Baby Steps

This has been a tough season for Maverick fans. People are starting to realize that it's a lot easier to predict your team to finish near last place in the league than to actually live through a season of a team finishing near last place.

A league championship and an NCAA tournament bid may be out of reach for the Mavericks, but that doesn't mean that the team can't still have goals. And the first one of those goals can be met, or at least helped this weekend.

Minnesota State and Minnesota-Duluth come into this weekend's series at the Midwest Wireless Center tied for last place in the WCHA. If one team is swept this weekend, it will likely mean a last-place finish in the WCHA. It may not seem like much, but not finishing in last place would be a huge step for this young Maverick squad. It would at least be something tangible to take away from this difficult season. It would mean that this team isn't as far away from a great season as they could be. It would mean avoiding Mariucci and an almost guaranteed end to the season in the first round of the playoffs.

Just because this season hasn't been what people hoped, doesn't mean the season has to be complete loss. There's still plenty of goals for this team to reach, starting with this weekend.