Northern Michigan hit both ends of the emotional spectrum this weekend in their series against Western Michigan.
The weekend started with Northern Michigan coach Walt Kyle saying that freshman goalie Reid Ellingson had earned the started job, and the position was his to lose.
Ellingson's stay as the starter was short though. Eight minutes and fifty-five seconds to be exact. Ellingson gave up 3 goals in his first four shots before being replaced by Brian Stewart in goal. Northern fought back, but the early deficit was too much to overcome and NMU lost 4-2.
It looked like they would face a similar fate on Saturday, trailing 3-2 late in the third period. But freshman Mark Olver scored an extra attacker goal with less than a second left on the clock to tie the game and send it into overtime.
In overtime, sophomore Matt Butcher, a fifth round draft pick of the Vancouver Canucks, scored his first collegiate goal to give the Wildcats the win. Butcher hadn't put the puck in the net in his first 49 college games, but he picked a pretty good time to score his first goal.
The weekend started with Northern Michigan coach Walt Kyle saying that freshman goalie Reid Ellingson had earned the started job, and the position was his to lose.
Ellingson's stay as the starter was short though. Eight minutes and fifty-five seconds to be exact. Ellingson gave up 3 goals in his first four shots before being replaced by Brian Stewart in goal. Northern fought back, but the early deficit was too much to overcome and NMU lost 4-2.
It looked like they would face a similar fate on Saturday, trailing 3-2 late in the third period. But freshman Mark Olver scored an extra attacker goal with less than a second left on the clock to tie the game and send it into overtime.
In overtime, sophomore Matt Butcher, a fifth round draft pick of the Vancouver Canucks, scored his first collegiate goal to give the Wildcats the win. Butcher hadn't put the puck in the net in his first 49 college games, but he picked a pretty good time to score his first goal.