SpartanMag.com - MSU hockey team gets tie, shootout loss

November 6, 2009

Ricardo Cooney

EAST LANSING - Four points after a weekend against the No. 10 team in the country.

The Michigan State hockey team will take it.

Although it wasn't the result the No. 17 Spartans really wanted - a sweep would have made the weekend much sweeter - to start a month that will see the meet Michigan and Notre Dame for home-and home series in consecutive weekend, MSU will take the result and the 7-2-1 (4-1-1 Central Collegiate Hockey Association) record it now boasts five weeks into the season.

After Friday night's 3-0 win over Nebraska-Omaha, MSU could only muster a tie and a shootout loss to the Mavericks Friday night in front of a crowd of 4,147.

"We turned the puck over lot,'' MSU coach Rick Comley said. "We kept shrinking the ice for them tonight. We'd turn it over and they'd roar back. So we had to backcheck and defend so much instead of playing in their zone. (Thursday) night, we really hurt them at their goaline. Tonight their defense didn't have to play as much at their own goaline.

"It was a game we could have won but we didn't play smart enough.''

While the Spartans by no means played a bad game against UNO (4-1-3, 1-1-2) on Friday, they did seem to play back on their heels for most of the night as a determined bunch of Mavericks came out possessing much more jump than they did in Thursday's series opener.

"It was a struggle ... a combination of they were better obviously and we weren't as good,'' MSU coach Rick Comley. "But we scrapped and stayed around but we hurt ourselves with penalties. You'd love it to be perfect every night but it's not going to be. But at 7-2-1 after 10, if you can do that in your next 10, you'll be all smiles.''

As a result, the early 2-1 lead MSU had early in the second period on goals by Mike Merrifield and Chris Forfar, evaporated quickly in a second period where penalties hurt the Spartans allowing UNO to go up 3-2 after two periods.

"I thought we worked hard. Except for a couple of lapses obviously, and the penalties,'' said junior winger Andrew Rowe. "Obviously, it's disappointing. We had our chances.''

The Spartans, who really didn't look as sharp as they have for most of the young season, spent nine minutes of middle fighting off power play chances for the Mavericks.

The big one coming when freshman winger Dean Chelios took a checking from behind penalty that resulted in a five minute Nebraska power play and Chelios' disqualification.

"Seven in a row,'' Comley said talking about the penalties in the second period. "It's a killer. It just wears you out but we still got back in it and tied the game. We just have to learn when to check off that contact obviously.''

Despite the disparity in penalties called - 10 for MSU and five for UNO - MSU tied the game in the third period when senior captain Nick Sucharski punched in rebound off a Derek Grant shot at 8:04.

The two teams played the rest of the game and the overtime scoreless, although MSU did have some good opportunities to win the game both late in the third period and during the extra five minutes.

From there, after being assured of at least with a tie, MSU couldn't nail down the extra point as UNO goalie Jeremie Dupont outdueled Drew Palmisano in the shootout.

Palmisano gave up goals to the Mavericks John Kemp and Terry Broadhurst, while Andrew Rowe was the only shootout goal scorer for MSU, as UNO captured the shootout 2-1.

While a shootout victory would have capped a great weekend for the Spartans, Comley believes his young team, despite its growing pains, may be ahead of schedule as to where he thought they would be with so many freshman and sophomores in the lineup.

"We're on to something here, we just have suffer through some (things) that are not perfect and keep coming back to it,'' Comley said. "With a young team that's got some talent you expect some ups and downs. But their work ethic is good.''

Now the Spartans will get ready for what will surely be a highly-contested series against Michigan. Friday's game in Ann Arbor will be junior Corey Tropp's first return to Yost Arena since the ugly incident that got him suspended from the team.

Since then, Tropp has returned to the MSU lineup to have an outstanding beginning of the season that has seen No. 1 or 2 in the nation in scoring.

More importantly, Comley doesn't think there's any doubt that his team is ready to compete against two more teams considered to part of the CCHA's elite. Especially after his team went to Miami for a weekend set, when the Redhawks were no. 1 in the country and earned a split.

"I really feel that is a team that can get better and better as the year goes one,'' said Comley, who thinks his young team is farther ahead of the projections he and his staff laid out before the season. "It's a team that's competitive. It's a team that's proven they can play at home and on the road. But we have to get better.''

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