MSU goalies receive honors

Minnesota State men's hockey freshman Dryden McKay was named WCHA Goaltender of the Month for February.

McKay led all college-hockey goaltenders with 0.98 goals against average in February, allowing six goals on 133 shots. The Downers Grove, Ill., native went 4-1-1 and ranked third in the country for the month with a .954 save percentage. He was twice named the league's Goaltender of the Week in February.

Meanwhile, MSU women's freshman goalie Abigail Levy was named All-WCHA Second Team and All-Rookie this week, while teammate defenseman Anna Wilgren was also named to the All-Rookie Team.

Levy has started 32 of 33 games for the Mavericks, compiling a .932 save percentage and 2.34 goals-against average  with five shutouts. She's the first MSU player to be named to an all-conference team since third-team pick Danielle Butters in 2013-13.

Wilgren compiled 12 points, including four goals, in her first season of college hockey and led the league and was second in the country with 119 blocked shots. Levy and Wilgren are the first two MSU players to be named to the All-Rookie Team since Holly Snyder in 2006-07 season.

Nanooks 1, Mavericks 0

Freddy's three thoughts from afar ...

1. Streak snapped: The No. 4 Mavericks won outright the MacNaughton Cup as the league’s regular-season champion on Friday but suffered a bit of a hangover on Saturday as its seven-game unbeaten streak was snapped. The loss was Minnesota State’s first since Jan. 19, which was also a 1-0 defeat at home to Lake Superior State.

2. Scoring goes dry: Nanooks goaltender Anton Martinsson stopped 32 shots to shut out the Mavericks for the second time in his career. He also did it last season in Fairbanks, making 26 saves on Jan. 12, 2018. The Mavericks made a strong push to try and tie the game in the third period, getting their only two power plays of the game and outshooting the Nanooks 11-3. Jake Jaremko also blasted a shot off the post.

3. Where things stand: Neither MSU nor Alaska changed its playoff position in the game. Minnesota State will be the top seed for the WCHA tournament, and Alaska will be seventh.  The Mavericks will close out the regular season at home next weekend against Bemidji State. After the weekend split the Mavericks ended up No. 4 in the Pairwise Rankings.

Read more here.

Around the WCHA: Ferris State 5, Alabama Huntsville 2 ... Michigan Tech 3, Alaska Anchorage 1 ... Northern Michigan 5, Lake Superior State 3 ... Bowling Green 2, Bemidji State 2 OT (BG wins 3x3)

Mavericks 6, Nanooks 1

WCHA photo

Freddy's three thoughts (from afar):

1. Theirs alone: Kudos to the WCHA for flying officials and the MacNaughton Cup to Fairbanks and awarding the trophy to the Mavericks after they clinched sole possession of it on Friday night. The team deserved to have its moment on the ice with the trophy and got it after the game. Minnesota State made the league's effort worthwhile with a strong performance coming off a bye week in which it clinched at least a share of the regular-season championship.

2. Power players: Minnesota State put the game away when it scored three power-play goals in a span of 1:45 early in the second period during a five-minute major power play. Parker Tuomie, Reggie Lutz and Marc Michaelis scored the power-play goals. The Mavericks finished 3 for 6 with the man advantage. Penalties were dished out freely after that, and the teams combined for 100 penalty minutes in the second period alone. Alaska was 1 for 3 on the power play, a 5-on-3 goal.

3. Too Schied: Junior defenseman Ian Scheid had an outstanding night with a goal and two assists. He scored the game's first goal, the lone score of the first period and assisted on two of the power-play goals. Josh French finished with a goal and an assist, and defenseman Jack McNeely and forward Jared Spooner each had two assists. Defenseman Connor Mackey had the other MSU goal.

Deep thought: The Mavericks are now No. 3 in the Pairwise Rankings.

Read my game story here.

Around the WCHA: Alabama Huntsville 2, Ferris State 0 ... Michigan Tech 3, Alaska Anchorage 2 ... Northern Michigan 4, Lake Superior State 2 ... Bowling Green 3, Bemidji State 1

Friday Morning Skate

The Mavericks are back in action after a bye week— a bye they hope came at a good time — with a trip to Fairbanks, Alaska, to take on the Nanooks. Minnesota State needs to gain just one point on Bowling Green and Lake Superior State to claim the MacNaughton Cup outright along with the No. 1 seed for the WCHA tournament. The Mavericks might even have that sewn up before they hit the ice at 10:07 p.m. CST.

