Minnesota State vs. Alabama Huntsville

The No. 4 Mavericks begin WCHA tournament play tonight against Alabama Huntsville in a best-of-three series. Faceoff is at 7:07 p.m. Saturday's game has been moved to 4:07 p.m. due to the expected snowstorm. Follow along with the action below tonight's lines:

MINNESOTA STATE
6-Tuomie, 20-Michaelis, 9-Gerard
16-Lutz, 5-Jaremko, 12-Coatta
19-Van Os-Shaw, 11-Spooner, 15-Napravnik
23-Rivera, 26-French, 10-McMahan
17-Duehr

2-Mackey, 3-McNeely
25-Zmolek, 18-Scheid
7-Aamodt, 24-Hookenson

29-McKay
32-Israelsson
31-Berger

Scratches: Carroll, Bigelbach, Galambos, Gerads, Schwalbe, Vanko

ALABAMA HUNTSVILLE
26-Jeffers, 15-Gorowsky, 18-Beaulieu
13-Allen, 14-Dunn, 7-Neudecker
19-Salerno, 10-Dodson, 11-Ohrvall
12-Merkley, 25-Wilcox, 16-Wood

20-Newton, 8-Teets
4-James, 3-Lennon
28-Gosselin, 2-Knight
22-Finnson

30-Sinclair
1-Theut

***

Friday Morning Skate

Playoff time is here! The No. 4 Mavericks are the top seed in the WCHA tournament and will host Alabama Huntsville in a best-of-three, first-round series.

While much has been made of the play of Hobey Baker candidate Marc Michaelis of front and possible WCHA Rookie of the Year Dyden McKay in goal, the deep, yet somewhat overlooked, Mavericks' defensive corps might be the real strength of this year's team.

Read more about the the series between the Mavericks and the Chargers in The Free Press' College Hockey Gameday and in a preview by UAHhockey.com.

Here are the WCHA other first-round matchups:

Alaska at Northern Michigan: The red-hot Wildcats lost just once in their last nine games to climb into second place in the final league standings. They will host the Nanooks, who, under new coach Erik Largen, had a tough start to the season but finished strong to make the playoffs.

Michigan Tech at Bowling Green: A team that has struggled with consistency over the second half of the season, the Falcons say they're focused for a playoff run, one they'll need to make in order to get to the NCAA tournament. Meanwhile, the Huskies, who won the last two league tournament titles, will have to pull off some road upsets and find some consistency in their game, too, to win a third.

Bemidji State at Lake Superior State: The Beavers are on the road for the first round for the first time in three years and are playing at Sault Ste. Marie against a fourth-place Lakers team that missed out on the playoffs entirely last year.

College Hockey News has a league playoff preview, too.

Mavericks 3, Beavers 1

Freddy's three thoughts of the game ...

1. Good finish: Minnesota State went 8-1-1 in its last 10 games of the season, including this weekend's impressive sweep of rival Bemidji State. The Mavericks ended up with 27 wins in the regular season, which appears to be a team record (the overall record, including playoffs is 30). MSU and Northern Michigan, which moved into second place in the standings on Friday, were the only upper-division teams to sweep this weekend. Will those two teams meet in the WCHA championship game in three weeks? Stay tuned!

2. No rust: My game story (linked below) has info on Mathias Israelsson's rare start, but it's worth mentioning here, too. With Dryden McKay playing so well in goal, Israelsson hadn't played since a Dec. 15 start at Bowling Green, a game he got pulled from. He sure looked good Saturday, though, stopping 22 shots. Coach Mike Hastings said he wanted to give him a start to make sure he was ready if need be in the playoffs. "I'm happy for him because he does really put a lot of effort and energy into what he does everyday to be prepared to get the call, like he did tonight," Hastings said.

