#1 Michigan, #17 Norhtern Michigan battle to a 3-3 tie
(Courtesy of N.M.U. Athletics)
MARQUETTE, Mich. – The No. 17 Northern Michigan hockey team remained
unbeaten at home with a 3-3 tie with the No. 1 ranked University of
Michigan. The two teams battled to stalemate in front of a sellout crowd of
4,260 at the Berry Events Center.
NMU was down 2-0 in the second period and down a goal entering the third.
Freshman defenseman Mitch Jones scored his second career goal to tie the
game early in the third (0:59). Jones shot from a bad angle on the left side
near the goal line but was able to find the open net for his second goal of
the series.
NMU then had to kill off a five-minute penalty at the end of regulation and
most of overtime to send earn the tie and send it to a shootout.
The Wolverines picked up the extra conference point with a shootout win.
A.J. Treais was the only player to sneak a puck past a goaltender in the
shootout in the three rounds.
NMU is now 4-1-1 overall and 1-0-1 in the Central Collegiate Hockey
Association.
Michigan (4-1-1, 0-1-0-1 CCHA) came out and dominated play in the first
period after Friday (Oct. 21) night’s 5-3 loss to NMU. The Wolverines had 12
shots on goal in the first and scored two goals on NMU sophomore goaltender
Jared Coreau. Treais scored 7:43 into the period with assists going to Chris
Brown and Greg Pateryn. Lindsay Sparks put Michigan up 2-0 with a power-play
goal at 10:51 after NMU junior forward Matt Thurber took a minor penalty for
elbowing.
Senior forward Tyler Gron scored his third and fourth goals of the season
with two power-play goals to tie the game. Gron picked up a rebound after
shots by senior forward Justin Florek and freshman forward Dylan Walchuk and
found the open net at the 10:27 mark. Gron again scored on a rebound at
15:51 with assists going to Florek and junior defenseman Scott Macaulay.
Michigan took a 3-2 lead with less than a minute to go (19:01) in the second
period when Kevin Lynch put one past Coreau. Sparks and Brennan Serville got
the assists.
Walchuk and Gron assisted on the Jones equalizer early in the third period.
Coreau made 25 saves for the ‘Cats in net and is now 1-1-1 on the season.
Michigan goaltender Shawn Hunwick returned from a short Friday night game to
make 23 saves. Hunwick is now 4-0-1 on the season.
NMU took seven penalties for 25 minutes. Michigan had four penalties for
eight minutes. The ‘Cats were 2-for-3 on the power-play while the Wolverines
were 1-for-5.
The ‘Cats hit the road next weekend to take on Western Michigan. The puck
will drop at 7:35 p.m. in Kalamazoo.
Game Notes: NMU won 5-3 in the series-opener on Friday (Oct. 21)
night…The last sellout at the Berry Events Center was Oct. 20, 2007 when
Michigan defeated NMU 4-3.The last time NMU didn’t have a loss to Michigan
in series at home was during the 2002-03 season.Justin Florek has a point in
5-of-6 games this season.