Bobby Big Wheel continued his late-game heroics Saturday, helping the MSU hockey team salvage two points out of a disappointing weekend series with Niagara.
Big Wheel, better known as sophomore left wing Brock Radunske, buried his second game-winning goal of the season with 1:07 left in overtime on Saturday.
Radunske’s tally gave MSU a 5-4 win over Niagara, which helped ease the pain of the Purple Eagles’ surprising 2-1 win in the first game of the series Friday night at Munn Ice Arena.
Radunske also came up big for MSU by scoring with 2.7 seconds left in MSU’s 3-2 win over Lake Superior State on Oct. 25.
“I just wanted to put the shot on net because one shot can win it in overtime,” said Radunske, who got his nickname after the Lake Superior winner. “We expected to come out with a sweep this weekend, but I think they were a little better than we thought they would be.
“They were tough to play against because they took a lot of chances, so we’re just happy to come out with the win.”
Still, the 13th-ranked Spartans (5-3-0 overall, 3-1-0 CCHA) will probably fall out of the national rankings this week after splitting a series with heavy underdog Niagara (4-8-0). Even in Saturday’s win, MSU showed signs of weakness by squandering a 4-2 lead with less than four minutes left in the third period.
In Friday’s loss, MSU freshman left wing David Booth scored 41 seconds into the game and the Spartans looked like the better team throughout the first period. But MSU had a nasty case of miss-the-net blues and couldn’t muster another tally for the rest of the game.
Meanwhile, the Spartan faithful watched in shock as the Purple Eagles tied the game late in the second period and then won it late in the third.
“It’s tough with teams like that, who you don’t know much about,” senior defenseman John-Michael Liles said. “They came out and were flying around with no rhyme or reason, and you have to give their coach credit for keeping them up and ready for 60 minutes both nights.
“But I think the win (Saturday) was big for us.”
MSU head coach Rick Comley was simply relieved after the series finale.
“I’m glad it’s over,” Comley said Saturday. “It was hard-fought, emotional, intense, wacky. It’s amazing what inability to score does to you - you get so reckless at times.
“It was just crazy out there. The game felt like it took about eight hours. Three of our wins this year have not been very easy, and it won’t get easy for awhile until we can get some consistency offensively.”
MSU’s power play, which had been clicking at 29 percent this season, went 1-for-14 against Niagara.
Sophomore center Jim Slater, who hyperextended his left elbow Friday and almost didn’t play Saturday, scored twice and had an assist in the win. Freshman right wing Nenad Gajic and sophomore center Ash Goldie also scored for MSU on Saturday.
“Our team doesn’t give up,” Slater said. “We knew we had ’em. Of course, we were a little frustrated that they scored under a minute (left in the game) - that’s the cardinal rule that nobody scores under a minute.
“We were wondering what was going on a little bit, but we fought hard in overtime and got a win.”
Sophomore goaltender Matt Migliaccio made 24 saves in Friday’s loss. Freshman netminder Justin Tobe stopped 23 shots in Saturday’s win.
Niagara’s star right wing, Joe Tallari, padded his nation-leading goal total to 13 with a tally each night.
MSU now embarks on a stretch of six straight road games, starting this weekend at Ohio State. The Spartans have only one more home game - Dec. 7 versus Ferris State - before New Year’s Day.