3. Senior salute: Before the game, seniors Max Coatta, Ryan Schwalbe and Alec Vanko were honored, along with a nod to their incoming classmate Daniel Brickley. Schwalbe and Vanko haven't played much the last couple of seasons but got a chance. Vanko appeared in four games this season before Saturday, and Schwalbe dressed for the first time this season. Each had one penalty. Hastings talked about their preparation, as he did about Israelsson's: "Both those guys, anything that we've asked them to do behind the scenes, extra workouts, so they're physically prepared to go out and play if we need them, that showed tonight."

Read my game story here.

Around the WCHA: Bowling Green 7, Alabama Huntsville 1 ... Ferris State 3, Lake Superior State 2 ... Northern Michigan 3, Michigan Tech 0 ... Alaska at Alaska Anchorage (late)

Next week's WCHA first-round playoff pairings look like this:

• 8-Alabama Huntsville at 1-Minnesota State
• 7-Alaska at 2-Northern Michigan
• 6-Michigan Tech at 3-Bowling Green
• 5-Bemidji State at 3-Lake Superior State

Minnesota State vs. Bemidji State, Game 1

It's the regular-season finale, and the Mavericks will try to get the series sweep and head into the league playoffs on a high note.

Tonight's lines:

MINNESOTA STATE
6-Tuomie, 20-Michaelis, 9-Gerard
16-Lutz, 5-Jaremko, 12-Coatta
19-Napravnik, 11-Spooner, 17-Duehr
23-Rivera, 26-French, 27-Schwalbe
21-Vanko

2-Mackey, 3-McNeely
25-Zmolek, 18-Scheid
7-Aamodt, 24-Hookenson

32-Israelsson
29-McKay
31-Berger

Scratches: Bigelbach, Carroll, Galambos, Gerads, McMahan, Van Os-Shaw

BEMIDJI STATE
6-Dickman, 21-Harris, 26-Cardelli
19-Brady, 12-Sillinger, 11-Combs
9-Somoza, 17-Armour, 16-Miller
13-Soucier, 27-Kirkup, 14-Ierullo

3-Muck, 2-Billett
20-Eichstadt, 29-Baudry
22-Vold, 18-Johnson
15-Jubenville

33-Driscoll
35-Johnson

***

Mavericks 4, Beavers 1

Freddy's three thoughts of the game ...

1. 'Tender moments: Dryden McKay was Named WCHA Goaltender of the Month for February, and he started March pretty well, stopping 31 of 32 shots in the win. He made some big-time saves during the game, including on a couple of flurries from a motivated Bemidji State team and a huge glove save on a 1:49 5-on-3 BSU power play in the second period. "I think he’s been exceptional," coach Mike Hastings said. "That’s nice to have because if you want to get somewhere at the most important time of the season, you need great goaltending."

2. Home cooking': Minnesota State improved its record at the Verizon Center to 15-1-0 and hopes to keep that going as it will be in Mankato for the next 6-8 games, as long as it keeps winning. Defending home ice is important, as Hastings often brings up that point and did again on Friday night. Why are they so good at home? Nick Rivera, who had a goal and an assist against the Beavers, said: "The atmosphere is always good. Looking back at Christmas break, there weren’t a lot of students in town, but the barn was still filled with 4,000 people. It’s a hard atmosphere to play in." MSU's spring break is starting this weekend, and Friday's announced attendance was 4,357.

3. Glad Max: The return of Max Coatta ended up being pretty important. After missing nine games with a lower-body injury, he scored what would stand as the game-winning goal (just the third GWG of his career), blocked a shot and did some excellent work on the penalty kill, including during that lengthy 5-on-3. "He's a jack of all trades," Rivera said of his teammate. "He does everything — killing penalties, scoring goals, in the locker room."

Read my game story here.

