Marquette, Mich. --- #1 Minnesota State saw its ten-game winning streak come to an end with the Mavericks dropping a 4-1 decision to Northern Michigan in a Western Collegiate Hockey Association game played in Marquette Saturday night.

The visiting Mavericks outshot Northern Michigan by a 13-10 margin, but after the first 20 minutes of action, the score stood 0-0.

For only the second time this year the opposing team tallied the first goal of the game Minnesota State when Northern's Michael Van Unen connected on a shot from the high slot that found its way to the back of the net on a screened Jacob Berger at 2:53 of the middle frame.  Junior defenseman Jack McNeely made a nice move in the offensive zone, finding junior center Jake Jaremko at the corner of the net for a tap-in goal at 11:29 which tied the game at 1-1. The goal is Jaremko's sixth of the year and his fifth in the last eight games. The Wildcats regained the lead with a power play marker from Van Unen at 14:14 and after two periods of action, NMU held a 2-1 lead.

The Mavericks, who out shot the Wildcats in the second period, could not find a way to tie the game in the third, allowing a couple of empty net tallies near the end of regulation with Andre Ghantous and Griffin Loughran closing out the scoring in the contest.

Sophomore Jacob Berger, who made his college debut in the game, finished with 14 saves and Dryden McKay had four saves in relief.

The game marks the first road loss of the season for Minnesota State.

The Mavericks, now 15-2-1 overall and 10-2-0 WCHA, outshot the host squad by a 31-22 margin in the contest and went zero-for-fiour in power play chances.

Next action for Minnesota State is the Mariucci Classic Dec. 28-29 in Minneapolis.

Head coach Mike Hastings commented following the game.





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