The WCHA Championship matchup proved to be the primer for the conference’s representation at the 2019 NCAA Tournament.

The No. 3 Minnesota State Mavericks mounted a comeback in tremendous fashion over the No. 15 Bowling Green Falcons, scoring two goals in the game’s final two minutes to force overtime.

Mavericks forward Josh French found co-captain Nick Rivera all alone in front of the net and Rivera beat a sprawling Ryan Bednard top shelf just over a minute and a half into the extra frame to clinch the Jeff Sauer Trophy.

Rivera sent his stick into the crowd in celebratory fashion; gloves sprawled and helmet flew as the squad of bleach-blond heads shared endless hugs and smiles before skating their new hardware in front of the home crowd one by one. Rivera’s goal stands as the current highlight to a season that steered the Mavericks toward their second-consecutive NCAA Tournament.

The Falcons were forced to watch in shock, as their season nearly ended in a matter of minutes. But nearly 24 hours later, their at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament was announced, ending their weeks spent as a bubble team and 29-year national appearance drought.

The pair of WCHA teams became the lone conference representatives of the 2018-19 season. But now comes the toughest part.

The bracket: game times, locations and TV networks.#NCAAHockeyhttps://t.co/3KvB27qbJI pic.twitter.com/Cg7cNjIsex

— NCAA Ice Hockey (@NCAAIceHockey) March 24, 2019

The puck drops on the 16-team, single elimination tournament Friday, March 29, in host city Buffalo.

The Mavericks earned the third overall spot, giving them the No. 1 seed in their four-team site, where they’ll face four-seeded Providence. Cornell and Northeastern will go head-to-head at the same regional site.

The Mavericks now have just one loss in their past 15 games as freshman Dryden McKay, a Mike Richter Award finalist, continues to turn away opponents. The Mavericks haven’t allowed more than two goals since mid-January.

Following Saturday’s victory, coach Mike Hastings was candid about the win, “This one was hard,” he said during the on-ice celebration. “They owned us for the majority of the game.”

But part of what makes the Mavericks so impressive is that even if they get outplayed, they can still squeeze out the win. After all, it was the depth that carried the NCAA contenders past the Falcons over the weekend and a long run in the national tournament will hinge on that same deep lineup.

But that doesn’t alleviate the pressure that will be on leading scorers Marc Michaelis or Parker Tuomie, who have combined for 33 goals and 80 points in 76 games this season.

Rest assured they’ll show up for a fight come Buffalo.

The four-seeded Falcons will face defending champion and regional top seed Minnesota Duluth in the opening round. Arizona State will face off against Quinnipiac as the other site members.

While the Falcons came up just short of the WCHA title, their stars have continued to roll out consistent production. The shocking defeat was just their second loss in 11 games as a questionable NCAA bid came to fruition.

Goaltender Ryan Bednard has been a rock in the paint and won’t let a repeat of Saturday’s shocking comeback happen again.

Leading scorer Max Johnson remains unstoppable in the offensive zone while defenseman Alec Rauhauser maintains his stalwart play on the other side of the ice.

“We think over the last four or five years, we’ve had a top 15, 20 team, and 16 teams make the tournament,” coach Chris Bergeron told Nicholas Piotrowicz of The Toledo Blade, Sunday. “I’ve been in this situation before as an assistant coach , and it really it is a huge reward for these kids.”

When the young Falcons look across center ice, they’ll see an equally young Bulldogs team, but one that claimed the national title a year prior and remains just as hungry.

Don’t miss the action this weekend as the 2019 NCAA Tournament gets underway.

Have a question or a comment for Jacob Messing? You can find him on Twitter @Jacob_Messing.