Coming off an eight-game winning stretch, Minnesota State (18-9-1, No. 13 Pairwise) played St. Thomas (7-17-2, No. 44 Pairwise) this weekend, their second home-and-home series this season, with the Mavericks sweeping the Tommies back in November.

Game one in Mankato saw St. Michael, Minn. native Luc Laylin put the Tommies ahead 1-0 early in the first. The Mavericks would go on to outshoot the Tommies 28-10 through the first two periods, but St. Thomas goaltender Aaron Trotter saved all shots on net, preserving his team's 1-0 lead heading into the final frame. The Mavericks finally found their way past Trotter with 7:20 to go in the game before striking again only a minute and change later, making it 2-1 off a Christian Fitzgerald power play goal.

The Tommies fought back and, with less than three minutes remaining, tied it at 2-2 when Luc Laylin tallied his second goal of the night, scoring on the power play. The game would head to overtime, and less than a minute in, St. Thomas' Mack Byers scored unassisted for the comeback win and upset over the Mavericks, their first time beating Minnesota State in nine attempts.

Goaltender Aaron Trotter went on to record 43 saves in the victory for his eighth win this season.

Like Friday's game, Luc Laylin scored first to put St. Thomas ahead 1-0, but unlike the night prior, the Mavericks did not wait until the third period to respond, scoring three consecutive goals to lead 3-1 after the first period. Sophomore Brenden Olson scored his first goal of the season to tie it at 1-1, before Zach Krajnik and Christian Fitzgerald added goals two and three.

With 10:27 off the clock in period two, St. Thomas made it 3-2 when Mahtomedi native Andrew Kangas tallied his first goal of the season. Mankato would go on back-to-back power plays to close out the period, and they capitalized, regaining their two-goal lead off a goal from defenseman Andy Carroll.

The Tommies only mustered five shots on net in the third period, and the Mavericks added a late empty net goal, winning 5-2 in the series split. In the upcoming weekend, Minnesota State will head into their final bye of the season, and St. Thomas will stay at home and face off against the Northern Michigan Wildcats. 

Following their strongest series yet, when they swept St. Cloud State at home, Minnesota Duluth (12-13-1, No. 23 Pairwise) moved on to face another difficult opponent this weekend in Western Michigan University (17-10-1, No. 10 Pairwise).

This series looked to be a good one, with the teams splitting back in November (skating to scores of 5-4 and 5-3) and sitting in the No. 4 (WMU) and No. 5 (UMD) spots in the NCHC standings heading into the weekend. Only minutes into game one, the Bulldogs went on the power play, but Western Michigan's Jason Polin forced a turnover and scored shorthanded, recording his 24th goal of the season, which places him atop the country's scoring leaderboard. Eight minutes later, the Bulldogs tied the game off a Ben Steeves shot that ricocheted off the glass and bounced off the goaltender's back and in.

Halfway through the second, the Broncos took a 2-1 lead, with Luke Grainger scoring on the power play in what ended up being the only goal in the period. It would take until the final minute of play for the Bulldogs to equalize, with Quinn Olson scoring with an extra attacker on the ice to force overtime.

Western Michigan's Max Sasson collected his own rebound and scored just over two minutes into overtime, sealing the victory for the Broncos. 

Scoring first in back-to-back nights, Western Michigan's Chad Hillebrand scored 12:34 into period one, and the team held that 1-0 lead into the first intermission. The Broncos then scored their second shorthanded goal of the weekend, making it 2-0 shortly into the second period on a Zak Galambos goal. The Bulldogs were held scoreless through the first two periods and were outshot by a 16-11 margin.

Still behind 2-0 with 6:22 to play, Quinn Olson made it a one-goal game, scoring his fourth goal this season. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, the Broncos responded immediately, regaining their two-goal lead only nine seconds later on a Luke Grainger goal. Western Michigan added an empty net goal to finish the game 4-1, moving into the No. 2 position in the NCHC standings and tied for No. 8 in the Pairwise with their sweep over the Bulldogs.

The Bulldogs will look to regroup in their bye this weekend before heading to Denver to battle the NCHC's top-ranked Denver Pioneers.  

