Mavericks Sweep Lakers, Look Ahead at Bulldogs
Daniel McElroy ® Sports Editor |
The Mavericks men’s hockey team continued their hot streak last weekend with a sweep at Lake Superior State.
MSU has won their last seven straight games, including a shootout winner against Bemidji State, outscoring their opponents 26-7 in the process.
The Mavericks took the first win of the weekend on Friday with a score of 3-0.
The first goal came from Julian Napravnik, as he gained a pass from Cade Borchardt on the backdoor to score on the powerplay about halfway through the second period.
Wyatt Aamodt got his first point of the year with a wrist shot from the point that got deflected off of a Lakers’ stick, and bounced right past Marek Mitens. Napravnik and Borchardt tally assists to put the Mavericks up 2-0.
Nathan Smith took a pass from Borchardt breaking out of their own zone to put the puck in the empty net, securing the win for the Mavs.
Dryden McKay stops all 23 shots that come his way, putting up his third straight shutout, and fifth on the year.
Saturday’s scoring got started with Sam Morton getting his first points of the year, firing a rebound over the left shoulder of Mitens, who saved the original shot from Dallas Gerads.
Gerads scored less than five minutes later off a rebound from Riese Zmolek’s shot from the point.
Morton scored his second goal of the game and second goal of the year on the powerplay with less than four minutes played in the second period. Jack McNeely follows up with his first goal of the year when a scrambling puck in front of the net squirts out to McNeely at the point and fires it in the top left corner, putting the Mavericks in the lead 4-0.
The Lakers responded by scoring two goals in under two minutes of each other, one of them shorthanded from Yuki Miura.
The Mavericks secured the win with goals from Reggie Lutz and Jake Livingston in the third period.
Miroslav Mucha’s second period goal ended McKay’s shutout streak of almost 218 minutes, good enough for the ninth longest streak in WCHA history. McKay also holds the fifth spot in conference history with last year’s run of more than 234 minutes.
The Mavericks improved their record to 7-1-1, while the Lakers dropped to 6-3-3.
Up next for the Mavericks is the Ferris State Bulldogs. This will be the Mavs first home series in over a month. Head coach Mike Hastings commented, “It’s something I think the guys are already enjoying. It’s a little bit closer to the norm which is what we’ve all been begging for.”
The Mavericks are 23-8-2 all-time against the Bulldogs, winning the last nine straight meetings, and only losing one game at home.
The Bulldogs are 1-8-0 on the year, with their only win coming off last weekend with a non-conference win against the Division II Trine University Thunder.
Header photo courtesy of Maverick Athletics.