Michigan State University
Harvard
Lergs Help Propel Spartans to GLI Finals
12/29/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Dec. 29, 2006
Detroit, Mich. - Jeff Lerg had a career-best 45 saves and Bryan Lerg scored twice and added an assist as the Michigan State hockey team advanced to the finals of the 42nd annual Great Lakes Invitational with a 5-2 victory over Harvard on Friday evening at Joe Louis Arena. Michigan State improves to 10-7-1 with the win, and will challenge for its second GLI title in three seasons and 11th overall when it takes on Michigan Saturday night. The Spartans put together a three-for five effort on the power play and limited the Crimson's quality chances despite being outshot 47-25 on the night.
"We're very happy with the win," noted head coach Rick Comley, who picked up career victory number 698 on Friday. "I thought Jeff Lerg came up big, which we knew he had to do - and we got some power play goals which I thought absolutely had to happen."
Harvard came out with a jump in the first period (outshooting the Spartans 13-6 in the frame), and Jeff Lerg made three impressive stops in the first six minutes to keep the Crimson at bay - the first was a point-blank save on a Ryan Maki at the right post just over two minutes into the game, then back-to-back saves on Alex Meintel and Mike Taylor offerings seven minutes in.
The Spartans had a pair of chances on a two-on-one rush 11 minutes in, but Crimson netminder Justin Tobe held the Green and White off the board until a power-play opportunity for the Spartans came under a minute later. Working the puck low, Bryan Lerg had the puck below the goal line and moved it to Tim Kennedy on the half-wall, who passed it back to the junior on the doorstep. Tobe denied Lerg at the left post, but the junior collected his own rebound, moved right-to-left across the top of the crease, and flipped his tenth goal of the season over Tobe's right leg pad.
The Spartans tacked on another extra-man tally at 17:41 to take a 2-0 lead. Off a pass from Nick Sucharski, Chris Lawrence's offering from the top of the left circle was saved by Tobe, but the rebound was one-timed by a crashing Tyler Howells at the bottom of the circle for his first goal of the season.
The Crimson cut into the lead with a tally at 18:42. The play initiated as Doug Rogers brought the puck off the wall and passed across the crease to Ryan Maki on the right side, who's shot ricocheted off the crossbar. It fell to the top of the crease for an opportunistic Mike Taylor, who poked the puck past Jeff Lerg for his fifth goal of the year.
The first half of the middle frame was a wild affair, with outstanding scoring chances for both teams and both goaltenders making big saves to keep their opponents off the board. The Crimson broke through with an equalizing tally on the power play at 8:19, as Kevin Du's shot from the left circle was saved by Jeff Lerg, but the rebound was buried by winger Ryan Maki, his fifth goal of the year.
At the 9:42 mark, Harvard's Dave MacDonald was sent off on a major for hitting from behind, giving the Spartans five minutes of power play time. Four minutes into that advantage, the Spartans regained the lead on a Chris Mueller tally. Ryan Turek worked the puck from the point down to Bryan Lerg on the near post, and he threw the puck off the endboards to the left side. Mueller corralled the puck and backhanded it past Tobe's stick-side for his fifth goal in five games.
The Spartans pushed their lead back to two with a tally three minutes into the final frame. Zak McClellan brought the puck into the zone and dropped it back to a trailing Dan Sturges, who wristed it from the top of the right circle past a screened Tobe to beat the goaltender low, stick-side. It was the first score of the year for the sophomore.
Bryan Lerg iced the victory with an empty net goal at 18:53.
The Spartans will play archrival Michigan in Saturday's championship game at 7:35 p.m., a game which will be televised live on FSN Detroit.
NOTES: Michigan State has advanced to the finals of the GLI for the fourth conecutive season. The Spartans have appeared in nine of the last ten GLI finals, and 12 of the last 14. MSU last won the title in 2004, a 2-1 overtime victory over Michigan ... The Spartans are now 3-2 in non-conference action, with two wins against ECACHL teams (Harvard and St. Lawrence), one against Atlantic Hockey (Sacred Heart) and two losses to the WCHA (Minnesota and Wisconsin) ... MSU is 8-0-1 when leading after two periods and 97-6-6 over the last five years with a second-intermission advantage ... Jeff Lerg's 45 saves bested his previous career high of 41, set Jan. 20 of last year at Nebraska-Omaha ... Chris Mueller skated in his 100th career game, and potted his 21st career goal. He now has five goals and an assist in his last five games ... Bryan Lerg extended his consecutive-game point-scoring streak to five games, a season best. His 11 goals on the year ties him with Tim Kennedy for the team lead ... Tyler Howells' first-period goal was his first of the year, and his 13th career tally; Dan Sturges also potted his first goal of the season. Zak McClellan and Ryan Turek recorded their first points of the year as well ... ... The Spartans scored three power-play tallies on the night, tied for the most this season. They also had three against Sacred Heart (seven attempts) and Ferris State (eight) ... MSU has potted five power-play goals in the last two games, tied for the most this season. Previously, the Spartans hung three on Sacred Heart and a pair on Michigan in back-to-back contests ... The Spartans and Wolverines will face off for the fourth time this season - Michigan has won two straight after snapping MSU's nine-game unbeaten streak against its archrival. The two teams will meet again in this building on Feb 10, and possibly again in March during the CCHA Tournament ... Michigan leads in the head-to-head meetings between MSU and U-M in GLI games, 7-6-1, with the tie coming in the 1981 consolation game. MSU and Michigan have met nine times in the finals of the GLI, and U-M owns five victories in those games - but MSU's four wins have come in the last four meetings ... The last GLI meeting of the teams was in the 2004 finals, when a Colton Fretter overtime tally sent the Spartans to a 2-1 victory ... The Spartans have won three straight games at Joe Louis Arena, and are undefeated in their last five games here in Detroit. Their last loss was in last year's GLI final, 6-3 to Colorado College ... MSU is 3-0-1 in their last four games against Michigan in JLA. The teams skated to a 5-5 regular-season tie last January, then a 4-1 MSU win in the CCHA semifinal.
