Saturday, October 25
Marquette, Mich.
6 PM
Michigan State University
6
at
2
Northern Michigan
Photo by: Michael Caples
#1/1 Hockey Earns Road Sweep at Northern Michigan
10/26/2025 12:19:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
MARQUETTE, Mich. – Top-ranked Michigan State hockey completed the series sweep over Northern Michigan on Saturday night, taking down the Wildcats 6-2, from the Berry Events Center.
"I thought the first period might've been one of the best periods we've played this year, thought we got to our game right off the bat," said Michigan State head coach Adam Nightingale.
MSU improves to 5-1-0 heading into a bye week, while Northern Michigan falls to 0-8-0. The Spartans return to action on Friday, November 7 when they open Big Ten play against Penn State inside Ron Mason Rink at Munn Ice Arena.
Junior Tommi Mannisto and senior Tiernan Shoudy each had career-best performances on Saturday with both tallying four points on two goals and two assists apiece. Freshman Porter Martone (1 goal, 1 assist) and junior Patrick Geary (2 assists) also registered multi-point performances. Martone has posted two points in four of his six games this season.
Also scoring for the Spartans was senior Daniel Russell who earned his first goal of the year and the 12th game-winning goal of his career when he broke a 2-2 tie in the third period. Russell is the NCAA active leader in career game-winning goals.
Senior Travis Shoudy, junior Maxim Strbak, senior Charlie Stramel and freshman Austin Baker also had assists. Baker's was his first career point, earning a secondary assist on Tiernan Shoudy's first goal of the night.
Making his collegiate debut in goal, freshman Melvin Strahl made 22 saves to earn his first victory.
"I thought Melvin was great, he made a big save about 30 seconds in and made that look easy," said Nightingale. "We did a good job of limiting their opportunities and he looked really confident in there."
The Spartans out-shot Northern Michigan 45-24 overall, including decisive margins in the first (21-5) and third (15-7) periods. MSU's penalty kill went 7-for-8, stopping 10 shots and scoring a short-handed goal.
How It Happened
Freshman Ryker Lee thought he'd opened the scoring up for Michigan State at the 2:29 mark of the first period, but a successful NMU challenge caught the Spartans offsides. MSU was quick to respond to the negated goal however as Mannisto put one in the back of the net at the 2:54 mark from the slot. Mannisto continued his strong play on the weekend scoring his second of the period at 11:14 after putting a puck on goal following a Tiernan Shoudy face-off win.
Northern Michigan tied the game at 2-2 in the second period, scoring on a power play at the 1:35 mark and again at 7:38. Freshman Anthony Romani looked to have given the Spartans a 3-1 lead early in the second after he beat the NMU goaltender, but his goal was called back after another successful Northern Michigan offsides challenge.
Michigan State killed back-to-back minor penalties early in the third before Russell broke the tie at the 6:36 mark with his first goal of the season. Stramel found Russell from behind the net, who was waiting in front of the crease to score. MSU quickly extended its advantage to 5-2 over the Wildcats just past the mid-way point of the period. Martone scored on a redirect and just 15 second later Tiernan Shoudy went around NMU's goalie for his first goal of the year. Shoudy scored his second of the game short-handed with less than two minutes to play in regulation on an empty net.
"I thought the first period might've been one of the best periods we've played this year, thought we got to our game right off the bat," said Michigan State head coach Adam Nightingale.
MSU improves to 5-1-0 heading into a bye week, while Northern Michigan falls to 0-8-0. The Spartans return to action on Friday, November 7 when they open Big Ten play against Penn State inside Ron Mason Rink at Munn Ice Arena.
Junior Tommi Mannisto and senior Tiernan Shoudy each had career-best performances on Saturday with both tallying four points on two goals and two assists apiece. Freshman Porter Martone (1 goal, 1 assist) and junior Patrick Geary (2 assists) also registered multi-point performances. Martone has posted two points in four of his six games this season.
Also scoring for the Spartans was senior Daniel Russell who earned his first goal of the year and the 12th game-winning goal of his career when he broke a 2-2 tie in the third period. Russell is the NCAA active leader in career game-winning goals.
Senior Travis Shoudy, junior Maxim Strbak, senior Charlie Stramel and freshman Austin Baker also had assists. Baker's was his first career point, earning a secondary assist on Tiernan Shoudy's first goal of the night.
Making his collegiate debut in goal, freshman Melvin Strahl made 22 saves to earn his first victory.
"I thought Melvin was great, he made a big save about 30 seconds in and made that look easy," said Nightingale. "We did a good job of limiting their opportunities and he looked really confident in there."
The Spartans out-shot Northern Michigan 45-24 overall, including decisive margins in the first (21-5) and third (15-7) periods. MSU's penalty kill went 7-for-8, stopping 10 shots and scoring a short-handed goal.
How It Happened
Freshman Ryker Lee thought he'd opened the scoring up for Michigan State at the 2:29 mark of the first period, but a successful NMU challenge caught the Spartans offsides. MSU was quick to respond to the negated goal however as Mannisto put one in the back of the net at the 2:54 mark from the slot. Mannisto continued his strong play on the weekend scoring his second of the period at 11:14 after putting a puck on goal following a Tiernan Shoudy face-off win.
Northern Michigan tied the game at 2-2 in the second period, scoring on a power play at the 1:35 mark and again at 7:38. Freshman Anthony Romani looked to have given the Spartans a 3-1 lead early in the second after he beat the NMU goaltender, but his goal was called back after another successful Northern Michigan offsides challenge.
Michigan State killed back-to-back minor penalties early in the third before Russell broke the tie at the 6:36 mark with his first goal of the season. Stramel found Russell from behind the net, who was waiting in front of the crease to score. MSU quickly extended its advantage to 5-2 over the Wildcats just past the mid-way point of the period. Martone scored on a redirect and just 15 second later Tiernan Shoudy went around NMU's goalie for his first goal of the year. Shoudy scored his second of the game short-handed with less than two minutes to play in regulation on an empty net.
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's Ice Hockey
D
/ Men's Ice Hockey
F
/ Men's Ice Hockey
F
/ Men's Ice Hockey
F
/ Men's Ice Hockey
F
/ Men's Ice Hockey
D
/ Men's Ice Hockey
G
/ Men's Ice Hockey
F
/ Men's Ice HockeyAdam Nightingale Postgame Comments | NMU
Saturday, October 25
Adam Nightingale Postgame Comments | NMU
Friday, October 24
Adam Nightingale Postgame Comments | Boston University
Sunday, October 19
Adam Nightingale Postgame Comments | Boston University
Saturday, October 18