#8 Mavericks To Make Third Appearance at WCHA Final Five
Minnesota State Dispatches Nebraska Omaha in Three Games in WCHA First-Round Series; #14 Wisconsin on the Docket Thursday at MSU Preps for Third Appearance

Off The Hop:  Eighth-rated Minnesota State (24-12-3 overall) plays in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association Final Five versus #14 Wisconsin (19-12-7) in its next action. MSU and UW face-off at Xcel Energy Center (18,568) at 2:07 p.m. Thursday.  The winner of that game would advance to the semi-finals of the six-team tournament and would play St. Cloud State (23-14-1) at 2:07 Friday.

MSU Versus the Badgers:  MSU stands 17-25-4 in the all-time series vs. Wisconsin. MSU split this year’s four games with the Badgers, claiming a pair of 4-2 wins in Madison in November before getting swept in Mankato (4-3 and 2-1) in January.

MSU in WCHA Final Five: The Mavericks are participating in their third WCHA Final Five. MSU owns an 0-2 mark in Final Fives, having lost play-in games twice to Minnesota (6-4 in 1999-00) and 3-2 in 2002-03). Including this year, MSU owns an 11-29 all-time mark in WCHA play-off games.

The Mavericks, who have participated in the WCHA postseason since the 1997-98 season (MSU participated as an affiliate member prior to joining the league on a full-time basis in 1999-2000), have played in 15 WCHA postseason tournaments and have won three first-round play-off series (1999-2000 and 2002-2003). See page 14 of this release for MSU’s WCHA postseason history game-by-game.

For additional WCHA Final Five information, go HERE.

Where Amongst?:   Minnesota State is rated eighth in this week’s national USCHO.com poll (see page 5 of this release for additional poll information).

Prior to this year, the last time Minnesota State appeared in the USCHO poll was during the 2008-09 season when the Mavericks were rated in the top twenty 11 times, reaching a high of tenth at one point.

MSU Most Recently:  The Mavericks, who enter the Final Five having won eight of their last 11 games, downed Nebraska Omaha two games to one in a WCHA first-round series played in Mankato last weekend.

Winning: The Mavericks’ 24 wins this year are the most achieved during the program’s DI-era, which dates back to the 1996-97 season. MSU teams have hit the 20-win plateau three times since reaffiliating to NCAA Division I (24-12-3 in 2012-13, 21-14-4 in 1999-2000 and 20-11-10 in 2002-03).

MSU’s 16 wins in league play are the most by a Maverick team in WCHA league play. The previous best of 15 WCHA wins came in 2002-03.

Noteables:  Sophomore forwards Jean-Paul Lafontaine and Matt Leitner, along with defenseman Zach Palmquist, are MSU’s active leaders in terms of consecutive games played at 77.  The second-year trio have not missed a game during their times as Mavericks.

Excuse My Lateness:  MSU is third in the nation in goals scored in the third period with 47.

Power is a Powerful Thing: Minnesota State’s 42 power play goals on the season lead the nation (the Mavericks’ 23.5 power play percentage ranks fourth in the nation).

On the Offensive: Minnesota State has three players this year with at least 30 points in Matt Leitner (45), Eriah Hayes (35) and Jean-Paul Lafontaine (33). The last time Minnesota State had three players with at least 30 points in a season was 2008-09 with Mick Berge (31), Kurt Davis (31) and Kael Mouillierat (30). In 2005-06 Travis Morin (42), David Backes (42) and Ryan Carter (35) all surpassed that plateau. The Mavericks in 2002-03 had four players hit the mark in Shane Joseph (65), Grant Stevenson (63), B.J. Abel (36) and Cole Bassett (30).

Go HERE to get this week's 14-page release (pdf).