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Northern Can't Complete Sweep Of Minnesota State
MARQUETTE---The Northern Michigan hockey team lost 5-1 to Minnesota State to wrap up the two squads Western Collegiate Hockey Association series Saturday at the Berry Events Center.
The loss drops NMU to 11-13-2 on the season with a 9-8-1 league record. MSU improved to 15-13-0 and 13-7-0 in the WCHA.
"Well I think when you get beat like that you have to give the other team a lot of credit," said NMU head coach Walt Kyle. "They are a good team and they certainly came out with a much different purpose than they had last night. I thought we were pretty good in the first period but after that we weren't very good at all."
Johnny McInnis scored the first and second goals of the game for the Mavericks. He scored a power play goal at the 18:15 mark of the first, which was assisted by Zach Lehrke and Matt Leitner. McInnis' second goal came at the 7:08 mark of the second on assists from JP Lafontaine and Leitner.
Leitner then scored for the Mavericks on the power play at 15:32 of the second. Lafontaine and Zach Palmquist assisted on the play.Senior forward Erik Higby scored the only goal of the game for NMU on a penalty shot at the 18:23 mark of the second.
Bryce Gervais and Chase Grant added short-handed goals for the Mavericks at the 3:30 and 13:15 marks of the third, respectively.
Minnesota State outshot NMU 30-17 and went 2-7 on the power play while the Wildcats went 0-7 on the power play.
Freshman goalie Mathias Dahlstrom made 25 saves in goal for the Wildcats as he fell to 10-11-2 with the loss. Cole Huggins made 16 saves for MSU improving to 11-7-0 on the season. Northern Michigan travels to Ferris State for a two-game series next weekend. Puck drop Friday (Feb. 7) is set for 7:07 p.m.
FRIDAY NIGHT'S SUMMARY
MARQUETTE---Junior forward Ryan Kesti scored two goals to lead the Northern Michigan University hockey team to a 5-2 Western Collegiate Hockey Association win over Minnesota State Friday at the Berry Events Center.
The win pushes the Wildcats to 11-12-2 overall with a 9-7-1 WCHA record. The Mavericks fall to 14-13-0 overall with a 12-7-0 league mark.
"I thought it was a really good effort. We had gone down there earlier this year and not played very well and they handed it to us pretty good," said NMU head coach Walt Kyle. "We knew they were a really good team and we knew we were going to need a big effort. I was really pleased with the guys we had in the lineup and how hard they played. We asked them to play hard and they did."
After a scoreless first period, Johnny Mcinnis scored the first goal of the game for Minnesota State. On the power play, he connected on a feed from Zach Stepan and Matt Leitner at the 17:22 mark of the second period.
NMU then rattled off three goals to take a 3-1 lead. Senior forward Stephan Vigier tied the game on a power play goal at 19:44 in the second period. Junior defender Mitch Jones and junior forward Reed Seckel assisted on the play.
Kesti scored his first of goal at the 4:26 mark of the third period when he finished a pass from senior defenseman Wade Epp and sophomore defenseman Barrett Kaib.
Freshman forward John Siemer then stole a Mavericks pass and scored an unassisted goal at the 5:50 mark of the third. MSU scored to cut the NMU lead to 3-2 when Chase Grant scored on a feed from Teddy Blueger and Sean Flanagan at the 7:59 mark of the third.
Freshman forward Dominik Shine scored on a pass from Seckel and freshman forward Shane Sooth at the 14:53 mark of the third to pad the NMU lead 4-2.
Kesti wrapped up the game for NMU scoring an empty net goal with 20-seconds left on the clock.
NMU outshot the Mavericks 31-26 and went 1-2 on the power play. Minnesota State was 1-5 on the power play.
Freshman goalie Mathias Dahlstrom made 24 saves in the net for the Wildcats including 11 in the third period to pick up his 10th win of the season (10-10-2). Cole Huggins took the loss for Minnesota State falling to 10-7-0.
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