Returning home this weekend after their previous series in Michigan, Bemidji State University (11-10-5, No. 30 Pairwise) squared off against another Michigan team, the Michigan Tech Huskies (18-7-4, No. 12 Pairwise).

After skating to a win and a tie in their series against the Huskies in October, the Beavers looked for a repeat performance against a team that sits ahead of them in both the CCHA standings and Pairwise Rankings.

A close first period in game one went scoreless, with an 8-7 shot advantage for the Huskies and no penalties called. The deadlock was broken 6:16 into the second when Michigan Tech's Jack Works tallied his seventh goal of the season. That 1-0 score held through the second intermission and late into the game, with the Huskies' Nick Nardella adding an empty net goal to seal a 2-0 win over the Beavers. Senior goaltender Blake Pietila turned aside all 25 Bemidji shots in his eighth shutout this season, improving his record in net to 18-7-3. 

After being held off the scoresheet in game one, the Beavers looked for the series split in game two. Back-to-back Bemidji State penalties in the first led to the opening goal halfway through the period, with Logan Pietila scoring his ninth goal this season on the two-man advantage. The Beavers stormed back and peppered goaltender Blake Pietila with shots, but they were unable to beat him, with the Huskies' Parker Saretsky adding a late second-period goal to head into the third period ahead 2-0.

In the third, Michigan Tech went ahead 3-0 seven minutes in, but the Beavers responded immediately, with Jere Vaisanen scoring the team's first goal of the weekend to keep the comeback alive. Still down two goals late in the game, the Beavers pulled their goaltender and scored with 3:39 remaining, with Lleyton Roed tipping home a shot in front for his ninth goal this season. The Beavers were unable to complete the comeback and fell short 3-2, with Blake Pietila's 37 saves between the pipes being pivotal in the victory and sweep on the road for the Huskies.

With their record now below .500, Bemidji State will look to get back on track next weekend when they play Ferris State. 

Coming off being swept away against Minnesota Duluth, St. Cloud State (18-8-0, No. 5 Pairwise) looked to get back on track this weekend when they faced off against the Miami Redhawks (7-17-2, No. 46 Pairwise), the last-place team in the NCHC standings.

Not starting as planned for St. Cloud, the Redhawks got on the board first, scoring 4:34 into period one on a PJ Fletcher goal. However, it did not take long for the home team to equalize, with forward Aidan Spellacy scoring less than two minutes later to tie the score at one. Late in the second, with the score still sitting at 1-1, St. Cloud made it 2-1 on a bad angle shot from Veeti Miettinen, but the Redhawks responded only a few minutes later, scoring on the power play to head into the final frame tied at 2-2.

Miami scored the go-ahead goal 3:24 into the third, with William Hallén tallying his third goal of the season, but the upset bid fell short as the Huskies tied the game at 3-3 with 6:31 left in regulation. The game then headed to overtime, and both teams had great chances to clinch the victory, but both goalies held strong, and the game officially resulted in a tie. However, the Huskies claimed the extra point in the NCHC standings with the shootout victory.

St. Cloud goaltender Dominic Basse made 27 saves during the game before turning aside all 10 Redhawks shootout attempts.

Game two Saturday night saw the Huskies get on the board first when Jami Krannila sniped home a shot 9:27 into the first period, tallying his 16th goal and team-leading 33rd point of the season. That 1-0 lead held through the end of the second period, with goaltender Dominic Basse in net for the second night in a row and saving all 13 shots faced through two.

With their goaltender pulled and an extra attacker on the ice, the Redhawks finally found their way past Basse, tying the game at 1-1 on a goal from John Waldron with only 35 seconds remaining in regulation. The game would then head to overtime and finish in the same way as game one, with neither team scoring in the extra period and St. Cloud claiming the shootout point.

It is important to note that prior to this four-game stretch that saw the Huskies go 0-2-2, they lost top defenseman Dylan Anhorn to a lower-body injury that required surgery and will force him to miss the rest of the season.

The Huskies will now have a bye weekend before playing the North Dakota Fighting Hawks on February 17th and 18th.  

University of Minnesota (20-7-1, No. 1 Pairwise) – after their sweep of the Michigan State Spartans last weekend, the Gophers went on their final bye of the season this weekend, returning next weekend against border rivals the University of Wisconsin.