It was, in the words of Northern Michigan head coach Walt Kyle, a wild one.<\/p>\n
The lead changed hands five times, but that fifth time proved to be the only one that mattered in the end, when No. 5 seed Northern Michigan edged No. 4 seed Michigan State 7-5 in the second Super Six quarterfinal game to advance to a Friday semifinal against top seed Ferris State. <\/p>\n
Nathan Oystrick’s second goal of the season at 16:11 put the Wildcats ahead for good, and Chris Gobert was credited with the empty-net insurance goal at 19:40.<\/p>\n
“We’re happy with the win,” said Kyle, NMU’s first-year head coach. “We came down here trying to compete for a championship. We certainly had to get by this game, and we know we have a difficult task with the three other teams that are remaining.”<\/p>\n
Spartan Brian Maloney registered a hat trick in the back-and-forth, emotionally charged contest. MSU outshot NMU 46-29, including 19-9 in the third period.<\/p>\n
“It was a tough loss, obviously,” said MSU head coach Rick Comley. “We had plenty of chances to win; I thought we had the game won a couple of times. We gave up goals to let them back in the game.”<\/p>\n
Northern jumped out to an early two-goal lead with Bryce Cockburn’s power-play tally at 10:17 in the first and Mike Stutzel’s even-strength goal at 11:30, but Maloney netted two in the first — at 12:03 and 19:25, the second on a power play — to knot it up at two each heading into the second.<\/p>\n
Brock Radunske gave the Spartans their first lead of the game at 2:53 in the second, another power-play goal, but Terry Harrison answered for NMU at 8:20, and the game was tied — yet again — at the start of the third.<\/p>\n
Kevin Estrada gave MSU a 4-3 lead at 8:19 in the third, but Kevin Gardner tied it — again — at 10:32.<\/p>\n
Dirk Southern’s 10th goal of the season pushed the Wildcats ahead by one — again — less than two minutes later, but Maloney’s hat trick goal at 13:58 made it 5-5.<\/p>\n
It was Oystrick’s shot from the blue line beyond the top of the right circle, fed by Alan Swanson from the right corner, that put NMU ahead for good.<\/p>\n
Gobert was credited with the empty-netter that really went in off of a Spartan defender. <\/p>\n
“I feel bad for Migs [MSU goaltender Matt Migliaccio] because I think it was one of those nights where a goaltender feels terrible, and pucks found a way into the net,” said Comley. “I think Craig [Kowalski] played very well. He gave up some goals he shouldn’t have, also, but he battled hard.”<\/p>\n
“Both teams showed a lot of resiliency,” said Kyle. “We were up, we were even, we were down. I give the guys a lot of credit.”<\/p>\n
Migliaccio made 22 saves in the loss to Kowalski’s 41 in the win. Each team went two-for-four on the power play; each team had seven penalties for 14 minutes each — but there were more than a few scrums that went unpenalized.<\/p>\n
For the Spartans (23-13-2), the loss ends an incredible run for the playoffs; Michigan State was in 10th place in the CCHA standings in January, and having gone 13-4-1 in their final 18 regular-season contests to climb to fourth in the final league standings.<\/p>\n
Northern Michigan (20-16-2) will meet Ferris State in the 4:05 p.m. semifinal in Joe Louis Arena Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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