Marquette, Minn. --- #1 Minnesota State got a pair of goals from senior captain Marc Michaelis in outpacing Northern Michigan by a 5-2 margin in a Western Collegiate Hockey Association game played in Marquette Friday night.

With the victory, Minnesota State has extended its winning streak to ten games.

Taking advantage of a five-minute power play situation, the Mavericks scored twice midway through the opening stanza.  Junior winger Dallas Gerads, stationed below the goal line, found Marc Michaelis and the senior center made no mistake with a wrist shot from the right circle at 11:31 for the game's first goal.  The goal is the ninth of the year for Michaelis, who leads the Mavericks in scoring. The goal by Michaelis marks the 16th time in 17 games that the Mavericks have gotten the game's first goal.

Less than two minutes later it became a 2-0 Minnesota State lead after junior forward Reggie Lutz cashed in for his sixth goal of the season, again with the Mavericks on the power play.

NMU's Ty Readman took advantage of a turnover behind Minnesota State's net to pull the Wildcats within one at 9:20 of the second, but Julian Napravnik's even-strength tally, which came on a nifty backhander that beat John Hawthorne high on the gloveside at 16:11, quieted the crowd.  Junior center Jared Spooner scored a greasy one at 18:24 after finding a loose puck in front of the net and the Mavericks took a 4-1 lead into the locker room after 40 minutes of action.

Michaelis got his tenth goal of the year and second of the night at 11:33 of the third period, converting on a power play opportunity to extend Minnesota State's lead to 5-1.  The Wildcats closed out the scoring in the contest at 18:10 on a marker from Andre Ghontous.

Junior Dryden McKay, who finished with 23 saves in the game, now stands 14-1-1 for the season.

Besides the two goals from Michaelis, other Mavericks with multiple points in the win were Connor Mackey, Parker Tuomie and Dallas Gerads, all who had two assists.

The Mavericks, now 15-1-1 overall and 10-1-0 WCHA, outshot the host squad by a 28-25 margin in the contest and went three-for-five in power play chances.

The two teams close out the two-game league series Saturday with a 5:07 p.m. CST face-off scheduled.
 
Mike Hastings commented following the win.