Hockey Sweeps Northern Michigan in 5-1 Victory

Sunday, October 11

East Lansing, Mich.

1 PM

Michigan State University

2-0-0

Northern Michigan

1-3-0

Team	1	2	3	F
Northern Michigan	0	1	0	1
Michigan St.	1	3	1	5

Quentin Sigurdson, action, hockey, 2026-27

Photo by: Michael Caples

10/11/2026 5:34:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

Box Score

EAST LANSING, Mich. – No. 3-ranked Michigan State hockey completed a weekend sweep of Northern Michigan on Sunday afternoon, taking down the Wildcats, 5-1, from Ron Mason Rink at Munn Ice Arena.

The Spartans improved to 2-0-0 on the season while Northern Michigan falls to 1-3-0. MSU returns to the ice next Saturday in Rochester, New York to face RIT at Blue Cross Arena.

"Good to start the year off with a sweep and a chance to play at home here on Homecoming Weekend," said Michigan State Head Coach Adam Nightingale. "I thought Northern, looking at Northern from a year ago when we went up there, they're much improved. I think it takes time and I know Coach Shyiak does a great job. I thought they were way better tonight than they were the night before, and for us, I thought we were okay in the game."

Michigan State out-shot Northern Michigan 33-30 overall and the teams were an even 32-32 on face-offs. MSU dominated on special teams going 2-for-3 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill. Sophomore forward Anthony Romani scored a short-handed goal for his third of the series.

Junior goaltender Quentin Sigurdson made his first start as a Spartan and secured his first victory with 29 saves on 30 shots faced (.967 Sv%).

Freshman forward Jack Hextall led all players with three points tallying his second goal of the weekend and two assists in Sunday's contest. Senior forward Jimmy Clark posted two points with his first Spartan goal and an assist. Also scoring for MSU were freshman forward Ethan Belchetz and sophomore forward Ryker Lee.

Sophomore forward Eric Nilson, freshman defenseman Chase Reid, freshman defenseman Brady Peddle, junior forward Cullen Potter, freshman defenseman Tommy Bleyl and senior forward Gavin O'Connell contributed assists.

Romani, Hextall and Lee each had four points weekends for Michigan State, followed by Nilson and Reid who finished the series with three assists apiece.

How It Happened

Peddle and Clark executed a textbook give-and-go midway through the first period to give the Spartans a 1-0 lead 9:33 in. Michigan State took just a 1-0 lead into the first intermission despite several other "Grade A" chances on goal throughout the period.

Jimmy Clark scores his first as a Spartan! We lead 1-0 in the first period! https://t.co/nw5tzpWU2u
— Michigan State Hockey (@MSU_Hockey) October 11, 2026

Northern Michigan tied the game early in the second scoring on a breakaway just 1:45 into the period.

A Spartan power play helped MSU regain the lead however with Belchetz scoring the first of his career on a rebound at the 9:49 mark. Lee made it 3-1 Spartans on a one-timer from the slot just minutes later after Hextall forced a turnover in the Northern Michigan defensive zone. Later in the period, Romani tallied his third goal of the weekend, this time a backhanded goal of the shorthanded variety, to give MSU a 4-1 advantage.

SHORTY ALERT! Anthony Romani scores shorthanded to put us up 4-1! https://t.co/uTzAs73zWs
— Michigan State Hockey (@MSU_Hockey) October 11, 2026

After a quiet start to the third period, a Michigan State power play with less than 10 minutes to play brought life back into Munn Ice Arena when Hextall converted on a one-timer from the left circle off a pass from Bleyl at the point.

Second of the weekend for Jack Hextall makes it 5-1! https://t.co/wyCgmhuVR2
— Michigan State Hockey (@MSU_Hockey) October 11, 2026

Up Next
Michigan State heads to Rochester, N.Y. to face RIT on Saturday, October 17 at 7:00 p.m. from Blue Cross Arena. The game can be streamed on FloHockey.

Spartan Associate Head Coach Jared DeMichiel is a 2010 RIT graduate, playing four seasons for the Tigers where in his senior season he led all of Division I with 27 victories, was second in shutouts (6), seventh in goals against average and eighth in save percentage. He led RIT to the 2010 Frozen Four and was named the Atlantic Hockey Association Goaltender of the Year.