Michigan 5 - Michigan State 3
It had been a long time since these two teams met playing for anything meaningful in the standings, but senior night in East Lansing with 1st place on the line didn't disappoint.
The Wolverines jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on goals from Dexter Dancs and an unlikely breakaway from East Lansing native Cutler Martin, but the Spartans weren't gong down without putting up a fight.
"I liked our start to the game. Then they pushed back. I think they scored on their first chance. And that's the way the game was played. They got a couple of timely goals, and we bent, but we didn't break." Berenson noted postgame.
Junior Ryan Keller was the star of the game taking advantage of a shaky Zach Nagelvoort and getting credit for all three of the Michigan State goals. He got them on the board off a big rebound allowed and again after a misplay of the puck when Nagelvoort came out of the crease to play it and a diving Ryan Keller knocked it away from his stick and into the net.
Dylan Larkin would break a 2-2 tie, but Keller would get the hat trick on a harmless centering feed that Mike Downing knocked into his own net.
It was a wild senior night at Munn but a Michigan senior, not a Spartan, would steal the show. Once again playing with a 3 center lineup, Berenson made the decision to put Travis Lynch on the 3rd line as a wing. The move would pay off with Lynch scoring the game winner with five minutes left in the game from a behind the net feed from Andrew Copp.
"He's really a centerman and we put him on the right wing to bolster Boo Nieves' line and then Compher went down and we moved him up on (Andrew) Copp's line and sure enough he ends up scoring the winner." Said Berenson. 'He's making the most of his senior year."
Now, Michigan heads back to Ann Arbor for a senior night of their own and a shot at a Big Ten title.