No. Michigan hockey forward Gron has scorching scoring touch in recent tilts
East Lansing, MI, United States (AHN Sports) – The goals are starting to come for Northern Michigan junior forward Tyler Gron.
That’s bad news for the rest of the college hockey world.
Gron demonstrated how dangerous of a scorer he actually is on Saturday when he fired three consecutive goals into the net for the Wildcats in a 6-5 victory over Michigan State University at Munn Ice Arena.
“His game’s been growing,” said Northern Michigan coach Walt Kyle, a former NHL assistant coach prior to taking the Northern job in 2002. “He and Gregor Hansen are our two most dangerous offensive guys, dynamic offensive guys. They’ve both been up and down offensively. Tyler is the guy making an effort to learn to play without the puck.”
Gron’s goals against Michigan State turned a 4-1 Northern deficit into a 4-4 tie. The Wildcats were able to advance on to a 6-5 Central Collegiate Hockey Association victory.
“I thought his play without the puck was exceptional tonight,” Kyle said after Saturday’s game. “He created some goals and put himself on good spots on the ice. He’s a real good young player. His game is continuing to grow.”
After 31 games, Gron has scored 16 goals and has 15 assists. He entered the season with 14 goals and 14 assists combined in his freshman and sophomore campaigns as a Wildcat.
“It’s been going really good,” Gron said. “I’ve been playing with good players and our power plays’ been working well this year.”
His three-goal explosion against Michigan State was Gron’s first collegiate hat trick.
“The first two goals I scored were definitely at the tight place at the right time,” Gron said. “I’d say luck got the better part of those two goals. The third one came on great offensive plays by my linemates. I got the puck in the slot and just shot in on net as hard as I could and it found its way in.”
Northern improved to 13-15-4 overall and 10-11-2 in the CCHA, a league that includes Michigan State, the University of Michigan, Ohio State and Bowling Green.
Gron made the venture from his hometown of Spruce Grove, Alberta, to Northern Michigan University, located in the 20,000 populated town of Marquette, situated in the central part of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
The fact that the Wildcats could overcome a three-goal deficit to a Big Ten school like Michigan State on its home ice demonstrates how far the Northern Michigan program has come.
“We were sitting there at the intermission and weren’t really ever too down on ourselves,” Gron said. “The score didn’t really dictate our hard work and our ethic. We felt like we would be OK, kept working and kept driving to the net and things worked out for us.”
Michigan State coach Rick Comley afterwards called Gron’s goal a “fluke” that seemed to change the game’s momentum.
“I can’t really take credit for turning this game around but that (goal) definitely did help,” Gron said. “The boys just wanted it. I could tell before the game.”
The Wildcats have developed a reputation in recent years for starting out slow and then coming on strong late in the season to qualify for the conference championships in mid-March at Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena. It appears to be going that way again.
“Our confidence has kind of been one of our major problems,” Gron said. “(Saturday’s) win will help us out with that. We go into Bowling Green next weekend and I think we’ll carry on forward with momentum. Pretty soon it will be playoffs and we’ll go on from that.”
Northern Michigan seems to have gotten Michigan State’s number in recent seasons.
“It’s a weekend that we really take seriously,” Gron said. “I’m not saying we don’t take every weekend serious. It’s a weekend where starting Monday in practice and right through Friday morning’s skate that everyone is coming to the rink working as hard as they can. Everyone is thinking about the weekend. We control our systems and control our power play and everything we do is for a reason.”
Gron is confident his hat trick against Michigan State is a positive sign for a bright future for the rest of this season.
“After Christmas up until recently, scoring has been far and few between for us,” he said. “I think if we can keep doing what we did tonight, keep it simple and do what Walt tells us, we’ll be fine and we’ll keep putting it in the net.”
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