Mike Stutzel lifted Northern Michigan to victory Friday night, scoring with 1:11 remaining to send the visiting Wildcats to a 3-2 victory over Lake Superior State at Taffy Abel Arena.
The Lakers took a 1-0 lead early in the contest when freshman Jon Booras stuffed a shot past NMU netminder Craig Kowalski. Senior captain Jeremy Bachusz added the lone assist on Booras’ third goal of the season, at the 5:23 mark of the first period.
Chris Gobert tied the game when he netted a pass from Jamie Milam at the 13:28 mark of the second.
The Lakers responded when Bo Cheesman scored just over three minutes later to put his team up 2-1. Mark Adamek and Colin Nicholson added the assists.
LSSU held on to the 2-1 lead until the 18:22 point of the third when Dave Bonk sent a pass to Alan Swanson, who tied the game.
The Wildcats called a late timeout and LSSU’s Ryan Reid was sent to the box for hooking with a 1:22 remaining to play. It took Stutzel and the Wildcats only 11 seconds to capitalize on the man-advantage for the 3-2 victory.
Stutzel was awarded the game’s first star, with Laker goaltender Matt Violin earning second star honors. Violin stopped 29 shots and recorded his first loss of the season. He is 1-4-0.
LSSU fell to 0-3 in CCHA play, while NMU improved to 2-3-0. Saturday the two teams head back to Marquette, where they will wrap up their first home-and-home series of the year.
