Mankato, Minn. ---  Minnesota State rallied from a 1-0 deficit to claim a 3-2 home win over #19 Michigan Tech Saturday.
 

The victory, the last of the regular season for both teams, gives Minnesota State a 18-3-2 overall record.  The Mavericks finished atop the Western Collegiate Hockey Association standings with a 13-1-0 record.
 

In a first period in which the Mavericks outshot the Huskies 6-4, neither team was able to generate any offense.
 

Tech got on the board first in the game on a shot from the top of the right circle from Alec Broetzman at 6:35 of the second period that went high stickside past Dryden McKay. Maverick senior Walker Duehr tallied his seventh goal of the year when he bounced a puck off a skate past Tech netminder Blake Pietila at 11:28 in making it a 1-1 game. A minute later, freshman defenseman Tony Malinowski collected a rebound off of a shot from Riese Zmolek and put it in the net for his first career goal to give Minnesota State its first lead of the game.
 

The host Mavericks extended their lead to 3-1 at 9:19 of the third when Julian Napravnik took a nice feed from Duehr and wired a shot that beat Pietila on the far side for his ninth goal of the year.  Tech tallied a goal with Pietila on the bench for an extra attacker at 19:36 to close out the scoring in the contest.
 

Both teams were scoreless in three power play opportunities and Minnesota State outshot the Huskies by a 23-18 margin.
 

McKay, who stopped 16 shots, upped his record on the year to 17-2-0 mark with the win.
 

Malinowski and Duehr both finished with a goal and an assist in the game.  Napravnik's goal is his fifth game-winning goal of the season.

 

Next action for Minnesota State is next weekend is the first round of the WCHA play-offs. The champions of the 2020-21 WCHA regular season, the Mavericks enter the postseason as the number one seed in the playoffs and will face Ferris State in a best-of-three-series beginning on Friday.
 

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