By the time February rolled around, the team was in the bottom half of the CCHA standings and had no chance for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.

Bemidji State responded with a strong effort in the rematch but Halász was equal to the task and allowed just one goal on 36 shots.

A late goal by New York Rangers prospect Simon Kjellberg extended their lead but by then the game was well in hand and Northern Michigan skated away with a 4–0 victory.

Alex Frye scored a pair of goals to stake the Wildcats to a 2–0 lead and all signs were pointing to their winning the title.

With less than 3 minutes remaining, everything began to unravel when Ondrej Pavel and the Mavericks cut the lead in half while their goaltender was pulled.

MSU Forward Christian Fitzgerald completed the comeback with their second extra-attacker goal with less than a minute left in regulation.

Now, with all of the momentum having swung towards the Mavericks, NMU could only watch as Minnesota State went on the attack in overtime and Zach Krajnik ended the Wildcats season after just 68 seconds.