Mankato, Minn.  ---    #16 Minnesota State skated past Bemidji State by a 6-1 margin Friday and gained at least a share of the 2015-16 Western Collegiate Hockey Association regular-season championship in the process.

The Mavericks, who entered the weekend owning a two-point lead over second-place Michigan Tech with two games to go in the regular season, still own a two-point lead with tonight's win and Michigan Tech's 4-0 win over Northern Michigan. 

The Mavericks got out of the chute early as sophomore forward Zeb Knutson took advantage of a nice pass from linemate Michael Huntebrinker in scoring his sixth goal of the year at 1:48 of the opening stanza.  Bryce Gervais, who entered the night riding a four-game point-scoring streak, was also credited with his eighth assist of the year on Knutson's marker. Senior forward Teddy Blueger wristed a shot from the slot that beat BSU netminder Michael Bitzer on the stick side at 13:18 in making it a 2-0 Minnesota State lead.  Blueger got in on the action again when his offensive zone face-off win led to Dylan Margonari's fifth goal of the season at 15:41 and the Mavericks entered the locker room owning a 3-0 lead at the end of the first 20 minutes.

It became a 4-0 Minnesota State lead at 14:17 of the second after junior defenseman Carter Foguth roofed a shot past past Reid Mimmack for his first goal of the season after taking a pass from Margonari. Mimmack had replaced Bitzer in the Beaver net in the first period following Margonari's goal.  Markus Gerbrandt solved Maverick netminder Cole Huggins on a breakaway opportunity at 14:48, allowing the Beavers to pull within to three and at the end of 40 minutes of play. Minnesota State held a 4-1 advantage. 

Senior forward Jimmy Mullin's nifty shot from along the goal line at 5:24 of the final period gave the Mavericks a 5-1 lead and junior center Jordan Nelson's second goal of the season at 9:36 made it a 6-1 Minnesota State advantage in closing out scoring in the game.

The Mavericks, who went zero-for-three in power plays in the game, outshot BSU by a 46-13 margin in the game.

Junior netminder Cole Huggins stands 10-8-2 on the season with tonight's win and owns a 35-18-3 mark for his career. Huggins now stands tied for sixth at Minnesota State in career wins. 
Minnesota State, which has gone 7-2-2 in its last 11 games, stands 18-10-7 overall and is 16-4-7 in WCHA action with tonight's win.

The Mavericks close out the 2015-16 regular season Saturday with face-off vs. the Beavers at Verizon Wireless Center slated for 7:07 p.m.

Head coach Mike Hastings commented following the win.