Mavericks 2, Beavers 1

Freddy's three thoughts of the game ...

1. Playoff goalie? Minnesota State has started three different goalies in the last three games, and Jason Pawloski's performance on Saturday was the best of the bunch. Really, it was the best MSU has had in quite awhile. The sophomore stopped 27 of 28 shots, including a couple of real steals so the Mavericks could hang on and win the game. He made a couple of highlight-reel saves and stopped all 11 shots he faced in the third period when the Beavers outshot them 11-2. Minnesota State isn't exactly rolling into the playoffs with a hot goalie, but Pawloski might be the closest thing to it after Saturday. It was his first action since Dec. 17 at Princeton. Read more about Pawloski in my gamer below.

2. Without Foguth: Carter Foguth was lost for the game midway through the first period when he was called for a hit to the head on a hard check of Nate Arentz. Replay seemed to show a shoulder-to-shoulder hit, and MSU coach Mike Hastings disputed the call (again, see my game story below). The Mavericks other defenders had to step up their game bigly. Freshman Edwin Hookenson probably played more minutes than any other game this season. And Daniel Brickley was Ryan Suter-esque. "I think it was a big challenge for 8," Hastings said, calling Brickely by his jersey number. "People talk about his offense. I thought tonight he defended and defended hard. And he played monster minutes. Whether we were in the box or they were in the box, he was on the ice. And then 5-on-5 minutes he logged more than anybody else on our team."

3. Important win: Saturday's game had no bearing on Minnesota State's place in the standings. But getting a win over Bemidji State and at the Sanford Center isn't to be discounted. The Mavericks could be back in this building in three weeks. "I think it was huge to end the regular season on a good note," said Zeb Knutson, who scored MSU's first goal (Zach Stepan had the second, the game-winner). "Bemidji's kind of had our number the last three games. It was good to put it in our heads that we can beat them if we play them again. We know what it takes."

Read my game story here.



Around the WCHA: Bowling Green 2, Alabama Huntsville 0 ... Northern Michigan 5, Michigan Tech 3 ... Lake Superior State 1, Ferris State 1 (Lakers win in shootout) ... Alaska at Alaska Anchorage (late)

WCHA playoff matchups (high seeds host best-of-three series): 1-Bemidji State vs. 8-Northern Michigan ... 2-Michigan Tech vs. 7-Lake Superior State ... 3-Minnesota State vs. 6-Alaska ... 4-Bowling Green vs. 5-Ferris State ... Alabama Huntsville and Alaska Anchorage are out

Live coverage: Mavericks at Bemidji State

Minnesota State will try to salvage a series split against rival Bemidji State at the Sanford Center. The Mavericks already know they will be the third seed in next week's conference tournament and will play sixth-seeded Alaska. It's the only matchup set going into the final night of the regular season. Follow along with the action below tonight's lines.

MINNESOTA STATE

20-Michaelis, 15-Franklin, 19-McClure
25-Stepan, 17-Huntebrinker, 10-Knutson
6-Tuomie, 16-Nelson, 12-Coatta
23-Rivera, 26-French, 9-Gerard

11-Flanagan, 5-Foguth
8-Brickley, 18-Scheid
4-Lewis, 24-Hookenson

39-Pawloski
34-Huggins

BEMIDJI STATE

19-L. Fitzgerald, 21-G. Fitzgerald, 18-Harms
9-Marinaccio, 14-Bauman, 22-O'Connor
6-Dickman, 11-Arentz, 26-M. Fitzgerald
13-Soucier, 7-Roo, 15-Heller

29-Baudry, 32-Whitecloud
3-Muck, 2-Billett
4-Struthers, 20-Eichstadt

35-Wilkins
1-Bitzer
33-Mimmack

One matchup set

Here's what we know about the WCHA playoffs with one game remaining in the regular season:

• The top three seeds, in order, are: Bemidji State, Michigan Tech and Minnesota State.

• Alaska clinched the sixth seed on Friday night at Alaska Anchorage, so the Nanooks will come to Mankato for the first round of the tournament. That's the only matchup that's set.

• The final home ice spot, fourth place, will go to Bowling Green or Ferris State, depending on their outcomes tonight (BG is home against Alabama Huntsville; Ferris State is at Lake Superior State). The Falcons have the tiebreaker over the Bulldogs. I guess this 5-6 matchup is set for the first round, too, as they will play each other. They're just waiting to find out where.

• Alaska Anchorage was eliminated from the playoffs on Friday and will finish 10th in the league.

• Lake Superior State, Northern Michigan and Alabama Huntsville are in the seventh-, eighth- and ninth-place spots currently. It looks like the Lakers have the tiebreaker over the Chargers in head to head but could fall to the ninth spot in case of a three-way tie. The Wildcats have a one-point lead over Huntsville and can get in with a win over Michigan Tech.

Beavers 2, Mavericks 1

Freddy's three thoughts of the game ...

1. Third it is: Minnesota State needed to win Friday's game to still have a shot at a second-place finish and a second seed for the WCHA playoffs. Earlier in the evening, Michigan Tech defeated Northern Michigan 3-2 to move six points ahead of the Mavericks. So the top three spots are set: Bemidji State, Michigan Tech, Minnesota State. The Mavericks and Beavers played a playoff-style game. "Not a lot of easy ice," BSU coach Tom Serratore said. Said MSU coach Mike Hastings: “That mirrors at playoff game in our league. It just wasn’t quite enough. A week from now, not quite enough ends your year.”

