Michigan State University
Nebraska-Omaha
Hockey Beats UNO In CCHA Opener
10/15/1999 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Oct. 15, 1999
EAST LANSING, Mich. - On a night which saw Nebraska-Omaha celebrate its status as the newest member of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, it was the newest Spartans who made the most noise.
Freshmen - who made up 35 percent (seven of 20) of the players dressed for MSU - accounted for each of Michigan State's first three goals, as Brad Fast and Brian Maloney (two) each netted their first collegiate goals. The Mavericks gave away almost as many pucks to first-time MSU goal scorers as they had at Friday's very well-attended Blue Line Club Luncheon.
"A lot of the success we have had the past couple of years has been due to the contributions of freshmen, and hopefully that won't change," senior center and team captain Shawn Horcoff said. "Those guys were fantastic tonight. It's not a secret that we lost some people and we need these guys to come in and play like they did tonight."
"We didn't expect it," said rookie left wing Maloney. "A few of the freshmen are going to have to step up. We did tonight, and hopefully that will continue the rest of the season."
Michigan State evened its record to 1-1-0 overall (1-0-0 CCHA), while the Mavericks dropped to 0-1 in heading into Saturday night's series finale.
Pregame festivities to welcome the Mavericks to the CCHA included fireworks, an inflatable bull, a light show and a ceremonial puck drop from conference commissioner Tom Anastos.
Head coach Ron Mason was concerned how his team would handle the Mavericks' early emotion, but the Spartans struck first. With UNO on the power play, senior defenseman Mike Weaver stole the puck and flipped it out of MSU's zone. Junior center Rustyn Dolyny picked it up and raced down the ice on a short-handed two-on-one with Maloney. Dolyny's shot was saved, but Fast followed up the play nicely and deposited the rebound for a goal.
"I felt good about the way our team came out," Horcoff said. "We were really humbled by what happened at Colorado College and I know as a group we wanted to play well early and put that behind us."
A string of three straight Spartan penalties in the first seven minutes of the game finally cost MSU at the 7:25 mark. The Mavericks' Jason White scored on a rebound, slipping the puck past junior goaltender Joe Blackburn, who was on his back after making the initial save.
The Spartans' responded quickly with Maloney's first goal of the night at 8:45. Dolyny was hauled down and couldn't get to junior left wing Sean Patchell's centering pass, but it ended up on the stick of Maloney. His shot along the ice to the far side beat UNO goaltender Kendall Sidoruk for a 2-1 lead.
Sidoruk was brilliant for most of the first period, making 17 saves, including a three-save effort on freshman defenseman John-Michael Liles and Patchell with 5:27 to play in the period.
While Maloney's first goal came on a shot along the ice, his second was the exact opposite. On the power play early in the second period, he stole the puck in the UNO zone and fired a shot high from the left circle past Sidoruk.
An MSU veteran finally got on the scoreboard at 8:07 of the second, as sophomore right wing Adam Hall registered his first goal of the season on assists from linemates senior center Shawn Horcoff and junior left wing Damon Whitten.
Michigan State built the lead to 5-1 on another rookie's first goal. Fast started the play with a shot from the point which was blocked, and junior right wing John Nail put the rebound on net. That rebound came to left wing Steve Clark just to the left of the crease, and he put it over Sidoruk for the goal.
Nebraska-Omaha had the only goal of the third period, as Jeff Hoggan scored to make the final 5-2.
After Colorado College had scored on three-of-nine power-play chances in the Spartans' season opener last week, MSU killed off 10 of 11 UNO power-play opportunities.
Blackburn made 19 saves for the Spartans, who improved to 15-3-2 all-time in CCHA openers (7-1-2 in the 1990s). Sidoruk finished with 36 saves.