Here are a few other things to know about the series against the Nanooks, who are playing their final home games of the season.

Questions about the future of college hockey's two Alaska teams are starting to surface again. No doubt this is something we'll all be paying attention to in the offseason.

Going around the WCHA:

Bowling Green at Bemidji State: Unbeaten in their last five games, the Beavers hope to keep things going as they vie for home ice in the first round of the playoffs. They'll host the Falcons, who could still get a share of the MacNaughton Cup but, more importantly, want to stay in the top four, if not the top two in the standings.

Lake Superior State at Northern Michigan: The Lakers, winners of four in a row and six of their last seven games, are also in line to get a share of the MacNaughton and also go on the road for a tough series against a motivated Wildcats team that is trying to maintain a top-four position, if not move up.

Alaska Anchorage at Michigan Tech: The Huskies are desperate to break out of their funk, a five game winless streak that's dropped them into sixth place in the standings. The last-place Seawolves could cure what ails them, although UAA did play them to a 0-0 tie and won the shootout in the first game of that slide. Anchorage has a win and two ties in its last five games.

Alabama Huntsville at Ferris State: The host Chargers currently hold the eighth and final playoff spot and are facing their closest challenger to the spot, the Bulldogs, on the road. Huntsville enters the weekend on a six-game winless streak. Ferris has one win in its last six games.

The hockey season is winding down for many other teams around the Mankato area:

• The MSU women will close out the regular season with a home series against Minnesota Duluth. The Mavericks need points to leapfrog St. Cloud State, avoid a last-place finish and get a more favorable matchup for the first round of the conference tournament.

• The Gustavus women defeated St. Mary's in the MIAC tournament play-in game on Thursday and will take on No. 1-ranked St. Thomas in the semifinals on Saturday. The men's team's season came to an end last week, as they did not make the postseason.

• The Mankato East/Loyola girls hockey team went 0-2 at the state tournament, but had a memorable opening game in which senior goalie Andrea Schreiber stopped a tournament-record 69 shots in a 4-2 loss to Mound Westonka.

• The Mankato East/Loyola boys won their section opener 8-0 over Winona on Thursday and will move on to the semifinals Saturday against Rochester Lourdes. Lourdes ended Mankato West's season on Thursday with a 6-3 win.

Respect the Cup

Yes, there are higher aspirations and expectations for this Minnesota State team. Yes, it clinched just a share of the WCHA title during last week's bye week. Yes, it's the Mavericks' fourth title in five years. Yes, it ain't your father's WCHA.

But winning another MacNaughton Cup should be acknowledged with more than a collective yawn, as it was last Saturday. I think they're still waiting for the league to acknowledge that they won. 

My column.

Meanwhile, MSU moved up to No. 4 in the U.S. College Hockey Online Rankings and the USA Today/USA Hockey poll. The Mavericks are fifth in the Pairwise.

USCHO.com Division I Men's Poll
Minneapolis, Minn./February 18, 2019

   Team             (First Place)    Record   Pts  Last Week
 1 St. Cloud State           (45)   21- 4-3   995     1
 2 Massachusetts             ( 4)   23- 6-0   947     3
 3 Minnesota Duluth                 18- 8-2   851     4
 4 Minnesota State           ( 1)   24- 6-2   842     5
 5 Quinnipiac                       22- 6-2   779     6
 6 Ohio State                       19- 7-4   756     2
 7 Denver                           16- 7-4   745     7
 8 Western Michigan                 17-10-1   553     9
 9 Cornell                          15- 7-3   536     8
10 Providence                       18- 9-5   532    13
11 Arizona State                    21-10-1   523    12
12 Northeastern                     19- 9-1   497    14
13 Clarkson                         20-10-0   430    11
14 UMass Lowell                     17-10-2   358    10
15 Bowling Green                    19- 8-4   266    16
16 Notre Dame                       16-11-3   256    15
17 Harvard                          14- 8-3   211    18
18 Lake Superior                    20- 8-2   183    19
19 Penn State                       17-11-2   126    17
20 Union                            15- 9-6    55    20

Others receiving votes: Yale 18, North Dakota 17, American
International 8, Bemidji State 5, Bentley 5, Minnesota 5,
Brown 1.

