Detroit - The No. 2 seed Spartans now know their next CCHA Tournament foe - No. 3 seed Northern Michigan.
Behind a hat trick by center Chris Gobert, Northern overcame a 1-0 deficit to notch a 3-1 win against No. 6 seed Notre Dame in Friday’s first quarterfinal matchup at a mostly empty Joe Louis Arena.
Northern (26-11-2) secured Friday’s win over Notre Dame with Gobert’s second goal at 7:30 of the third period. The Wildcats’ win assured they will be MSU’s semifinal opponent at 5:35 p.m. Saturday. As one of the top two seeds to reach the Super Six round of the tournament, MSU (26-7-5) received a quarterfinal bye and plays the highest-seeded quarterfinal survivor.
“We were expecting to play them, considering they were the highest seed,” said MSU senior defenseman Jon Insana as he watched No. 5 seed Ohio State play No. 4 seed Alaska-Fairbanks in the second quarterfinal. “That’s been our mind set, that we were going to play Northern. The coaches have been watching them all week and I think we feel real comfortable.”
MSU swept Northern in Marquette on Dec. 7-8 - the teams’ only meetings of the season. The Spartans won 4-2 the first night and 3-0 the second, behind two solid efforts by junior goaltender Ryan Miller.
Miller and Gobert played together while with the Soo Indians of the North American Hockey League and Gobert said getting traffic in front of the Spartan goalie is the key to beating MSU.
“We were neighbors when we played in the Soo and we grew pretty close,” Gobert said. “To this point, he’s shut me out (in college). I’m still looking for my first one and hopefully it will come tomorrow.”
Northern, which may need to win Saturday to get into the NCAA Tournament, is led offensively by forwards Bryce Cockburn (20 goals), Gobert (19 goals), and Chad Theuer and Mike Stutzel, who have 16 goals apiece.
“We score as well as most teams - we’ve got four players with the ability to score,” said Northern head coach Rick Comley, who is rumored to be the front-runner to replace MSU head coach Ron Mason after this season, when the Spartan coach takes over as MSU’s athletics director.
“Michigan State generally isn’t a very high-octane offensive team, they’re a very solid defensive team. I like to match positions and see what happens. I think (Northern goaltender) Craig (Kowalski) will match Ryan very well.”
In Friday’s quarterfinal, Notre Dame right wing David Inman scored late in the first period, but Gobert tied the game 1-1 late in the second. After scoring the go-ahead tally early in the third, he completed his hat trick with an empty net goal with 15.1 seconds remaining.
Kowalski stopped 23 shots for the Wildcats, while Irish netminder Morgan Cey turned away 17.
