Special teams cost ‘Cats vs. Mavs
Courtesy of NMU Athletics
MARQUETTE, Mich. – 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 out-shot 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.