SAULT STE. MARIE, MICH. — Minnesota State men’s hockey coach Luke Strand remembers everything about losing out on the MacNaughton Cup last season, including watching Bemidji State celebrate with the trophy and even the clothes he was wearing.
More memories were made Saturday night, but these ones will prove to be a lot more pleasant.
The Mavericks beat Lake Superior State 4-1 to clinch the CCHA regular season championship outright. MSU won Game 1 of the series 4-0 Friday, which clinched a share of the conference title.
“When you had a chance at it a year ago and didn’t get the job done … to wash that taste out is a blessing,” Strand said. “It wasn’t always pretty but at the end of the day, these guys stuck together.”
MSU has now won the conference seven of the last eight years after having a streak of six straight championships snapped last season.
“I felt terrible a year ago when we lost our grip on it,” Strand said. “To bring it back home to have it around for everyone to enjoy was important.”
Unlike Game 1, the Lakers got on the scoreboard first, but MSU scored four unanswered goals en route to the win.
After the Lakers scored at 4:36 of the first, Josh Groll tied the game at 6:05 and Adam Eisele scored the eventual game-winner to make it 2-1 at 9:00. That lead held into the first intermission.
Rhett Pitlick gave MSU a 3-1 lead at 1:01 of the second period, and Luigi Benincasa helped secure the win with a goal at 19:04.
“Getting scored on, it was good chin music for us to straighten out and get some things back together,” Strand said.
Shots on goal were tied 32-32. Alex Tracy made 31 saves to get his 22nd win of the season.
The Mavericks (22-8-2, 17-5-2 in CCHA) will host Bemidji State next weekend at the Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center.
Even with the conference title clinched, the Mavericks still have a lot to play for in terms of improving their position for a potential at-large bid into the NCAA tournament.
“We’re going to enjoy this for the moment and then we know we’ve got to move forward,” Strand said. “We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us, and all of it that’s coming ahead of us is going to be harder than what we’ve gone through.”
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