Northern Michigan jumped out to a 2-0 lead after one period of play and never trailed in a 4-1 win over visiting Western Michigan at the Berry Events Center Sunday.<\/p>\n
With the victory, the Wildcats reached the CCHA Super Six championship at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, taking a two-games-to-one first-round series win over WMU.<\/p>\n
“I thought it was a great series. You have to give Western a lot of credit,” NMU head coach Walt Kyle said. “We have the best fans in college hockey.”<\/p>\n
Northern Michigan, which will play Alaska-Fairbanks in the CCHA quarterfinals Thursday at 4:30 p.m., got on the board first when Kevin Gardner scored an unassisted, shorthanded goal at 14:09 of the first period.<\/p>\n
“It sort of had to be done,” Gardner said. “My year so far has been underachievement. I knew playoff time, guys have to step up. I was able to contribute this weekend.”<\/p>\n
NMU extended its lead when sophomore forward Darin Olver set up freshman Tim Hartung for his fourth of the year. Sophomore forward Pat Bateman nearly scored a goal of his own that was nearly a second shorthander, coming seconds after a Bronco power play to give the Wildcats a 3-0 lead. Olver picked up his second assist of the game on the play. <\/p>\n
Freshman forward Jeff Pierce pulled Western Michigan back into the game with a power-play goal, late in the second period.<\/p>\n
But Gardner, a senior forward, capped the scoring with his second unassisted goal of the game at 17:21 of the third period.<\/p>\n
WMU had the shot advantage on the night with 30 shots on goal, while NMU had 21 shots for the game. NMU was 0-6 on the power play while the Broncos were 1-5 with the extra man.<\/p>\n
Tuomas Tarkki had 29 saves on the night for the victorious Wildcats, while Daniel Bellissimo stopped 17 shots for Western Michigan.<\/p>\n
“We just decided that we are not going to lose this game tonight,” Tarkki said. “We just have to go there [the Joe] and do our job.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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