Minnesota State Mankato's Frozen Four championship postmortem: 'Couldn't stop the bleeding.'

BOSTON – From Blue Bricks to Johnny B's, from the Tav on the Ave to the Circle Inn, fans in the Mankato area were ready Saturday night to party like there's no tomorrow.

Same thing in TD Garden and along Causeway Street, too, because the Minnesota State Mavericks were about to become national champions.

A dominant two periods of hockey at the NCAA men's Frozen Four had produced a 1-0 lead for Minnesota State, which had held Denver, the team with the highest national goals per game at 4.27, to eight shots on goal through 40 minutes. With Hobey Baker Award winner Dryden McKay in goal, surely the Mavericks would hold on for their first national championship as a Division I program. What could go wrong?

Well, this being Minnesota sports, everything.

Shortly after Benton Maass and Andy Carroll had back-to-back shots that nearly produced a two-goal lead in the third period, Denver defenseman Mike Benning fired a shot on McKay. The netminder couldn't control the rebound, and forward Ryan Barrow quickly beat McKay to tie it 1-1 at 4:46 of the third.

Only 40 seconds later, Mavericks forward Sam Morton — whose first-period power-play goal gave MSU a 1-0 lead — drew a tripping penalty. Though the Mavericks killed the penalty, Denver still had possession of the puck, and Benning wired a laser over McKay's right shoulder for a 2-1 lead at 7:33.

Quick as a hiccup, the script flipped, and Denver was on its way to a 5-1 victory.

"Couldn't stop the bleeding,'' Mavericks coach Mike Hastings said. "They score a power-play goal to get it to 2, and we start chasing the game a bit.''

Denver delivered the dagger at 13:34, when Massimo Rizzo, on a two-on-one rush with Carter Mazur, scored to make it 3-1. Empty-net goals by Brett Stapley and Cameron Wright in the final 2:32 closed the scoring and an outstanding season for Minnesota State at 38-7 instead of 39-6.

"It would have been nice to make a few more saves for the guys,'' McKay said, a perfect example of Hastings' mantra that the Mavericks point thumbs, not fingers.

Hastings indicated that McKay was being too hard on himself and lamented the fact that the Mavericks couldn't get that second goal to provide some separation, crediting Pioneers goalie Magnus Chrona.

"He kept it at one, and that's a big piece in this game, for us not to get to two,'' Hastings said.

Lucas Sowder might have come the closest to getting that second goal for the Mavericks at 15:33 of the second, but his shot hit the shaft of Chrona's stick instead of the twine behind it.

So close to their first "natty'' as a Division I program, the Mavericks instead suffered another NCAA tournament heartbreak — one that certainly hurts more than RIT in South Bend in 2015, UMD in Sioux Falls in 2018, Providence in Providence in 2019 and St. Cloud State in Pittsburgh last year.

The Mavericks someday will look back at their accomplishments this season with pride — a second Frozen Four trip and first title game appearance, an Olympian in Nathan Smith, and their first Hobey Baker winner in McKay.

"I feel for the whole group,'' Hastings said. "We had a tremendous season and we lost to a good hockey team tonight. … There will be time to look at this down the road. Right now, it's a pretty open wound.''