a week off, they split at home with Alabama-Huntsville. Now, they're going on the road and playing for their postseason lives. Bowling Green is playing for the same thing; it could get home ice, make the playoffs or miss out completely. One thing's for sure about the Falcons, they've turned around their program. And eight seniors had a hand in that resurgence.

Northern Michigan at Alabama Huntsville: The Wildcats are the team holding that ninth-place spot this week, and they desperately hope they're out of it by the end of the weekend. One thing's for sure: The Chargers' win at Bemidji last week proved that four points are anything but automatic against Huntsville. UAH may have just two wins this season, but coach Mike Corbett believes the program is finally headed in the right direction.

Alaska Anchorage at Alaska: All eyes will be on Fairbanks, Alaska, late Saturday night/early Sunday morning (don't forget to turn your clocks ahead) as that final game between two rivals likely will decide plenty for the playoffs. The Seawolves have had quite the turnaround this season, but they haven't clinched a postseason spot just yet. The Nanooks might be the hottest team in the conference this week (they're at least right up there with MSU). They're in the playoffs but want home ice. 

Read more about the tight standings and how things might shake out in my and Matt Wellens' USCHO column. See our weekend predictions here.

ICYMI, there's a good column by The Bemidji Pioneer's Jack Hittinger about all the excitement in the newlook WCHA this season.

Huggins earns WCHA honor

Minnesota State freshman goaltender Cole Huggins was named WCHA defensive player player of the week for his performance in the Mavericks' sweep of Lake Superior State last weekend.

Huggins had 14-save shutout on Friday (the fourth shutout of the season for the freshman) and stopped 27 of 30 shots, allowing one even-strength goal, on Saturday for a weekend save percentage of .932.

Huggins improved his record to 16-7-0. He leads the WCHA in goals-against average for both overall games (2.08) and league games (1.86).

Other WCHA players of the week were Alaska forward Colton Beck (offensive) and Alabama Huntsville goaltender Matt Larose (rookie).

Mavericks 4, Lakers 3

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

1. Johnny on the spot: Minnesota State captain Johnny McInnis scored two goals, including his sixth game-winner of the season. The senior forward now has 19 goals and, I believe, if he didn't before, has made himself a lock to be an All-WCHA player. Talk about a player who's gotten better every year and who's saving his best for last. McInnis ain't afraid to shoot the puck and put eight on net against the Lakers. He ranks 10th in the country with 135 shots on goal, and his shot is a cannon.

2. Road tough: It's been well-documented that the Mavericks haven't been great on the road this season, but they found a way to get a road sweep — just their second of the season — on Saturday. While they dominated on Friday, Saturday's game was a grind, and the Lakers "came out and punched us right in the nose," coach Mike Hastings said in a phone interview afterward. Lake Superior had leads of 1-0 and 2-1 and quickly cut MSU's 4-2 lead to 3-2 with more than 15 minutes to play in the game.

3. Unsung heroes: Hastings said a lot of different players stepped up in the series, noting Dylan Margonari, who had an assist for a three-point weekend, and Max Gaede. Gaede got a lot of extra minutes, power-play time and late-game action. The reason, Hastings said, is because he was playing well and deserved them. The Mavericks appears to be a team firing on all cylinders.

Deep thought: How about the MSU women's hockey team Saturday night? The Mavericks forced a decisive third game in the opening round of the WCHA playoffs by shutting out No. 2 Wisconsin 3-0 in Game 2. Danielle Butters stopped a career-high 51 shots, and got some goal support with an early score in each period. That was the Mavericks' second win all-time against the Badgers. Game 3 is at 4 p.m. Sunday.

Around the WCHA: Bowling Green 3, Northern Michigan 2 ... Bemidji State 4, Alabama Huntsville 1 ... Alaska 5, Ferris State 3

WCHA standings
1. Minnesota State (38 points)
    Ferris State (38)
3. Alaska (28)
    Michigan Tech (28)
5. Alaska Anchorage (26)
    Bowling Green (26)
7. Bemidji State (24)
    Lake Superior State (24)
9. Northern Michigan (23)
10. Alabama Huntsville (5)

Next week's matchups
Michigan Tech at Minnesota State
Lake Superior at Ferris State
Bemidji State at Bowling Green
Northern Michigan at Alabama Huntsville
Alaska Anchorage at Alaska