Ouelette makes 41 saves for Wildcats
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The NMU hockey team dropped a 2-0 decision against the number one Michigan State Spartans in the semifinals of the Great Lakes Invitational (GLI).
The ‘Cats thought they opened the scoring, but Aidyn Hutchinson’s goal was reviewed and disallowed. Michigan State followed that up with a goal of its own to be called back before scoring its only two goals about two minutes apart near the middle of the first period.
Ryan Ouellette made 41 saves (.953 sv%) in 55 minutes of play before exiting late in the third period, earning himself the second star of the night honors. Ethan Barwick entered in relief and stopped all five shots he faced.
Neither team were whistled for penalties, and the ‘Cats blocked 23 shots to the Spartans seven, led by Rasmus Larsson and Tynan Ewart with four each.
Michigan State sophomore netminder Luca Di Pasquo posted a 15-save shutout in his third start of the season, filling in for Trey Augustine who is representing the USA in the IIHF World Junior Championships, and earned the first star of the game.
Third-star Karsen Dorwart scored the game-winning goal, his first GWG and fourth goal of the season. Isaac Howard scored his team-leading 10th tally, and both Joey Larson and Austin Oravetz registered assists.
NMU is now set to face a familiar foe in the third-place game, meeting Michigan Tech after the Huskies lost 4-3 in overtime to Western Michigan. The ‘Cats play the Huskies at 3:30 p.m. to decide third place, and the Spartans will face the Broncos in the championship game at 7 p.m. to determine the champion of the 58th GLI.
How It Happened
Just four minutes into the game the Wildcats appeared to score first, as Hutchinson crashed the net and found the loose change around the crease to beat Di Pasquo. Head coach Adam Nightingale challenged the goal, and it was determined the puck was kicked into the net, and the game was back to square.
There was another mad scramble in the crease not a minute later, this time at the NMU end. Ouellette made the save, but the puck lay loose behind him. Everyone crashed the net, and the ‘Cats were able to cover up.
The Spartans thought they found the game’s opening goal just before the halfway mark of the first frame, but like Northern’s, it was called back due to kicking the puck into the net. A shot was fired from the right faceoff dot low to the far pad of Ouellette with DeAngelo crashing the net to the far post. The rebound came out and DeAngelo used his skate to kick the puck in, and the game remained scoreless.
The Spartans found the back of the net, legally this time, just two minutes later. Ouellette stopped a one-timer and a follow-up rebound from Larson in a dangerous area in the slot, but the third landed right to Dorwart on the side of the net. He elevated his shot to beat the outstretched Ouellette, and the game had its first legal goal.
The Wildcats responded with a shift that had good sustained offensive zone pressure, and the Spartans did what they could to just chip the puck off the glass and out. Howard fore-checked the neutral zone against three Wildcats, the puck took a Spartan bounce over the Wildcat defender’s stick, and the forward streaked in all alone against the netminder. The team leader in goals beat Ouellette over the glove hand to extend the MSU lead to two.
The second period started fast, first with a Wildcat breakaway. A mistimed MSU drop pass was intercepted by Hutchinson who walked in all alone. His wrist shot and follow-up rebound were saved, MSU collected the rebound, and the Spartans had a two-on-one going the other way. Ouellette made a strong push to the glove side to deny Stramel on the initial attempt followed by Howard’s rebound.
The Wildcats found another breakaway, this time it was Ewart springing Ciccarello down the right side. Di Pasquo was aggressively on top of his crease and made the left-shoulder save from the wrist shot.
As the ‘Cats were breaking out of the zone, Ewart blew a tire and Savage had a breakaway from the hashmarks in. The right-handed shooter made a move to his backhand, but Ouellette stayed with him to make the glove save.
The ‘Cats had an odd-man rush with Romer and Michaelis against an MSU defender. Romer slid the puck to Michaelis in-tight against the netminder, who made the positional save from close quarters.
Hutchinson made a great play to intercept a d-to-d pass across the blue line, and he walked in with another breakaway. The MSU defenders would catch up and tie him up, but he was able to get a backhand shot off to force the netminder to stay sharp.
