By Susannah Nichols/ Northern Michigan Beat WriterNorthern Michigan capped off a respectable regular-season with a sweep of their UP-rivals Lake Superior State. Mark Olver was the offensive juggernaut for the Wildcats as his five series points propelled the 'Cats to a 2-1 overtime win on Friday and a 3-0 shutout on Saturday.
Olver lit the lamp first in Friday's game, putting the 'Cats up 1-0 in the first period. Andrew Cherniwchan and Justin Florek picked up assists on the play. Brian Stewart appeared to be cruising toward a shutout when Simon Gysbers scored an unassisted goal for the Lakers to send the game into overtime.
Olver scored the game-winning goal at 3:55 of overtime with a little help from Florek and Jared Brown.
Stewart finished with 27 saves, while Lakers netminder Brian Mahoney-Wilson recorded 18 saves.
Olver continued to dominate in Saturday's game. Along with Cherniwchan, he set up Florek for the Wildcats' first goal of the game early in the second period.
About five minutes later, Zac McVoy was sent to the box for holding, and the Wildcats took advantage. Tyler Gron made the most of missed shots by Cherniwchan and Olver to put NMU ahead by two.
With nearly five minutes left in the game, Mahoney-Wilson headed to the bench, but Gron's empty-netter sealed the win at 16:42. Olver and Erik Gustafsson were credited with assists.
Stewart turned away 33 shots for the shutout--the 10th of his college career. Mahoney-Wilson had 30 saves.
With the sweep, Northern (17-11-8, 13-9-6-3) finishes fourth in CCHA standings and earns a bye in the first round of the playoffs. They will face the winner of the Ohio State-Notre Dame matchup. Lake State (15-16-5,10-15-3-2) finishes tenth in the conference and will face Michigan next weekend.
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