The Spartans entered the weekend in first place. But with a 5-3 loss at Munn Ice Arena on Friday night, they found themselves back in third place behind Minnesota and U-M.

“We got a little bit tense with it being senior night and such a big game,” junior captain  said. “We didn’t have class all week. I think we had nothing else to do but hockey.”

Entering Saturday’s game at Yost Ice Arena, MSU knew all it had to do to clinch a bye was win.

With timely goals from their captain and junior forward Matt DeBlouw, the Spartans won 2-1 ­­­­— their first victory at Yost since 2009.

“We knew our seniors hadn’t won a game (at Yost), and we wanted to make their last regular season game something special,” junior goaltender Jake Hildebrand said.

After allowing four goals on 43 shots on Friday, Hildebrand rebounded with a 37 save performance. U-M had quality chances from all over the ice throughout the night, but Hildebrand made one remarkable save after another.

“Our goaltender was phenomenal, but we’ve grown to expect that,” Anastos said. “He had his best game of the season on maybe the biggest night of the season for us, so that’s good.”

Hildebrand was named Big Ten goalie and player of the year on Monday, and his teammates couldn’t agree more.

“What can you say about Hildy (Hildebrand)? He’s unbelievable,” senior forward Brent Darnell said. “I think he’s the most important player on any college hockey team.”

DeBlouw scored the game-winning goal for MSU just 29 seconds into the third period. It gave the Spartans a boost of confidence and a jolt of enthusiasm.

“It was pretty ecstatic. I think everyone was jumping up and down,” Ferrantino said of the bench after DeBlouw’s goal. “Obviously, there was a lot of time left ... so we just tried to stick to our program.”

That 18:31 of remaining time slowly ticked by and MSU hung on to its one-goal lead. The Wolverines had their fair share of chances, especially in the last two minutes when they pulled their goaltender.

“I’ve never looked at the clock so much in my life,” Ferrantino said. “I was checking it quite a bit, but credit to our guys. There was no panic. There was no frantic hockey. We kind of held it together, stayed composed and I think that’s what I’m most proud of.”

Hildebrand had trouble recalling those closing moments, but he sure remembers his team laying their bodies on the line for him.

“(It was) kind of one big blur,” Hildebrand said. “Everybody was doing their job and pulling the rope and we got the result we were looking for. It was just a special night for everybody.”

Everybody except the Wolverines, that is.

MSU will get to wait until Friday, where it will play the winner of Wisconsin and U-M in the semifinals of the Big Ten tournament. The game will be played at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.