The Illinois Men’s Hockey team needed some late game heroics to sweep Michigan State, taking an overtime thriller 5-4 at the Ice Arena.

The Illini came out strong in the first two periods, taking an early 3-0 lead. Later, however, the Spartans would baffle the Illini defense in the second and third periods, coming all the way back to tie the game at 3-3 before forward Joe Snook put Michigan State ahead with five minutes remaining in the game.

The Illinois offense seemed unable to respond until junior forward Jason Nemeth scored a clutch goal in the waning seconds of the game. With the momentum on the Illini’s side in overtime, junior forward Jordan Pringle scored the game winner with 24 seconds on the clock.

Having won their first two games, Illinois will face Central Oklahoma next Friday and Saturday at the Ice Arena.