In a WCHA regular-season final weekend not soon to be equaled for its exquisite drama, the Minnesotans’ MacNaughton Cup showdown and Bowling Green’s desperation comeback in Dixie both took a back seat to the Upper Penisula rivalry game Saturday night between Northern Michigan and Michigan Tech up in Houghton. Their gripping contest was ultimately determined by a breathtaking gamble from Northern’s beleaguered goalie, a play that helped salvage home ice in the WCHA playoffs for his Wildcats.

Sophomore Nolan Kent had been torched for eight Michigan Tech goals Friday night, as coach Grant Potulny kept his goalie in for the entire ordeal in front of over 4,000 fans in Marquette.

Kent’s reward? Another 60 minutes between the pipes, this time 60 miles west in Houghton. 

“I’ve never let in eight goals in a game before,” Kent said. “I couldn’t do much worse.”

As Saturday’s game unfolded, Kent regained his form, something that has become a pattern this season for the mercurial young goalie.

“I definitely felt better as the game went along,” he said. “I started to feel the puck and I thought I was seeing it a little better, started to get in a bit of a groove.”

But with the game on the line in the 59th minute of a 2-2 game, it was not goaltending but a surge of reflexive energy that created a bizarre and scintillating sequence that changed the course of the Wildcats’ season.

A stride from the Michigan Tech goal line, Husky defenseman Eric Gotz flung the puck 150 feet out of danger, lofting the disc into uncontested ice in the Wildcats defensive zone. It created a scenario in which goalies have no training, and Kent’s athletic instincts took over.

“I saw they punted the puck, and it looked like the guy [Tech’s Logan Pietila] was going to get a breakaway,” said Kent. “On plays like that you got to either go or not go — you can’t be in between or else you’ll screw yourself up. So I made the decision to go.”

Kent and Pietila engaged in a sprint for the loose puck, directly towards each other like jousting knights. The puck and the two combatants arrived simultaneously near the top of the circle, resulting in on-ice chaos. 

Kent was horizontal, his goalie stick went flying; Pietila recovered his balance near the open goal mouth, and the puck’s momentum carried it between his legs for one tantalizing split second, a fact unknown to Pietila. 

“He knocked my paddle out of my hands,” Kent said. “I saw the puck between his legs; it was definitely nerve-wracking.”

A fraction of a second later, the danger passed as the puck continued its unpredictable journey to the corner. It found its way onto the stick of Wildcats’ senior Darien Craighead, who sailed down the length of the ice and blasted the game-winning goal past Tech’s Matt Jurusik. 

Look how far out of his net Kent went. And he ended up with an assist a few seconds later https://t.co/knlHBcyVFK

— Ryan Stieg (@RyanStieg) March 1, 2020

After four seconds of hockey madness, the Wildcats had the victory that clinched home ice in the WCHA playoffs. 

“It went a little funky, but it still worked out in the end,” Kent said in a massive understatement. The winning play was reminiscent of a baseline collision from Kent’s second favorite sport growing up, baseball. 

“I played all over the diamond,” Kent said about his teenage days playing hardball in Chestermere, Alberta. “I’ve been hit before; it’s nothing new to me.”

It was a happy bus ride home for the sophomore, who spent much of the 90-minute journey east reminiscing with teammates about a play that they’ve never seen drawn up on the whiteboard. 

“I’m sure they were holding their breath, happy that it worked out. I don’t think they want to see me charging out of the net all the time.”

In a series that resembles a Stanley Cup playoff matchup, the Cats and Dogs make their third commute across the U.P. in a week, resuming their skirmish in the WCHA quarterfinals back at the Berry Event Center. Kent hopes Northern fans will see a different goalie than the one who was shellacked for eight goals last Friday.

“I’m definitely excited,” Kent said. “I didn’t bring my game Friday at the Berry. Hopefully I can have a good weekend and give my team a chance to win both nights and move on.”

Showdown in Bemidji

For the first time since the 2013 re-figuration of the WCHA, the winner of the MacNaughton Cup was still up for grabs in the final weekend, as both Minnesota State and host Bemidji both had a chance to get their hands on college hockey’s grandest trophy. 

The series, although gripping, was a showcase for goaltending, defense, and coaching systems. The two teams split a pair of tight, low-scoring games, which gave the MacNaughton Cup to the visiting Mavericks for the second straight year.

“We were an eyelash away,” said Bemidji coach Tom Serratore, whose Beavers galloped stride-for-stride with the No. 2-ranked Mavericks since New Year’s, going 12-2-2 to essentially clinch an at-large NCAA bid. 

Minnesota State has been riding the strength of their supreme goaltending and the leadership from seven seniors all season long. Although most of the attention typically goes to two-year captain and leading scorer Marc Michaelis, it was unheralded Josh French who emerged as the top performer from the Mavs’ “Magnificent Seven.”

“From the drop of the puck to the end of the game, as consistent a forward as we had,” said MSU coach Mike Hastings about French following Friday’s 3-1 loss, a game in which French scored the Mavericks only goal and won eight of 15 faceoffs. During Saturday’s clincher, French tallied an empty-netter, his fifth goal of the season. Contributions from unsung heroes like French will be crucial if Minnesota State is to finally reach its postseason potential.

D-Monsters

All season long and now heading into the WCHA tournament, there has been a quiet scoring competition of the highest order between senior captain defensemen Phil Beaulieu of Northern Michigan and Alec Rauhauser of Bowling Green. Beaulieu preceded his rival to the career 100-point plateau, but Rauhauser nosed ahead of him this weekend on the strength of three assists. They are currently the NCAA’s all-time leading active scoring defensemen, Rauhauser with 28-93-121 and Beaulieu with 26-94-120. 

A defenseman that quarterbacks a power play is a vital asset in the postseason, and the Wildcats and Falcons both have blue-chip performers at the blue line.

Tim Rappleye is the author of Jack Parker's Wiseguys: The National Champion BU Terriers, the Blizzard of '78, and the Road to the Miracle on Ice. He can be reached on Twitter @TeeRaps.