DETROIT, Mich. â€Ã‚“ For the second time in two years theNMU hockey team will play in the semifinals of the CCHA Super Six.  This year the opponent will be Ferris State,the regular season champion of the CCHA, on Friday afternoon (March 21) at 4:00p.m. at Joe Louis Arena.  On Thursdaynight the â€Ã‚˜Cats defeated the Michigan State Spartans in the CCHA Super Sixquarterfinals in a crazy game by a score of 7-5.  Nathan Oystrick found the right time to score his second goal ofthe season to give the â€Ã‚˜Cats the win. Ã¢Ã‚€ÃƒÃ‚‚œWe are happy with the win,â€Ã‚ Walt Kyle, the NMU head coach, said.  â€Ã‚œWe came down here to try to compete for achampionship.â€Ã‚ÃƒÃ‚ƒÃƒ‚‚  NMU is now 21-16-2 whileMSU falls to 23-14-2.

Bryce Cockburn and Mike Stutzel gave the â€Ã‚˜Cats the early 2-0lead with goals at 10:17 and 11:30 respectively of the first period.  Cockburnâ€Ã‚™s goal was on the power play asJimmy Jackson assisted on the goal. Cockburn then assisted on Stutzelâ€Ã‚™s goal.

The Spartans would then rattle off three un-answered goalsto take the lead at 3-2.  Brian Maloneytallied two of the three goals during the span as he turned the red light on at12:03 and 19:25 of the first period. Maloneyâ€Ã‚™s second goal was on the power play as Brock Radunske added apower-play goal at 2:53 of the second period to give the Spartans their firstlead of the game.

Terry Harrison tied the game, at three-all, with his 17^thgoal of the season at 8:20 of the second period.  Nathan Oystrick and Andrew Contois assisted on the goal. 

Now we enter the third period, where a total of six goalswere scored.  With the scored tied, theSpartans would grab the lead again at 4-3 when Kevin Estrada scored at 8:19 ofthe final period.  Chris Gobert tallieda power-play marker at 10:32 of the third period to even the score on thescoreboard at four-all.  Dirk Southerngave the â€Ã‚˜Cats the lead again, at 5-4, at 12:16 of the third period with his 10^thgoal of the season.  Cockburn andJackson assisted.  Maloney scored histhird goal of the game at 13:58 of the third period as the Spartans pulled evenwith the â€Ã‚˜Cats at five-all.  â€Ã‚œRickComley is at Michigan State right now and our job is to beat whoever is outthere,â€Ã‚ Kyle added. 

Oystrick scored his second goal of the season and firstgame-winner as it turned out to be a big goal to send the â€Ã‚˜Cats to thesemifinals on Friday.  Alan Swansonassisted on the goal that came at 16:11 of the third period.  Oystrickâ€Ã‚™s goal made the score 6-5.  â€Ã‚œThis one (goal) I will remember for my fouryears,â€Ã‚ Oystrick said.  â€Ã‚œIt gave us achance to play for a CCHA Championship.â€Ã‚ÃƒÃ‚ƒÃƒ‚‚ Gobert was given credit for the final goal as a MSU player did nothandle the puck properly and it went into the net. The final goal of the gamehappened at 19:40 of the third period to end a game that had five lead changes.

Both teams were 2-4 on the power play.  NMU is now 7-12 on the power play for the2003 CCHA Playoffs.  Craig Kowalski had41 saves on the night as he had 17 saves in both the second and third period.