Back on the ice after a one-week break, the UAA hockey team was held to a season-low 11 shots Friday night in a 4-1 loss to third-ranked Minnesota State.
Nils Rygaard provided a second-period goal for the Seawolves in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association game in Mankato, Minnesota.
The 11 shots were by far the fewest the Seawolves have taken in 13 games this season. Before Friday, they were averaging 24 shots per game and their season-low had been 18 -- once against Bemidji State, once against Northern Michigan.
League-leading Minnesota State fired 30 shots at the Seawolves but only led by a single goal until the final 93 seconds.
The Mavericks (13-2-0 overall, 8-1-0 WCHA) grabbed a 3-1 lead with an empty-net goal with 1:33 left in the game. Sixty-nine seconds later, with 24 seconds remaining, they beat UAA goalie Brody Claeys for the three-goal margin.
Minnesota State got goals from four players, including Jared Spooner, whose fifth goal of the season gave the Mavericks 1-0 lead about eight minutes into the game.
The Mavericks made it 2-0 early in the second period but Rygaard answered for UAA 42 seconds later with his third goal of the season. Tomi Hiekkavirta and Drake Glover assisted.
Claeys finished with 26 saves. Dryden McKay had 10 for the Mavericks, who were 0 for 4 on the power player. UAA was scoreless on two power-play chances.
The Seawolves (1-11-1, 0-8-1) rank last in the 10-team WCHA standings with one point, two points behind ninth-place Alabama Huntsville. The Mavericks are in first place with 24 points, one more than second-place Michigan Tech, which lost 5-3 to Northern Michigan on Friday.
UAA and Minnesota State play again Saturday in Mankato.