MANKATO — Minnesota State's season isn't over.
After winning 29 games and climbing up the rungs in the national rankings, the Mavericks will be playing in the NCAA tournament in less than two weeks.
For now, though, there's a bit of a sting.
The Mavericks were eliminated from the WCHA playoffs on Sunday night at the Verizon Center, getting upset 2-1 in overtime to Michigan Tech in Sunday night's third game of a semifinal series. Minnesota State, which won the conference's regular-season title had hopes of winning the series and hosting a championship game on Saturday.
"I think it's maybe going to take a day or two to get over this," said senior forward Brad McClure, who had an almost-sure game-winner robbed by the glove of goaltender Patrick Munson 8 minutes into overtime. "Kind of hits you pretty hard. There's a lot of things you realize, I mean, it's our last game in this building.
"Obviously the future here isn't over. I think that's one thing to look forward to after a day or two."
Before a small but boisterous crowd of 1,962, Jake Jackson scored both of the Huskies' goals, including the clincher with 4:53 remaining in overtime.
Munson made 41 saves, including nine in the extra period. The Mavericks’ Connor LaCouvee stopped eight of nine shots in overtime and finished with 26 saves.
"I thought their goaltender was the difference in the series," MSU coach Mike Hastings said.
The top-seeded Mavericks won the Game 1 of the series 2-1 on Friday but lost the next two to the Huskies, who finished fifth in the league but pulled off their second road series victory in a row.
By all accounts, Minnesota State (29-9-1), which slipped to sixth in the Pairwise Rankings, is a lock to make the NCAA tournament but will have to go a week without playing before the tournament. The selection show will take place on Sunday, March 18.
"Tough for our seniors," Hastings said. "I thought for them to have this be their last game at the Verizon Center is kind of tough for them. But there is another day and that will be the NCAA tournament. We were able to win a league championship, not a playoff championship. Now we have to turn the page and move on to our third season, which is going to be the NCAAs."
One of those seniors, Zeb Knutson, scored the Mavericks' lone goal on Sunday.
McClure had five shots on goal, including the great chance in overtime. He also had a deflection go just wide late in regulation.
"I thought I made a good play there," McClure said of the overtime chance. "He made a good save. All the credit to him. He made a good save at the right time."
The Mavericks had one of its seven power-play opportunities in overtime. They had another good scoring opportunity just before Jackson's goal when Dallas Gerads made a move to get Munson out of position, but he crashed into linemate C.J. Suess and a defenseman.
"The Achilles heel for us this weekend was our 5-on-5 play," Hastings said. "Not so much defensively, but I do think offensively. We had a lot of really good looks tonight."
The first period was scoreless and had more power plays (six) than there were in the first two games combined (five). Both goaltenders were outstanding, stopping power-play and short-handed chances throughout the first two periods when 18 of the game's 19 penalties were called.
Munson got a shoulder on an open, short-handed shot by Marc Michaelis early in the first period, and, in the second, sprawled out to stop Nick Rivera on a short-handed rush.
LaCouvee upped the ante late in the period when he made a flashy glove save on a Joel L’Esperance short-handed breakaway that started off an MSU turnover at the opposite blue line.
Jackson opened the scoring at 6:09 of the second period, just after a power play came to an end, tapping in a centering pass from Brent Baltus.
Knutson tied it up on a power play at 10:30. He had an initial shot blocked in the right circle but got the puck right back and fired it over Munson’s shoulder. Parker Tuomie assisted on the play.
The game was one of eight decisive Game 3s in various conference tournaments on Sunday and one of four that went to overtime. That included the WCHA's other Game 3 semifinal Sunday in which Northern Michigan defeated Bowling Green 3-2.
Northern Michigan will now host rival Michigan Tech for the Jeff Sauer Trophy and the WCHA’s automatic bid into the national tournament.
As for the Mavericks ...
"You turn the page," Hastings said. "The first thing for us is rest."