Due in no small part to the departure of former head coach Mike Hastings to Wisconsin, Minnesota State saw a mass exodus of players in the offseason.

The Mavericks ended up losing the top nine scorers from the previous season, leaving Luke Strand a herculean task ahead of him.

To make matters worse, last year's starting goaltender, Keenan Rancier, had to have offseason surgery on his hip and would be unavailable for the star of the season.

On the final weekend of the regular season, MSU still had a chance to finish atop the standings but they were shutout in consecutive games by Bemidji State and fell to 4th.

Adam Eisele gave the Mavs their third lead of the game at the 6-minute mark of the third period and brought upon a furious attack from the Huskies to tie the score.

Tracy was unable to stop a penalty shot from tying the game with under 5 minutes to play but neither team was able to get the equalizer and the match seemed destined for overtime.

In the waning seconds of the game, Minnesota State won a defensive faceoff but Steven Bellini was unable to clear the puck.