Michigan State University
Bowling Green
Spartans Climb Into Second with 5-2 Win Over BG
2/26/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Feb. 26, 2010
East Lansing, Mich. - Michigan State secured a first-round playoff bye and remained in the NCAA Tournament picture by posting a 5-2 victory over Bowling Green on Friday night at Munn Ice Arena. MSU paid tribute to the three Spartan seniors playing in their final regular-season game at Munn Ice Arena prior to the game. The Spartans are now 19-11-5, 14-8-2 in conference play.
Both senior skaters, Nick Sucharski and Jay Sprague, had goals, while netminder Bobby Jarosz made five saves in 10 minutes of action. MSU's victory combined with a Western Michigan-Ferris State tie in Big Rapids puts MSU solely in second place in the conference standings with just one regular-season game left to play. The Spartans and Bowling Green face off Saturday at the BGSU Ice Arena at 7 p.m.
Post-Game Audio: Rick | Torey | Jeff
Perhaps inspired by the US Olympic team putting up six first-period goals earlier in the day, the Spartans struck three times in the opening frame. Sprague got the Spartans on the board; the Green and White had lots of traffic in front of the BG net, with four players hacking at the puck in front of the crease. The puck squirted loose behind the scrum, out into the slot for an opportunistic Sprague. It was his second goal in as many games.
The Spartans padded their lead with a marker at 14:25. Blueliner Zach Josepher had the puck at the left half-wall and sent it netward. The shot beat Eno stick-side. MSU added a third in the period at 17:42, when Brett Perlini scored from the left hash off assists from Corey Tropp and Torey Krug.
The teams traded goals in the middle frame. The Falcons broke up the shutout early in the period, as Josh Boyd got Palmisano to commit, then roofed the puck over his glove hand. Daultan Leveille got it back at 9:35 off assists from Tropp (his second helper of the game) and Derek Grant.
The Spartans took that 4-1 lead into the second intermission, and struck early in the third. Torey Krug was whistled for a trip just 45 seconds into the period, putting the Falcons on the power play. Instead, it was the Spartans who got a goal out of the special-teams situation, as senior co-captain Sucharski buried a shorthanded marker for his eighth goal of the season.
The Falcons tacked on a second goal midway through the third; Mark Rodriguez and Brennan Vargas teamed up for the former's third of the year.
Jarosz entered the game after the second BG goal, and played the balance of regulation. He made nine saves.
The teams meet again tomorrow in Ohio, when BG will honor its seniors before the teams face off at 7 p.m.
