Michigan State University
Nebraska-Omaha
Hockey Completes Sweep At Nebraska-Omaha
10/17/1999 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Oct. 16, 1999
EAST LANSING, Mich. - In a game which featured 64 minutes in penalties, Michigan State?s special teams led the Spartans to a 6-2 victory over Nebraska-Omaha Saturday night at the Omaha Civic Auditorium.
The Spartans were four-for-nine on the power play, while the Mavericks were scoreless in nine opportunities with the man advantage.
?They were very aggressive early, and I felt really good about getting out of the first period even,? head coach Ron Mason said. ?It was a tough, physical period. Eventually it caught up to them in the form of penalties, and a special teams game really favored us at this point.?
The Spartans improve to 2-1-0 overall (2-0-0 CCHA), while Nebraska-Omaha, in its third year of existence and first in the CCHA, drops to 0-2-0 (0-2-0 CCHA).
East Lansing native Ryan Miller made his first career start in goal for the Spartans. Miller?s first career save came exactly one minute into the game, as he gloved a low wrist shot from former Spartan Dan Zaluski, who transferred to Nebraska-Omaha last year. Miller finished with 25 saves.
?I just wanted to go out there and give our guys a chance to win,? said Miller, who debuted a new mask with the Sparty mascot painted on the front and ?Miller Time? written on the back. ?I had a lot of anticipation for my first game, and it?s great to get a win.?
?We are extremely fortunate to have a 1-2 goaltending combination like Joe (Blackburn) and Ryan,? senior center and team captain Shawn Horcoff said. ?Their abilities and competition in practice is only going to make us better as a team.?
Miller wasn?t the only freshman to shine for the Spartans. After scoring four of the team?s five goals Friday night, the rookies combined for a goal and four assists Saturday. Best of the group were defenseman John-Michael Liles (one goal, two assists, all in the third period) and forward Troy Ferguson (two assists). All five freshmen who have played in all three games for MSU have at least one point.
Michigan State got on the board first after a pair of UNO penalties gave the Spartans a 5-on-3 power play. Nice puck movement set up senior defenseman Brad Hodgins?s one-time slapshot from the point. Hodgins has scored eight of his nine career goals on the power play.
The Mavericks responded just after a power play of their own ended. Greg Zanon?s shot from the left point was stopped by Miller, but the rebound bounced over the rookie goaltender and Ed Cassin poked it in from the left post.
Two power play goals in the second period put Michigan State in command. Junior left wing Damon Whitten tipped Ferguson?s shot past UNO goaltender Kendall Sidoruk at 7:06 of the period. Exactly one minute later, junior wing Sean Patchell scored his second goal of the season on assists from Rustyn Dolyny and Horcoff. Dolyny and Horcoff each finished with three assists in the game and share the team lead in scoring this season with four assists each.
The third period was a personal highlight film for Liles. His shot from the point was tipped perfectly by sophomore right wing Adam Hall for the fourth power-play goal of the night just 1:27 in.
Later, with the two teams skating four-on-four, Liles broke up a UNO rush and started the play the other way. He took a return pass from Horcoff and put it away for his first collegiate goal.
Liles added another assist on a play which was made by the suddenly potent Ferguson-Whitten connection. Ferguson?s perfect lead pass at the UNO blue line put Whitten in alone on Sidoruk. He made a deke and scored his second goal of the game.
?Last night, playing with Horcoff and Hall, I was going to get points just from skating with two guys as good as they are,? said Whitten, who was playing on a fractured right pinky toe. ?Then tonight, Fergie and I were really clicking. We haven?t played together in the past, but it really seemed to be working well tonight.?
The Mavericks got a final tally from David Brisson to make it 6-2.