Idle Mavericks clinch share of MacNaughton

There was no trophy presentation, no parade with the prize around the Verizon Center ice in front of cheering fans. But the Minnesota State men's hockey team won a championship on Saturday night — without even lacing up their skates.

Despite being on their final bye week of the season, the No. 5 Mavericks clinched their second straight MacNaughton Cup as the Western Collegiate Hockey League's regular-season champions.

"That thing is hard to win," coach Mike Hastings said. "Our league is hard to win. It's hard to sweep, and it's hard to string things together in the regular season to get some separation."

Minnesota State did that, though, going 10-1-1 in their last 12 WCHA games to build a 16-point lead atop the standings going into the weekend.

They claimed at least a share of the title on Saturday when second-place Bowling Green and Alaska tied 3-3 at Bowling Green, Ohio, and the visiting Nanooks took the extra league point with a goal in the 3-on-3 double-overtime tiebreaker.

Minnesota State is sitting at 59 points in the WCHA standings with two weeks still to play in the regular season. Both Bowling Green and Lake Superior State can max out at 59 points by running the table. If Bowling Green wins out and Minnesota State loses out, the Falcons would hold the head-to-head tiebreaker for the top seed in the conference playoffs based on their 2-0-0 record against them this season. MSU has the tiebreaker over the Lakers with a 3-1-0 record against them.

With just one point the rest of the way, the Mavericks can avoid tiebreaker scenarios, win the championship outright and keep the silver MacNaughton Cup in Mankato for another year.

"To me, we're still playing for that," Hastings said.

Minnesota State (24-6-2, 19-4-1 in WCHA) plays Alaska next weekend at Fairbanks, Alaska. After that, the Mavericks will close out the regular season at home against Bemidji State.

"We just have to keep plugging along," Hastings said. "We've still got quite a bit to play for. ... By how we've played up to this point, we're in the position that we're in."

The regular-season championship is Minnesota State’s fourth in five years. They won their first MacNaughton Cup in 2015, shared the title with Michigan Tech in 2016 and won it outright again last season.

Friday Morning Skate

The Mavericks are idle this weekend but could actually win the MacNaughton Cup if things go in their favor, such as both Bowling Green and Northern Michigan losing a game. After getting some rest this weekend, MSU will prepare for the stretch run, which includes a trip to Alaska and a home series against Bemidji State to end the regular season. In all likelihood, the Mavericks will be the top seed for the WCHA tournament, which means home-ice advantage throughout.

Here's who is in action in the WCHA this weekend ...

Alaska at Bowling Green: The host Falcons would like to keep the MacNaughton race going for at least another week and earn as high a spot in the standings as possible. They have split every series the've played in 2019 so far. The seventh-place Nanooks would also like to work their way up the standings. They're 5-2 in their last seven games (including a home split against BG).

Northern Michigan at Bemidji State: Tied for second place with Bowling Green but only two points out of fourth and four out of fifth where the Beavers sit, the Wildcats are hoping to create some separation in the standings. Bemidji State, of course, is hoping to keep things muddled, if not separate itself from the pack, in order to clinch a first-round home-ice spot. The Beavers have lost just once in their last six games. College Hockey News takes a look at Northern Michigan's season so far.

Michigan Tech at Lake Superior State: The Lakers have lost just two games in their last 14 and would like to leapfrog Northern Michigan and Bowling Green if possible. Standing in their way this weekend are the Huskies, who need to rebound from a one-point Winter Carnival series against Minnesota State last weekend.

Ferris State at Alaska Anchorage: At ninth- and 10th-place, respectively, the Bulldogs and Seawolves currently sit on the outside looking in for WCHA playoff position. Simply said, it's been a tough year for both teams, who have three combined wins in 2019. Anchorage's one win was a home victory last Friday against rival Alaska.