MANKATO, Minn. - The NMU men's hockey team dropped game one of the CCHA quarterfinal 2-1 against the Minnesota State Mavericks.

After a back-and-forth opening first few minutes with chances on both sides, the Mavericks broke through on a mad scramble in the Wildcat crease. Halasz made a sprawling save and an NMU defender went to fire the puck away, but it landed on the stick of a Mankato defender who walked in and fired a seeing-eye shot shot through traffic to beat a sprawled Halasz.

The second period was the turning point of the matchup; NMU outshot the Mavericks 15-2 and failed to capitalize on a handful of grade-A chances, as netminder Alex Tracy made a few saves he had no right to make. Grant Potulny called for a review to look at a potential hand covering the puck in the Mankato crease, but the decision did not go the Wildcat way. Viking Gustafsson Nyberg blocked a shot, the deflection landed on a Mankato stick, who then found Lucas Sowder wide open in the slot and uncovered due to the blocked shot, who fired a missile past Halasz from the hash marks. Despite dominating the frame, the 'Cats skated down 2-0 into the third.

Rylan Van Unen scored off a nice feed from Jack Perbix to bring the game within one, but the 'Cats were unable to break through before the sound of the final horn, despite outshooting the Mavs 26-11 in the final two periods.

Cat Nips

• Rylan Van Unen opened the Wildcat scoring, giving him four on the season and two in the past four games
• Jack Perbix registered his fourth point of the year on a nifty fake and pass, giving him two points in three games against MSU this year
• Michael Van Unen picked up a secondary assist on his brother's goal, giving the blueliner four points on the year 
• Beni Halasz made 19 saves on 21 shots for a .905 SV%
• Grant Slukynsky and Rielly Funk were two of the better faceoff men, both winning 10 draws for a combined 20/35
• Mankato received a penalty shot opportunity mid-way through the second period. It was taken by Luc Wilson, but Halasz stood strong to keep the game 0-1
• The Wildcats now fall to 4-9-4 when the opponent scores first, 4-3 in one-goal games, 2-11-4 in road games, and 0-12-3 when trailing after two periods

How It Happened
1st Period
It was a mad scramble in front of the Wildcat crease, and Halasz made a spectacular sprawling save. A clear attempt landed on the stick of Jordan Power who had an open net to score his first goal of the season with three minutes to go in the first.

2nd Period
On their first power play opportunity of the night, Viking Gustafsson Nyberg blocked a one-timer in the left faceoff dot. The blocked shot landed on the stick of Sam Morton who found Lucas Sowder wide open in front and he roofed a wrister over the glove of Halasz.

3rd Period
The Wildcats cut into the lead five minutes into the third period. Perbix streaked up the right-wing boards right in on Tracy. He faked a shot and carried it behind for a wrap-around, but instead made a pass to Rylan who was wide open on the far post and had an open net to deposit his fourth of the year. 

Up Next
Game two of the CCHA quarterfinals from Mankato is tomorrow night at 7:07 PM ET