Michigan State University
Boston University (Great Lakes Invitational)
Hockey Falls To Boston University, 6-1, In GLI Semifinal
12/28/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Dec. 28, 2002
DETROIT - No. 13 Boston University jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on goals by Brian Collins and John Cronin and never looked back en route to a 6-1 victory over Michigan State in game one of the 38th annual Great Lakes Invitational at Joe Louis Arena.
"It is frustrating," said MSU head coach Rick Comley. "It can get discouraging for a young team, but BU has to get a lot of credit - they played hard. We turned the puck over constantly. It was a tough night for (Matt) Migliaccio. We have to come back and play better tomorrow."
Collins' goal, just 13 seconds into the game, beat Spartan netminder Matt Migliaccio over the shoulder. Cronin's shot was low to the ice from the point and was redirected off of MSU forward Troy Ferguson's stick. The Cronin goal was a power play tally.
The Spartans fought back and cut the deficit to 2-1 on the power play at the 9:03 mark of the first period. Freshman forward David Booth redirected a John-Michael Liles shot from the point for his seventh goal of the campaign.
The Terriers struck right with a pair of unanswered goals by Frantisek Skladany and Ken Magowan to take a 4-1 lead into the intermission. Freshman goalie Justin Tobe took over in net for Migliaccio at the 14:39 mark of the opening stanza.
Once again, BU struck early in the second period at the 28 second mark. Tobe made the initial stop on BU's John Sabo, but couldn't control the rebound as David VanderGulik put home the rebound for his third goal of the season as the Terriers built up a 5-1 advantage.
BU closed out the scoring at the 17:54 mark of the middle stanza on a goal by Skladany. Tobe made the initial save on Ken Magowan's shot from the point, but couldn't control the rebound as the Terriers jumped out to a 6-1 lead.
Migliaccio finished with seven saves, while Tobe stopped 22 shots, including 11 in the final stanza. Sean Fields took the win in net for the Terriers.
"We need to be hungrier," said senior forward Brian Maloney. "It seems as if every time we lose, we say 'oh, we have to get our stuff together.' We have to learn to do that before we lose. We'll come out strong tomorrow and battle hard."
The Spartans (7-8-1 overall) will face either Michigan Tech in the Great Lakes Invitational third-place game on Sunday, Dec. 29. Face-off at Joe Louis Arena is set for 1:35 p.m. Michigan and Boston University will meet in the championship game at 5:05 p.m.
Spartan Notebook
* Senior defenseman John-Michael Liles tallied his 100th career point on MSU's first goal of the game. Liles, who has played in 139 career games, has 31 goals and 69 assists for 100 points.
* Freshman forward David Booth extended his point streak to six games with his seventh goal of the season in the first period. Booth has accumulated 5-3-8 totals during this stretch.
* Today's contest marked the first game for the Spartans since a 5-3 loss to Ferris State on Dec. 7 - a 21-day layoff.
