Andrew MacWilliam destroys David Johnstone with clean open-ice hit

On Friday night of the WCHA playoff series between Michigan Tech and North Dakota, North Dakota senior captain Andrew MacWilliam delivered a crushing blow to Michigan Tech forward David Johnstone.  MacWilliam was given a five-minute major and a game-misconduct for the hit, presumably because the refs thought it looked malicious.  The hit was actually a very clean shoulder-to-shoulder hit that Johnstone was just on the wrong side of.  According to John Buccigross, Johnstone was hurt pretty badly on the play and understandably so.  Johnstone is 5’11” 185 lbs while MacWilliam is 6’2″ 230 lbs; needless to say the size difference came into play here.

North Dakota won Game 1 on Friday night 5-3, but Michigan Tech won Game 2 on Saturday 2-1.  The three-game playoff series plays the decisive Game 3 on Sunday, with the winner moving on to the XCEL Energy Center in Minneapolis.

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