Mankato, Minn. ---  #1-ranked Minnesota State downed Bemidji State Saturday 5-1 and in the process clinched the Central Collegiate Hockey Association regular-season title.
 
The Mavericks, who won the last four Western Collegiate Hockey Association regular-season crowns, have now captured the MacNaughton Cup five straight times with this season's CCHA championship.
 
Minnesota State's top line of Julian Napravnik, Brendan Furry and Cade Borchardt combined for nine points in the win with four goals and five assists.
 
The score stood 2-0 in favor of the host Mavericks at the end of the first 20 minutes of action. Junior winger Lucas Sowder took a feed from David Silye and backhanded the puck past Mattias Sholl at 13:53 for his fourth of the goal of the season for the first goal of the game. Napravnik, a senior from Bad Nauheim, Germany, picked up his 15^th goal of the year on a rebound chance following a shot from Furry, a junior center at 18:27.
 
At 6:15 of the second period, Borchardt, a junior from Burnsville, Minn., picked up his 15^th goal of the season, tipping a pass from Napravnik into the net on the far side in making it a 3-0 Minnesota State lead. Sophomore center Ondrej Pavel got his stick on a pass from defenseman Jake Livingstone at 16:35 for his eighth goal of the season and at the end of two periods, the Mavericks held a 4-0 lead.
 
A Will Zmolek wrist shot beat Dryden McKay on the stick side at 12:15 of the third to pull the Beavers within three, but Napravnik picked up his second goal of the game at 14:13 after Furry found him open on the left side of a two-on-one odd-man rush for the game's last goal.
 
Besides three-point efforts from Napravnik (2 goals and an assist) and Borchardt (one goal and and two assists), Minnesota State also got two assists from Furry.

McKay, who stopped 25 of 26 shots in the game, stands 29-4-0 for 2021-22.

The Mavericks (29-5-0, 21-3-0 CCHA), who have extended their current winning streak to nine games, close out the 2021-22 regular season with a two-game league series at Michigan Tech next weekend.

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