The tides have officially changed this season on the Michigan-Michigan State rivalry after the Spartans survived a late push by the Wolverines earning a 3-2 victory to clinch the first 20-win season for Michigan State since 2007-08.
The win also guarantees the the Spartans will have a home-ice berth in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten playoffs.
Michigan State never trailed, jumping to leads of 1-0 and 3-1. Tanner Kelly opened the scoring at 12:05 of the first.
After Michigan found the equalizer on Dylan Duke’s goal on the power play at 3:42 of the second, Tiernan Shoudy had an answer at 7:28 of the frame. The Spartans doubled the advantage at 14:19 on Karsen Dorwart’s goal.
The fourth line magic continues – Shoudy puts back the rebound off a Nienhuis shot, and Männistö picks up his second assist of the night. pic.twitter.com/sOw2ZF27Xs
— Michigan State Hockey (@MSU_Hockey) February 11, 2024
Gavin Bradley closed the gap to a single goal with 9:09 left, but Michigan State survived the ending and goaltender Trey Augustine earned the victory making 36 saves.
Michigan State holds a 5-point lead in the standings over Wisconsin, but the Badgers still have two games in hand meaning they could overtake the Spartans if they were to win those games in hand.
SCOREBOARD | PAIRWISE RANKINGS | STANDINGS
No. 10 Providence 4, No. 7 Maine 3 (F/OT)
Guillaume Richard scored a power play goal 23 seconds into overtime as Providence rallied from deficits of 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 to earn two Hockey East points at Maine.
The OT GWG on his birthday, have a night G! pic.twitter.com/3nACnsuq6O
— PC Men's Hockey (@FriarsHockey) February 11, 2024
The Black Bears still earned four of six point on the weekend after a regulation victory on Friday.
The Friars never held the lead in the game, but ended up victorious on the OT game winner after Liam Lesakowski was assessed a holding minor at 18:51 of regulation.
Richard paced the Friars offense with a goal and assist while Maine’s Bradly Nadeau finished the game with three assists.
Stonehill 4, Lindenwood 2
Stonehil, in its inaugural Division I season, earned its first-ever win scoring three times in the third period to beat Lindenwood, 4-2.
THEY DID IT! THE STONEHILL SKYHAWKS HAVE WON THEIR FIRST D1 COLLEGE HOCKEY GAME!!#cawlidgehawkey #HockeyIsAwesome pic.twitter.com/gDy2i0izyn
— Max Veech (@venividiveech) February 11, 2024
The win came a night after the Skyhawks were defeated, 10-1, by by the same Lindenwood team.
With the game tied at 1, Jake LaRusso scored twice for Stonehill in the third to give the Skyhawks a 3-1 lead. After David Gagnon pulled the Lions within a goal with 1:24 left in regulation, Anthony Galante sealed the deal with an empty-net goal with 38 seconds left.
No. 19 Omaha 3, No. 14 Western Michigan 2 (F/OT)
Omaha earned two much-needed road points in the NCHC, coming from a goal down in the third period and winning in overtime on Zach Urdahl’s goal at 2:31 of the extra frame.
6 is him😮💨#OmahaHKY | @ZUrdahl pic.twitter.com/JVHKqy6HNY
— Omaha Hockey (@OmahaHKY) February 11, 2024
Omaha never led in the game, falling behind 1-0 and 2-1 by the end of the first period. Nolan Sullivan’s power-play goal with 9:35 left tied the game and forced the extra session.
The overtime loss was the fifth of the year in NCHC play for Western Michigan, which still walked away with four-of-six points on the weekend and sits in third place in the NCHC.
Omaha remains in sixth place but has played two more games than the teams that surround it in the standings, Denver and Minnesota Duluth.
