Western Michigan beat Colorado College, 5-2, in the Frozen Faceoff opener on Friday at Lawson Arena in Kalamazoo.
Grant Slukynsky scored twice, Garrett Szydlowski, William Whitelaw and Cole Spicer had the other goals and Hampton Slukynsky made 26 saves.
The two teams will meet again Saturday at Lawson Arena at 6 p.m. A Western Michigan win would push the team to the Frozen Faceoff semifinals.
Minnesota 4, Michigan State 3 (SO)
Michigan State dropped a 4-3 decision to Minnesota in a shootout on Friday at Munn Ice Arena in East Lansing, one day after the Spartans clinched a third-straight Big Ten regular-season title with a 7-1 victory against the Golden Gophers.
Tommi Mannisto, Daniel Russell and Cayden Lindstrom scored goals and backup goalie Melvin Strahl made 32 saves for MSU (25-7-2).
As the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament, the Spartans need to win two games to win the conference’s postseason tourney for a third straight year.
They’ll face the worst seed remaining in a Big Ten semifinal on March 14.
Cleveland 3, Grand Rapids 2
The Grand Rapids Griffins lost to the Cleveland Monsters, 3-2, at Rocket Arena in Cleveland on Friday.
Gabriel Seger and Ondrej Becher scored goals and Sebastian Cossa made 22 saves for just his fifth loss in 32 games (24-5-3).
The two teams will meet again Saturday at 4 p.m.
Local schedules
Friday
Panthers 3, Red Wings 1
Cleveland 3, Grand Rapids 2
Minnesota 4, Michigan State 3 (SO)
Western Michigan 5, Colorado College 2
Michigan Tech 5, Bowling Green 3
NTDP U18 8, Green Bay 1
Saturday
Grand Rapids at Cleveland, 4
Sunday
Red Wings at Devils, 7
Bowling Green at Michigan Tech, 6
NTDP U18s at Green Bay, 7
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Hockey roundup: Western Michigan wins Frozen Faceoff opener; MSU falls in shootout
Reporting by Detroit News staff and wires / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
