Michigan State University
Miami Ohio
Miami Ends Hockey's Winning Streak, 3-2
11/19/1999 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Nov. 19, 1999
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State's 10-game winning streak and the best CCHA start in school history was halted Friday night, as Miami of Ohio posted a 3-2 victory over the Spartans in Oxford, Ohio.
RedHawk senior center Dustin Whitecotton scored just 54 seconds into the third period and Michigan State was unable to score the rest of the way, lifting Miami to its first win over MSU in nine tries and its first home win over the Spartans since 1993.
The loss drops third-ranked Michigan State's record to 10-2-0 (10-1-0 CCHA), while Miami improved to 6-4-2 (3-3-2) entering tomorrow night's rematch.
"I give them a lot of credit," senior center and team captain Shawn Horcoff said. "We won 10 in a row and obviously we were going to lose sometime. We are unhappy tonight, but I know that we are going to come out hard tomorrow. We are going to have to because they might even come out harder than they did tonight."
The RedHawks certainly came out flying Friday. Junior goaltender Joe Blackburn played one of his best periods of the season in the first, turning aside 11 RedHawk shots and keeping the Spartans in the game. MSU was outshot 12-6 in the period, its largest deficit since the first period of the season at Colorado College.
The Spartans also trailed after one period for the first time since the CC game as the RedHawks converted at 16:48 of the first period. Blackburn stopped the initial shot, but freshman Nick Jardine poked home the loose puck in the crease to give Miami a 1-0 lead.
The RedHawks went up 2-0 9:41 into the second period on a quick goal off a faceoff. Pat Leahy scored on an assist from centerman Dustin Whitecotton to take the two-goal lead.
Michigan State stormed back thanks to freshman defenseman John-Michael Liles and the power play. Liles, quarterbacking the top MSU power-play unit, snapped an 0-for-19 drought on the power play with his first goal of the game at 11:30 of the second period.
Sophomore right wing Adam Hall and senior center Shawn Horcoff entered the zone together, with Hall giving it to Horcoff and Horcoff taking the puck behind. A delayed penalty was called on Miami, but the Spartans held on to possession of the puck and got the extra skater on. Horcoff found Liles at the top of the right circle, and he crept in between the circles and wristed a shot past Miami goaltender David Burleigh.
Liles struck again just 5:06 later on a very similar play involving the same three Spartans. Horcoff found Liles with a beautiful pass from behind the net and Liles one-timed the puck past Burleigh low along the ice.
Michigan State entered the third period tied for the first time all season, but Whitecotton made sure it didn't stay that way for long. He scored at the 54-second mark of the third on assists from Leahy and Jardine, with Leahy and Whitecotton both registering their third points of the game. The RedHawks got the puck behind the net and centered it for a shot. Whitecotton put the rebound past Blackburn.
The Spartans had several chances to tie the score again, as junior wing Sean Patchell put a puck off the crossbar and several opportunities created by the Shawn Horcoff-Adam Hall-Brian Maloney line just missed the net. Officially, however, the Spartans were held to zero shots on goal in the period.
The two teams return to action Saturday night at Goggin Ice Arena at 7:05 p.m. in a game that can be heard on WVFN-AM 730 or at www.broadcast.com/sports/ncaa/MichiganState
Post-game Quotes
Head Coach Ron Mason: "It was their night tonight. They came out hard and played exactly the way I expected them to play. This is one of the best Miami teams I've seen in a while. They are really in synch in terms of their work habits, their conditioning and their systems. That's really a tribute to the coaching they have gotten from Enrico Blasi."
"Miami had a lot more step in the first period than we did. They came out with a lot of emotion, and we really didn't get ours going until the second period."
"I thought Miami was a little sharper around our net. The puck came to them and they took care of it. They had the desire they needed to win the game, and played a solid 60 minutes of hockey. We coughed up that goal in the first minute of the third period, and that's just unheard of for our team. We got outworked in front of the net."
"We just didn't get that goal to tie it up in the third. I felt like we had the opportunities, but we've got to put more of them on net."
"The positive was the power play. I felt like it performed pretty well for the first time in a while. When you score two goals on the power play you feel like you should be able to win the game, but things weren't working for us five-on-five tonight."
"It's a good dose of medicine for us. I'm not so sure we can play that much better tomorrow than we did in the second and third period, but hopefully we will come out a little sharper."
Senior center Shawn Horcoff: "I give them a lot of credit. They played the game we knew they were going to. We really got off to a slow start."
"We salvaged the game in the second period. The power play helped us a lot, and when we came back in the dressing room after the second period I thought we were in good position with the momentum. Their goal early in the third really took the momentum away from us."
"We won 10 in a row and obviously you are going to lose some. We're unhappy tonight, but we are going to come out hard tomorrow. They might even come out harder tomorrow night."
Freshman defenseman John-Michael Liles: (On his first goal): "Shawn Horcoff gave me a great pass and I figured, with another penalty coming, that the guy would come at me. I faked a shot and moved around him and put the puck on net. It was like a ground ball with eyes I guess."
"Any loss is frustrating, but we worked really hard to get back in the game. In the first period we came out a little slow, but after the second we felt pretty good. That goal right away really took away all of our momentum right away."
