Michigan State University
Michigan or Lake Superior (Great Lakes Invitational)
Hockey Earns Third Straight GLI Title
12/30/1999 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Dec. 30, 1999
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Last week, Michigan State captain Shawn Horcoff talked of picturing himself hoisting the Great Lakes Invitational trophy as previous MSU captains Tyler Harlton and Mike York had the last two years.
Thursday, while walking from the hotel to Joe Louis Arena for the Spartans? GLI championship game against Michigan, he told his roommate, Kris Koski, that Koski would score his first career goal that night and it would be the game-winner.
While Horcoff, the nation?s leading scorer with 34 points, appears to have a solid professional hockey career ahead of him, he may want to think about a job on the psychic network.
Just as the captain predicted, Koski buried a Horcoff pass from behind the net on a power play 4:53 into the third period, giving MSU a 2-1 lead in what ended as a 3-1 win over the Wolverines in the GLI final. Horcoff accepted the tournament trophy as well as Most Valuable Player honors in Michigan State?s third straight GLI championship.
?I had a funny feeling that Kris would score,? Horcoff said afterwards. ?We walked over together and I said that. When he scored I said ?I told you!? and he said ?I know!? We were laughing about it while we were celebrating.?
Koski, a fourth-line forward whose size (6-3, 219) earned him a spot in front of the net on the power play, got free to Michigan goaltender L.J. Scarpace?s left while Horcoff circled the net behind. Horcoff put a pass right on Koski?s stick and he put it home.
?Shawn told me he?d get me the puck from behind the net and I?d just have to put it home,? Koski said. ?The team needed it and it was a great time to get my first goal.?
?That was an outstanding college hockey game,? head coach Ron Mason said. ?I thought whoever scored the first goal of the third period would win it, and we were able to get that one from an unlikely source.?
It marks the third year in a row that some unsung heroes have helped lift the Spartans to the GLI title, after defenseman Mike Weaver and goaltender Mike Gresl earned the previous two MVP awards.
While the Spartans scored twice in the third period to snap a 1-1 tie, Michigan was peppering the MSU net. The Wolverines fired 20 shots on goal in the period, all of which were stopped by Joe Blackburn. Blackburn made a career-high 37 saves in the game to earn all-tournament honors.
The best of Blackburn?s stops may have come at the 8:14 mark of the third, when John Shouneyia?s shot deflected off Blackburn and hit the crossbar. Scott Matzka fired the rebound at a sprawling Blackburn, who made the save and sparked a roar from the Spartan fans among the crowd of 18,211.
Other Blackburn highlights included a series of saves on a Wolverine power play midway through the period and another great stop on Mike Cammalleri on a power-play with 6:45 left.
?Fortunately, when you play hard, you sometimes get a little lucky,? Blackburn said. ?I think that?s what was happening at times in the third period.?
In front of Blackburn, senior defenseman Mike Weaver had a tremendous game, shutting down Michigan?s Mike Comrie in a head-to-head matchup. Comrie entered the game tied with Horcoff for the national scoring lead. Weaver made several spectacular plays, including a poke-check of Comrie while lying on his stomach in the third period, while playing around 30 minutes.
?It?s a great challenge for me to go up against a player like him,? Weaver said. ?I played him a lot last year, so I know a little bit about him. He?s a great stickhandler, so you?ve got to take the body, and I think that?s what we did tonight. My partner, Jon Insana, did a great job as well.?
Weaver played the most in the third period, when he skated more than half the period and almost all of the Spartans? three successful penalty kills.
?You need your big-name players to step up in these kinds of games,? Horcoff said, ?and that?s what Weave did tonight. But he?s so consistent ? he does that for us every night.?
Meanwhile, freshman left wing Brian Maloney provided the insurance goal, converting on some good work behind the net by juniors Andrew Bogle and John Nail. That goal, at the 10:57 mark of the third, gave Blackburn and the Spartans some breathing room, although they didn?t use it.
Junior Rustyn Dolyny had given MSU a 1-0 lead in the first period, the first of three power-play goals for the Spartans (on five opportunities). Horcoff gave the puck to Weaver, who made a great cross-zone pass to find Dolyny for a one-timer on the left-wing post.
Michigan tied the score in the second on a nice power-play goal of its own. Mark Mink found Cammalleri to Blackburn?s left and the Spartan goalie never had a chance.
The game serves as a preview for the Spartans? next game, a CCHA meeting with Michigan Friday, Jan. 7 at 7 p.m. at Munn Ice Arena.
?It?s such a special game when we play against Michigan, it?s on another level,? Horcoff said. ?It?s such an emotional game, whether you win or not.?
This time, just as Horcoff pictured it, the Spartans were on the winning end.
