No. 6 Spartans Suffer First Conference Loss, 7-4

Friday, November 11

East Lansing, Mich.

7:05 PM

Michigan State University

Nebraska-Omaha

Bryan Lerg added his 11th and 12th assists of the season, but the Spartans fell 7-4.

11/11/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey

Nov. 11, 2005

Box Score

EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State hockey team suffered its first conference loss of the season Friday night, dropping a 7-4 contest to Nebraska-Omaha at Munn Ice Arena. Behind a boisterous traveling fan base, Nebraska-Omaha (3-4-0 Overall, 1-4-0 CCHA) picked up its first conference win of the season and handed Michigan State (5-1-2 Overall, 2-1-2 CCHA) its second loss of the season.

"The real test is how you bounce back," said head coach Rick Comley. "You're not going to win every game, you're not going to play great every night. This is a very difficult stretch for a combination of reasons, but we just need to do everything we can to be ready tomorrow."

Michigan State jumped out to an early lead on senior Colton Fretter's (Harrow, Ont.) third goal of the season just 3:14 into the game. Sophomore Chris Mueller (West Senaca, N.Y.) cleanly won a faceoff deep in Maverick territory, tapping it back to the point. After a shot from the point by Daniel Vukovic (North York, Ont.), UNO goalie Jerad Kaufmann lost the puck in the crease. Fretter crashed the net and tapped the puck across the goal line, giving MSU a 1-0 lead. The assist was Vukovic's first on the season and first in his career.

UNO responded less than a minute later on its first shot of the game, as Bryan Marshall beat Vicari high blocker side from just inside the circle at 3:53. Kaleb Betts picked up the lone assist on the goal.

Neutral-zone turnovers plagued the Spartans throughout the first period, and UNO finally capitalized on a Spartan miscue at 16:40. UNO regained the blue line, and with two Spartans defending the puck, UNO's Scott Parse came streaking down the left wing and picked up the puck. Vicari stopped the initial shot, but the rebound beat him glove side, giving UNO a 2-1 lead.

UNO built the cushion to two goals less than two minutes later, expanding its lead to 3-1 at 18:33. Joe Grimaldi faked a shot near the point, snapping a crisp pass to Bill Thomas on the doorstep, who buried it past Vicari to give UNO a two-goal lead heading into the first intermission.

Michigan State struck early in the second period, closing the gap to 3-2 on sophomore Jim McKenzie's (Woodbury, Minn.) fourth goal of the year at 1:49. After a scramble in front of the UNO netminder, McKenzie picked up the loose puck between the circles and fired a shot on net. The puck found its way past through traffic and beat the sprawled UNO goaltender, bringing the Spartans to within one goal. Sophomore Bryan Lerg (Livonia, Mich.) and senior Jared Nightingale (Cheboygan, Mich.) picked up assists on the goal.

After a clean first half of the game, the Mavericks took back-to-back penalties to relinquish some momentum to the Spartans. UNO's Juha Uotila took a 5-minute major for checking from behind, giving MSU a 30-second two-man advantage. Kaufmann kept UNO's one-goal lead in tact, making seven saves to key the Maverick penalty kill.

Though the penalty re-energized Michigan State, UNO recaptured some momentum after it forced MSU to surrender the final 1:30 of its power play. Nenand Gajic intercepted a pass near the MSU blueline and skated in on a breakaway. Gajic was unable to capitalize on the short-handed opportunity, but forced Bryan Lerg to take a hooking penalty, negating the remainder of the 5-minute major penalty.

The Spartans entered the third period down 3-2 and with hope, but three goals by Nebraska-Omaha's fourth line negated any chance of an MSU comeback.

Michigan State tallied two goals of its own, but could never get closer than three goals. Junior Ethan Graham (Xenia, Ohio) registered his first goal of the season at 10:21 of the period, while sophomore Daniel Sturges (Verona, Wisc.) picked up his first-career goal at 12:53.

State and Nebraska-Omaha complete the weekend series tomorrow night at 5:05 p.m., at Munn Ice Arena.

Notes -

- Sophomore forward Daniel Sturges scored his first-career goal at 12:53 of the third period to pull Michigan State within three at 7-4. Sturges' father was a star forward for the Spartans from 1973-76 and posted 77-132-209 in 149 games.

- The line of Stuges, Chris Lawrence and Zak McClellan has now combined for points in the last four games. In that stretch a member of the fourth line has picked up atleast one point in every game.

- Forward Tyler Howells failed to register a point for the first time all season, snapping his point-scoring streak at eight games.

- Howell's linemate Bryan Lerg notched a pair of assists to extend his point-scoring streak to five games. He now leads the team with 12 assists and 14 points.

- Defenseman Daniel Vukovic picked up his first point of the season with an assist on the game's first goal; an even-strength tally by Colton Fretter.

- The Spartans were whistled for just three penalties in the game. They were not called for a penalty until the 17:04 mark of the second period when Bryan Lerg was called for hooking.

- Michigan State suffered its first conference loss of the season and Nebraska-Omaha picked up its first win in CCHA play on Friday. The Green and White is now 5-2-2 overall and 2-1-2 in the CCHA.

- Michigan State allowed three goals in a 2:04 span early in the third period. The Mavericks needed just five shots to beat Dominic Vicari three times and pull ahead of MSU 6-2.

- The seven goals allowed is the most Michigan State has yielded all season. The previous season high was four. They dropped a 4-2 decision at Cornell on Oct. 28 and won a 5-4 ot contest vs. NMU on Nov. 4.