Michigan State University
Miami
Spartans Slip Past #2 Miami, 3-2
2/17/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Feb. 17, 2006
East Lansing, Mich. - Behind Nick Sucharski's second career game-winning goal and a crowd of 5,626, No. 10 Michigan State held on to a 3-2 CCHA victory over No. 2 Miami University Friday night at Munn Ice Arena. With the win, the Spartans (18-10-7 Overall, 12-7-6 CCHA) moved one point ahead of Michigan for second place in the conference with three games to play.
"At 3-0, you're thinking they'll never score four goals. They're a really good team, and I'm not sure that was their best game, so it'll be interesting tomorrow. They took advantage of some turnovers and got back in the game, so it'll be very fun to watch the matchup," said head coach Rick Comley.
Miami (21-6-4 overall, 18-5-2 CCHA) has already earned the regular-season title and clinched the No. 1 seed in the CCHA tournament, while Michigan State is still jockeying for a top-four finish (30 points) and a first-round bye. Michigan trails the second-place Spartans by one point, Nebraska-Omaha trails by two, and Lake Superior State is in fifth and trials by four points.
Coming off an eight-day layoff, Michigan State jumped out of the gates with fresh legs and hard skating, while Miami opened the game playing physical hockey. With MSU immediately on the attack after the opening draw, the RedHawks' Ryan Jones laid a punishing open-ice hit on Jim McKenzie 33 seconds into the game, sending McKenzie to the locker room for the balance of the contest. Miami continued to check hard, but at the 3:44 mark, Joe Cooper took a charging penalty and sent the Spartans on the power play.
Facing the nation's second-best penalty-kill unit (.892), the Spartans netted the game's first goal at the 5:04 mark on Tim Crowder's 11th goal of the season. Corey Potter fired a slapshot from the blueline, and with the help of a Tim Kennedy screen, Miami netminder Charlie Effinger could not control the rebound after making the initial stick save. Crowder skated uncontested from the left corner, collected the rebound on the doorstep, and sent the puck into the open net, giving Michigan State a 1-0 lead. David Booth also recorded an assist on the goal, extending his consecutive-games point streak to 11 with his 15th helper of the season.
MSU continued to crash the net the remainder of the period, throwing shots on goal, screening the goalkeeper, and trying to capitalize on any potential rebound. The Spartans matched the RedHawks' physical intensity and was able to hold Miami to five shots in the first period, most of which came from the perimeter.
The Spartans came out of intermission firing and nearly extended their lead, as a streaking Tyler Howells missed an open net and sent a shot from the slot into the netminder's pads. Less than a minute later, Chris Mueller took an obstruction tripping penalty and gave Miami a chance to respond. On the ensuing power play, the RedHawks found the post on Andy Greene's wrister from the point, but could not register a shot on goal on their first power-play opportunity.
Seconds after his penalty expired, Mueller stormed out of the box and pushed the puck into the Miami zone, creating an odd-man rush. His speed and aggressiveness generated MSU's second goal of the night, as Bryan Lerg received a pass on the doorstep and gave MSU a 2-0 advantage at 3:11 of the second period. Fighting through two Miami defensemen at the blueline, Mueller caught up to the puck just outside the crease and slipped a backhand pass to a streaking Bryan Lerg. Being checked from behind, Lerg fought to get a stick on the puck and redirected the pass into the net for his 12th goal of the season.
MSU continued to keep Miami from attacking the net, but a backdoor pass nearly cut the deficit to one goal with about three minutes left in the period. Nino Musitelli lasered a pass from the boards to a sprinting Nathan Davis, but the RedHawks' leading scorer sent the chance wide and behind Jeff Lerg, allowing Michigan State to maintain its 2-0 lead after two periods.
Michigan State opened the third period strong and threatened to tally another goal, but Nick Sucharski turned the tables by taking an interference penalty 41 seconds into the period, negating a potential 2-on-1 rush and giving Miami its third power play of the evening. The RedHawks failed to score, and finished the night 0-for-3 with the man-advantage, recording only two shots on goal.
Traffic in front of the net continued to pay dividends for the Spartans, as a seemingly harmless shot from the point resulted in a goal at 5:20 of the third period. After a skirmish in the corner, Drew Miller rotated the puck to Corey Potter at the point and, with momentum carrying him out of the zone, flipped a wrist shot on goal. With the Miami defensemen trapped in the corner, Sucharski camped out in front of the net alone and tipped Potter's shot past Effinger, who never saw the puck until it was behind him.
MSU's three-goal lead was short-lived, as Miami started a comeback bid less than two minutes later on Nathan Davis' 17th goal of the season. Linemate Musitelli gave Davis a second chance to score from the doorstep, and this time his shot sailed over Jeff Lerg's oustretched pad, cutting MSU's lead to 3-1 at 6:55 of the third period.
As the period began to wane, Miami forced turnovers in the Michigan State zone and at the 13:42 mark, capitalized on one of its extra opportunities. Stephen Dennis dug the puck out of the corner and sent a pass to Matt Davis between the circles, who roofed a one-timer past Jeff Lerg and made it a 3-2 game with six minutes left to play.
Although Michigan State was facing the peak of Miami's momentum, the Spartans skated into another 2-on-1 and had a chance to put the game away with four minutes left to play, but Effinger turned away Fretter's uncontested chance and kept it a one-goal game.
With the goalie out for an extra attacker, Miami won a critical faceoff deep in Michigan State territory. But with 14 seconds left, a Miami player hit the puck with a high stick, and the faceoff was sent down the ice and into the Spartan offensive zone. Miami won the faceoff but could not regain the zone, and the Spartans escaped with a 3-2 win.
Michigan State and Miami will complete the two-game series Saturday night at 7:05 p.m. The five Spartan seniors - David Booth, Colton Fretter, Chad Hontvet, Jared Nightingale, and Corey Potter - will be honored in a pregame ceremony for their final regular-season home game at Munn Ice Arena. Fans are encouraged to arrive by 6:45 and to be in their seats for the beginning of the ceremony.
Spartan Notebook
- By assisting on Tim Crowder's goal, David Booth extended his point-scoring streak to 11 games. It is the longest such streak of his career and the longest on any Spartan this season. During the streak he has amassed five goals and nine assists for 14 points.
- Tyler Howells' helper on Bryan Lerg's second-period tally pushes his assist total to 19 and his point total to 28. The 19 assists is tied for Bryan Lerg for second-best on the team, and the 28 points is tops among Spartan and CCHA defensemen.
- Both of Nick Sucharski's goals this season have been game-winning goals. His first came in Michigan State's 3-1 win over Wayne State Jan. 6.
- Bryan Lerg's tally boosts his team-leading goal total to twelve on the season.
- Jeff Lerg earned his 10th victory of the season against Miami. Lerg's save percentage is currently at .926 (12th nationally) and his goals-against average is now 2.04, good for the sixth-best in the NCAA.
- In beating the No. 2 Redhawks, the Spartans improved their record against ranked teams to 5-3-4 on the season.
- Michigan State has tied their season best with a six-game unbeaten streak. Their first six-game unbeaten streak stretched from Jan. 6 to Jan. 20. MSU is also 4-0-0 in the month of February, and has lost just twice in the last 14 games (10-2-2).
- MSU's last nine games have been settled by a goal or less.
