Michigan State sweeps Northern Michigan

The Michigan State Spartans ventured to Northern Michigan last weekend and came away with a road sweep.

Friday night, Michigan State withstood a wild final minute of play and emerged with a 3-2 victory. Chris Mueller (pictured) had a pair of goals - the second time he's accomplished that feat in three games - and goaltender Jeff Lerg stopped 21 shots for the win in goal.

Mueller's second goal was a penalty shot.

Justin Abdelkader scored MSU's other goal.

"I thought we fought hard tonight," MSU head coach Rick Comley said. "They had a lot of jump early and I thought we handled it. It was a game where there was a lot of special teams play and we had to kill a lot of penalties. Overall, I think it was a good road win."

Matt Maunu and Pat Bateman tallied for NMU and Bill Zanoboni made 19 saves for the Wildcats.

"I thought it was a real good game," NMU head coach Walt Kyle said. "It was a very competitive game. Both goalies played well. Both teams played well."

Saturday night, Northern Michigan lost their fifth straight game as the Spartans found the back of the net twice in the final 20 minutes to take another 3-2 win.

"We are finding ways in my opinion to do the other thing," Kyle said. "Each night is kind of a different thing right now. Hopefully we get through it soon."

Nick Sucharski and Bryan Lerg came up with third-period tallies and Jeff Lerg made 27 saves to help Michigan State come from behind for the win. The sweep of Northern Michigan is the first CCHA sweep for the Spartans this season and secured Comley his 100th victory at Michigan State. The Spartans enter the holiday break with a 9-7-1 overall mark and 7-5-1 in CCHA.

Brandon Warner also scored for MSU and Tyler Howells added two assists.

Andrew Sarauer and Mike Santorelli tallied for the Wildcats and Zaniboni stopped 17 shots in defeat.

The Spartans will now have a 19-day hiatus for exams and the holidays and will return to action on Dec. 29 at the Great Lakes Invitational. Michigan State tangles with Harvard, and former MSU goalie Justin Tobe, in the semifinals of the tournament.

NMU (7-10-2, 4-7-1 CCHA) will play an exhibition game at the Berry Events Center against the U.S. Under-18 Team on Friday night.