Around the WCHA: Lake Superior State 5, Ferris State 2 ... Northern Michigan 4, Michigan Tech 2 ... Alabama Huntsville 4, Bowling Green 2 ... Alaska 4, Alaska Anchorage 0

Standings going into the last night of the regular season:

1. Minnesota State, 65 points*
2. Northern Michigan 53*
3. Bowling Green 52*
4. Lake Superior State 50*
5. Bemidji State 45
6. Michigan Tech 43
7. Alaska 37
8. Alabama Huntsville 28
9. Ferris State**
10. Alaska Anchorage 11 **

* clinched home ice for first round
** eliminated from playoff contention

Minnesota State vs. Bemidji State

Tonight's lines:

MINNESOTA STATE
6-Tuomie, 20-Michaelis, 9-Gerard
16-Lutz, 5-Jaremko, 12-Coatta
22-Gerads, 11-Spooner, 17-Duehr
23-Rivera, 26-French, 15-Napravnik
19-Van Os-Shaw

2-Mackey, 3-McNeely
25-Zmolek, 18-Scheid
4-Carroll, 24-Hookenson

29-McKay
32-Israelsson
31-Berger

Scratches: Aamodt, Bigelbach, Galambos, McMahan, Schwalbe, Vanko

BEMIDJI STATE
6-Dickman, 21-Harris, 26-Cardelli
19-Brady, 12-Sillinger, 11-Combs
9-Somoza, 17-Armour, 16-Miller
13-Soucier, 27-Kirkup, 14-Ierullo

3-Muck, 2-Billett
20-Eichstadt, 29-Baudry
22-Vold, 18-Johnson
8-Gula

33-Driscoll
35-Johnson

***

Friday Morning Skate

Welcome to the final weekend of the regular season in the WCHA ...

Minnesota State is hosting rival Bemidji State today and Saturday, and, while it's wrapped up the MacNaughton Cup and the top seed for next week's playoffs, it's still an important series.

"It’s no different, just because we’ve got the regular season wrapped up trophy-wise. That doesn’t change our mindset," said senior Max Coatta, who's expecting to return for the games after missing the last nine with injury. "This is a huge weekend for us. We know we need to play our best hockey going into the playoffs, and this weekend’s it’s an opportunity to get there. Also … the Pairwise stipulations, these are important games for that."

The Mavericks are fifth in the Pairwise going into the weekend. Here are a few more things to know about the series.

As for the Beavers, they have plenty to play for, as they can still land a top-four finish and home ice for the first round of the league tournament.

There could be a lot of movement in the league standings yet, as MSU and seventh-place Alaska are the only teams that have locked down their final position. Here's a look at the other matchups this weekend:

Alabama Huntsville at Bowling Green: Huntsville has a four-point lead for the final playoff spot and will be in Mankato next week if it can hold on. The Chargers are on the road to play the Falcons, who are assured of home ice but would like to hold on to second place. Bowling Green is also trying to move up in the Pairwise it's No. 15 right now.

Ferris State at Lake Superior State: The Bulldogs are on the outside looking in, but a strong finish and some help from BG could get them in. The host Lakers, meanwhile, are currently in a home-ice spot at fourth place and don't want to see that slip away. No. 20 in the Pairwise, they had lost just 2 of 16 games before getting swept last weekend at Northern Michigan.

Northern Michigan at/vs. Michigan Tech: The third-place Wildcats and sixth-place Huskies play a home-and-home series this weekend. Northern Michigan can clinch home ice with a win tonight, while Tech has a slim but outside shot at a top-four finish. There's seems to be a good chance these two teams will be playing each other again next weekend.

Alaska at Alaska Anchorage: The Governor's Cup is all that's on the line for the Nanooks and Seawolves this weekend. Alaska is only wondering where it will go for the first round next week, while these are the last games of the season for three-win Anchorage. The hope is that the games' aren't the last ever for the Seawolves, as big budget cuts could be coming to Alaska's university system.

The WCHA women's playoffs begin this weekend, and Minnesota State is at Ohio State for a best-of-three series, a matchup the Mavericks like after avoiding a last-place finish for the first time in five years.