Spartans Blast Huskies 10-1 in GLI Semis

Dec. 29, 2009

Detroit, Mich. - Michigan State will play for its 12th Great Lakes Invitational title on Wednesday evening thanks to a commanding 10-1 victory over Michigan Tech in the semifinals at Joe Louis Arena. The Spartans, who will appear in the finals for the 11th time in 13 seasons, are looking for their first title since 2006. The victory was MSU's 13th of the season, tying them for the national lead in victories.

Box Score
Post-Game Audio: Rick | Brett | Matt

In all, Michigan State got its 10 goals from nine different players, as only sophomore Brett Perlini had more than one goal on the night.

Michigan Tech's penalty kill entered the game at a woeful 63.4%, and MSU capatilized shortly into its first man advantage. Matt Grassi sent a pass along the blue line to Zach Josepher at the left point, and Josepher sent the puck on net. The puck came out to Brett Perlini in the left circle, and he buried his first goal of the season.

The Huskies tied the game at 11:02 on a goalmouth scramble by winger Drew Dobson, but the Spartans battled back with a goal 90 seconds later to regain the lead. Zach Josepher carried the puck into the zone on a rush and put a shot on net, and it eluded the glove-hand of goalie Kevin Genoe and went into the upper left corner of the net. The goal chased Genoe, who gave up goals on two of the three MSU shots he faced. His replacement, Josh Robinson, did not fare much better, as he gave up a goal on the first shot he faced to the nation's leading goal scorer, Corey Tropp. Tropp's tally, off asssits from Daultan Leveille and Andrew Rowe, was his 17th of the season.

The Spartans took a 3-1 lead into the locker room, then exploded for four goals in the first 11 minutes of the second period to push the lead from comfortable to insurmountable. The scoring started when Andrew Rowe dished off to Dustin Gazley in the slot, who chipped it past a defenseman and Robinson to push MSU's lead to 4-1 at 1:30. Daultan Leveille's goal off a Gazley feed at 5:22 made it 5-1, followed by Zach Golembiewski's shorthanded marker (his first goal at MSU) at 9:16 and a Nick Sucharski tally at 10:27. Matt Crandell padded the lead with his first collegiate tally at 16:09 to send the Spartans into the locker room with a commanding 8-1 lead after two periods.

Perlini got his second of the night when Trevor Nill carried the puck up the right side, wrapped around the back of the crease, and fed his centerman in front at 8:48 of the final period. Nill closed the evening's scoring with his goal at 17:20, his first marker of the season.

Drew Palmisano made 28 saves in the victory, his second straight game in which he allowed just a single goal.

In all, MSU had seven multiple-point scorers, and four with multiple assists.

Michigan State will play in the finals of the GLI on Wednesday evening at 7:35 p.m. The game will be televised live on FSN-Detroit.

NOTES: The Spartans scored their most goals in a game since a 11-1 victory March 13, 2003 against Alaska-Fairbanks in the CCHA Tournament ... MSU's three first-period goals was the most for the Spartans in the opening frame this season, and their five in the second period were the most in the second (or any) period in 2009-10 ... The Spartans scored the second-most goals in their GLI history, bettering two nine-goal games (1986, 1994). It was the largest margin of victory for MSU in the Great Lakes Invitational since a 9-0 win over Tech in the 1986 consolation game ... Brett Perlini scored his first goal of the season 4:29 into the game on the power play, and got a second in the third period. He was skating in just his third game of the year ... Zach Josepher's goal in the first period was his second in three games ... Corey Tropp has goals in five straight contests ... Dustin Gazley skated in his 99th career game in Green and White, and he had a goal and an assist ... Matt Crandell's second-period goal was the first in his collegiate career. He finished with a goal and two assists ... Trevor Nill had a goal and an assist in the game against Michigan Tech. It matches his scoring output from his freshman season ...