The Seawolves knew the drill before the puck even dropped at center ice Friday night – their game against visiting Minnesota State-Mankato was a must-win moment.
Northern Michigan already had won at Bowling Green, which meant the Seawolves needed to beat the Mavericks just to stay tied for ninth place in the 10-team Western Collegiate Hockey Association, where only the top eight finishers qualify for the playoffs.
UAA delivered. The Seawolves never trailed, got 40 saves out of goaltender Olivier Mantha and pivotal goals from infrequent scorers to forge a 4-3 victory at Sullivan Arena.
UAA's victory, coupled with eighth-place Alabama-Huntsville's 3-0 road loss to UAF, kept the Seawolves in the hunt for their first playoff berth in the last three seasons.
UAA (6-16-5, 5-11-5), like Northern Michigan, owns 22 points in 21 games, with seven league games left. Alabama-Huntsville owns 24 points, but has played two more games than both the Seawolves and Wildcats.
"They're all must-win games for us down the stretch,'' said UAA coach Matt Thomas. "Hey, we played hard, and we managed to capitalize on the opportunities we needed to capitalize on.''
The fourth-place Mavericks (15-10-4, 11-8-4 WCHA) outshot the Seawolves 43-17, but Mantha proved a great equalizer and raised his season save percentage to .914.
UAA freshman defenseman David Trinkberger opened the scoring 14 minutes into the first period when he furnished his first college goal. He sneaked in the weak side, took a pass from Nils Rygaard and blew a slapper past Cole Huggins (13 saves) on the short side.
The Seawolves, who failed to score on any of their 17 power plays in the three previous games, pushed their lead to 2-0 deep in the second period on Nicolas Erb-Ekholm's power-play roof job. Erb-Ekholm won a stick-blade battle against the Mavericks' talented defenseman Daniel Brickley and whipped a shot over Huggins' shoulder. That was Erb-Ekholm's second goal in 22 games this season.
Brickley got one back in the final minute of the period, blowing a center-point shot past Mantha's glove side as Mantha's old junior teammate, Brad McClure, screened him. (Mantha got the best of McClure on the night, when McClure cranked a game-high nine shots on goal).
Still, the Seawolves regained a two-goal lead at 3-1 on a tic-tac-toe play midway through the third period. Taz Kozun out-muscled a Maverick for the puck deep on left wing and centered to captain Matt Anholt in the slot. Anholt's one-touch pass left Mason Mitchell with a tap-in at the left post for his team-leading seventh goal.
Mavericks defenseman Sean Flanagan cut UAA's lead to 3-2 just 50 seconds later, though. Mantha moved to his left, tracking Flanagan's shot from the left point, but the puck deflected off Rygaard's stick and veered back to Mantha's right.
The Mavericks pulled Huggins for an extra attacker with 2:03 to go and Kozun fired a puck from his own zone for an empty-net goal and a 4-2 lead. That goal turned Marc Michaelis' 6-on-4, power-play strike with 6.9 seconds left into mere bookkeeping.
Seawolves notes
Mantha's 40 saves gives the junior 2,324 career saves and moved him into No. 2 all-time on the school saves list, ahead of Chris King (2,321 saves, 2000-2004), who was in attendance Friday. Paul Krake (1988-1992) owns the program record for career saves with 2,637.
Anholt leads UAA in scoring with 5-11—16 totals in 27 games and Kozun ranks second with 5-9—14 totals in 25 games.
Kozun is UAA's leading active scorer with 24-25—49 totals in 92 games, just ahead of Anholt's 14-33—47 totals in 95 games.
MSM 0 1 2 3
UAA 1 1 2 4
First Period – 1, UAA, Trinkberger 1 (Rygaard, Hubbs), 13:54. Penalties – Rivera, MSM (hooking), 5:08; Knutson, MSM (hooking), 11:36; Mitchell, UAA (hooking), 15:56.
Second Period – 2, UAA, Erb-Ekholm 2 (Azurdia, Van Allen), 16:34 (pp); 3, MSM, Brickley 7 (Franklin), 19:29. Penalties – Roberts, UAA (holding), 2:52; Brickley, MSM (cross-checking), 8:10; Van Allen, UAA (interference), 12:07; Lewis, MSM (cross-checking), 15:04; Mitchell, UAA (goalie interference), 17:25; Hubbs, UAA (roughing), 17:25; Foguth, MSM (roughing), 17:25; Knutson, MSM (roughing), 17:25.
Third Period – 4, UAA, Mitchell 7 (Anholt, Kozun), 9:58; 5, MSM, Flanagan 4 (Scheid), 10:48; 6, UAA, Kozun 5, 18:06 (en); 7, MSM, Michaelis 12 (Brickley, Franklin), 19:53 (pp). Penalties – Kozun, UAA (tripping), :39; Anholt, UAA (interference), 19:16.
Shots on goal – MSM 14-15-14—43. UAA 4-6-7—17.
Power-play Opportunities – MSM 1 of 5. UAA 1 of 4.
Goalies – MSM, Huggins, 8-5-1 (16 shots-13 saves). UAA, Mantha, 6-14-3 (43 shots-40 saves).
A – 1,924 (6,251). T – 2:23.
Referees – Michael Elam, Josh Lupinek. Assistant referees – Carl Saden, Matt Tyree.