Minnesota State, the fifth-ranked team in the country, breathed a sign of relief after needing overtime to beat UAH on Friday and avoid a major upset.
Saturday night, the Mavericks made sure there would not be another scare at the VBC, beating the Chargers 6-1 to complete the series sweep and win their seventh straight game.
UAH (10-20-2 overall, 9-15-2 WCHA) was swept at home for the first time this season, but still sits in sixth place in the WCHA standings, one point ahead of Alaska. Alaska was swept by Northern Michigan, which maintained its one-point lead over Minnesota State (23-7-0 overall, 19-5-0 WCHA) atop the standings.
The Chargers, still looking to secure a WCHA playoff spot, have next week off before finishing the regular season at home against Bowling Green.
Minnesota State scored its first goal at the 3:57 mark, when Nicolas Rivera poked in a rebound from a Brad McClure shot.
Then with 3:39 left in the first period, on a power play resulting from a John Teets cross-checking penalty, the Mavericks made it 2-0 when Dallas Gerads scored, also on a rebound.
UAH got on the board early in the second period, shorthanded after a Brandon Parker interference penalty.
Levi Wunder got a shot in the MSU zone, and the rebound off of Connor LeCouvee slowly entered the slot. Defenseman Richard Buri won the race for the puck, and sniped it past LeCouvee at 1:01.
It was Buri’s first goal of the season and sixth goal of the senior’s UAH career. Wunder got his seventh assist.
But the Mavericks never relented, and regained their two-goal advantage just 1:44 later. Right after Parker’s penalty expired, C.J. Seuss, who scored the overtime winner on Friday, scored on a backhander from goaltender Jordan Uhelski’s doorstep made it 3-1.
Minnesota State made it 4-1 on its second power play goal of the night. Marc Michaelis, who got the game-tying goal with 2:10 left in regulation on Friday, got the score on yet another rebound off Uhelski.
MSU scored their third power play goal at 1:30 of the third period on a blast by Daniel Brickley from the point. Jared Spooner made it 6-1 with 10:32 to go.
Uhelski finished with 29 saves after being pulled at that point. Freshman Mark Sinclair had one save in relief.
Minnesota State outshot UAH 36-24.
Notes: Minnesota State ran its unbeaten streak against UAH to 26 games (22-0-4) dating back to 2002. … Michigan Tech beat Bemidji State 5-1 on Saturday, giving fifth-place Tech 40 points in the WCHA standings. That ensured UAH, which can get no more than 36 points, can finish no higher than sixth.