MANKATO, Minn. -- For the second-straight game to secure a series sweep to close of the 2021-22 regular season, the Maverick women's hockey team shutout the Bemidji State Beavers, 5-0, in a Western Collegiate Hockey Association game played at the Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center, Saturday afternoon.
With its second-straight victory, MSU completed the sweep over the Beavers to improve to 14-17-1 overall and 10-17-1 in the WCHA. BSU falls to 11-18-3 and 8-18-2 in the WCHA.
In her second game as a Maverick, senior netminder Chantal Burke, who now stands 2-0 on the season, recorded her second career shutout behind a 19-save showing to complete a series sweep and shutout over the Beavers in Mankato to close out the regular season. Burke now has back-to-back shutouts and has yet to allow a goal as a Maverick after she also blanked the Beavers in Friday's series opener.
The first period was a scoreless one between the Mavericks and Beavers. BSU owned a 10-3 shots advantage over MSU after 20 minutes of action.
The Mavericks broke out for three goals in the middle period to carry a 3-0 lead into the second intermission. Freshman forward Alexis Paddington scored the game-winning goal for the purple and gold at 2:05 of the second period when she cleaned up a rebound initially shot by Jessica Boland to make it 1-0. Another freshman in Shelbi Guttormson found twine at the 13:41 mark with a shot from the top of the left circle, which had eyes for the top-left corner of the goal, to make it a 2-0 game. Junior forward Kennedy Bobyck made it 3-0 when she fired in her ninth goal of the season from the slot. Assisting on the tic-tac-toe esque setup to Bobyck was Kelsey King and Charlotte Akervik. Akervik tied Anna Wilgren for MSU's single-season points by a defensemen record with the assist, she now sits tied with Wilgren's record from the 2019-20 season with 24 points on the season. After the second period, MSU was leading BSU in shots 17-15.
MSU ran away with the game in the third period. Senior forward Brittyn Fleming scored her 16th goal for her 40th point of the season (single-season record) and the 109th of her career (tied Maggie Fisher (2005-09) for the MSU all-time record), to make it 4-0 at 15:35 of the third period. Roughly a minute later at 16:27, sophomore forward Sydney Shearen made it 5-0, where it would ultimately stand, after she scored her first collegiate goal.
MSU finished the contest with the shots advantage by a 30-19 margin. The Mavericks scored a pair of power-play goals in the game to finish 2-3 with the man advantage while the Beavers were unsuccessful in their pair chances on the power play.
Up next on the Mavericks' docket is the first round of the WCHA Tournament. Minnesota State will travel to Duluth, Minn., to take on #5 Minnesota Duluth, Feb. 25-26 and Feb. 27 (if necessary) in a best-of-three quarterfinal series.
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