MANKATO, Minn. – Senior captain Sam Morton scored twice Saturday to help the Mavericks sweep Northern Michigan 6-1 in game two of the CCHA quarterfinals at Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center.
 
The Mavericks (18-14-4) started with a 2-1 victory Friday night in Mankato and ended Northern Michigan's (12-17-6) season for the fourth straight year in the conference tournament.
 
Minnesota State will be on the road next Saturday to play a single semifinal game against third-seeded Michigan Tech at 4:07 central time. MSU has advanced out of the first round in each of the past 11 seasons.
 
"I'm just happy for the guys," said head coach Luke Strand. "I think after last week, we switched mindset. A new season. Believe in what that means to us and act accordingly in how we play out there. I think we were very selfless in a lot of our actions out there which made a huge difference in what we were able to get done."
 
"We were just trying to play simple hard hockey," Morton said. "Make it miserable for teams to play against us. As much as we could play north and play fast, we wanted to make it a pain to play against us."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
NMU senior Andre Ghantous took advantage of a defensive zone turnover and scored the first goal of the game shorthanded at 4:08 of the first period.
 
Brian Carrabes answered for Minnesota State at 12:15 after he collected an errant pass behind the NMU goal line and swung to the front of the net. He slid the puck under goaltender Beni Halasz for a 1-1 score.
 
Luc Wilson nearly broke the tie early in the second but upon review, he was deemed offside entering the zone. Sam Morton made it 2-1 shortly after for the Mavericks. Evan Murr held the blue line. Then Morton ripped a shot on Halasz, collected his own rebound and scored as he was sent flying. It was Morton's CCHA-leading 23^rd tally of the year. Murr and Koch assisted at 7:01.
 
Wilson made it 3-1 near the four-minute mark when he sniped a low wrist shot to the far post after picking off a pass in the neutral zone (and added a dash of Italian flair to his goal celebration).
 
Another potential Wildcat goal was nullified after officials concluded their zone entry was offside at 2:15 in the third period.
 
Later, Morton separated the puck from an NMU defenseman forechecking in the offensive zone and roped a wrist shot past Halasz's glove for a 4-1 lead 2:51 into the final period.
 
Tyler Haskins tipped in Zach Krajnik's pass from the left hash mark into an empty net at 18:18 and Carrabes put away his second of the game at 19:36, assisted by Wilson and Jordan Steinmetz.
 
With a pair of assists, Evan Murr and Brandon Koch posted multi-point nights on defense. Alex Tracy made 25 saves on 26 shots (.963) for the Mavericks.
 
Neither team scored on the power play.
 
SCENARIOS
 
No. 1 seed Bemidji State secured home ice in the semifinals with a sweep over Ferris State on the weekend.
No. 3 seed Michigan Tech also got past Bowling Green in two games.
No. 6 seed Lake Superior State topped St. Thomas Sunday in game three of their series.
If (and only if) Minnesota State and Lake Superior State advance to the Championship series, the Mavericks would gain an opportunity to host another home series in Mankato.
 
"I think a lot of (our success) is just how tight we are as a group," Wilson said. "The big story all year has been about the guys that returned. A lot of those guys stepped up and paved the way for our group. When playoffs come around, it's do or die. You want to play as long as possible and keep your group together and we've really bought into that. We're excited to be moving on."