2. Goalie battle: Cole Huggins got the nod in goal for the Mavericks and made 23 saves. The first goal came off an MSU turnover during an extended shift by the Beavers that wore out the Mavericks' defenders. The second was on power play in the third period, a snipe by Gerry Fitzgerald. At the other end of the ice, Michael Bitzer stopped 26 shots. He made a couple of brilliant saves, including one on Marc Michaelis short-handed with about two minutes to play. Michaelis scored the Mavericks' lone goal, a power-play goal on which he tapped in his own rebound off the post. That was Michaelis'  team-leading 35th point of the season.

3. Beating Bemidji: Minnesota State is 0-3-1 in its last four games against Bemidji State. They have three goals in those games. The Mavericks will try to snap that streak on Saturday night. There's a chance, of course, they could return here in three weeks for the Broadmoor Trophy championship game. They sure hope so. "This is a time and, moving forward, you need to go out and earn everything," Hastings said. "Nobody’s going to give you anything. Tonight was the same way. We had some opportunities; we weren’t terrible tonight. Close game, and hat’s off to them for making a play on the power play. We had a power play in the third and didn’t."

Read my game story here.

Around the WCHA: Bowling Green 7, Alabama Huntsville 0 ... Michigan Tech 3, Northern Michigan 2 ... Ferris State 6, Lake Superior State 4 ... Alaska at Alaska Anchorage (late)

Live coverage: MSU at Bemidji St

Minnesota State will play rival Bemidji State in the first game of the final series of the regular season. The Mavericks still have a shot at second place in the WCHA standings. The Beavers won the MacNaughton Cup two weeks ago. Follow along with the action below tonight's lines:

MINNESOTA STATE

20-Michaelis, 15-Franklin, 19-McClure
25-Stepan, 17-Huntebrinker, 10-Knutson
6-Tuomie, 16-Nelson, 9-Coatta
23-Rivera, 26-French, 9-Gerard

11-Flanagan, 5-Foguth
8-Brickley, 18-Scheid
4-Lewis, 24-Hookenson

34-Huggins
39-Pawloski

BEMIDJI STATE

19-L. Fitzgerald, 21-G. Fitzgerald, 18-Harms
9-Marinaccio, 14-Bauman, 22-O'Connor
6-Dickman, 11-Arentz, 26-M. Fitzgerald
13-Soucier, 7-Roo, 15-Heller

29-Baudry, 32-Whitecloud
3-Muck, 2-Billett
4-Struthers, 20-Eichstadt

1-Bitzer
35-Wilkins
33-Mimmack

Friday Morning Skate

Good morning from Bemidji. It looks like I made the right call getting out of Mankato a day early because of the snowstorm. Unfortunately, I missed the big East-West playoff showdown because if it. Good work by Jim Rueda covering the East victory.

Here in the north where they didn't get any snow, Minnesota State and Bemidji State will close out the WCHA regular-season schedule against each other. The Mavericks have something to play for as they can still finish second in the conference by making up three points to Michigan Tech. But they also don't need a lot of extra incentives when they're playing a rival.

The Mavericks have a couple of of players in the hunt for the WCHA scoring title, and if either freshman Marc Michaelis or defenseman Daniel Brickley get there, it will be a rare feat. For more see the Freep's College Hockey Gameday.

It will be interesting to see how MSU's offense fares this weekend after putting up 12 goals a week ago. As I columnized earlier in the week, it was a performance almost as impressive as the shutout streak the Northern Michigan came to town with.

As for the Beavers, they already clinched the MacNaughton Cup, however they still have goals for the rest of the season, including winning 20 games. Bemidji Pioneer writer Jack Hittinger opined that a regular-season title is important for BSU but only the first step for a successful season.

Going around the WCHA ...

Michigan Tech at/vs. Northern Michigan: Minnesota State is rooting for the team it beat up last weekend. If Northern Michigan can keep Tech from getting more than three points, the Mavericks have a shot at second. Huskies coach Mel Pearson said his team can't think about the team that's chasing his right now. The Wildcats, meanwhile, are holding a slim, one-point lead for the final playoff spot and want to find a way to keep it.

Alabama Huntsville at Bowling Green: There's a race for the WCHA's final home-ice playoff spot, but only Bowling Green controls its own destiny. However, home hasn't been too kind to the Falcons this season. The Chargers hope to take advantage of that and find their way into the postseason field. They're currently in ninth place, one point out of eighth.

Ferris State at Lake Superior State: Lake Superior State is in an interesting position. The Lakers could get home ice or they could get knocked out of the playoffs this weekend. They are five points out of fourth but three points ahead of ninth. What a spot to be in on the final week of the regular season! Ferris State, meanwhile, is tied for fourth but will need help to overtake Bowling Green for that spot.

Alaska at Alaska Anchorage: Alaska finds itself in similar position to Lake Superior State as it plays its in-state rival. The Nanooks are four points out of fourth and four points ahead of ninth. They just want a win to get in. The Seawolves, who are in 10th place, may know their fate before their late-night start, depending on how Huntsville and NMU do earlier. It was a tough day for hockey in Anchorage as the town's ECHL team, the Alaska Aces, announced that it would be folding after the season.

Read more about the WCHA from USCHO here.

Brickley, Rivera honored

Minnesota State defenseman Daniel Brickley and forward Nicholas Rivera were honored by the WCHA for their play in the Mavericks' sweep of Northern Michigan over the weekend. It was the second award of the season for each player.

Brickley was named the league's Defensive Player of the Week after scoring a goal and two assists in Saturday's 7-4 victory. For the weekend, which included Friday's 5-3 victory, he was plus-2 with five blocked shots and 10 shots on goal.

Brickley is the top-scoring defenseman in the WCHA and eighth nationally with 27 points. He has eight goals an 19 assists.

Rivera was named the WCHA's Rookie of the Week after scoring both games' game-winning goals and adding an assist for a three-point weekend. He was plus-2 and had six shots on goal. Rivera has six goals and 10 points this season.