Michigan State University Athletics
York Leads Hockey to GLI Title Game
6/21/1999 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
December 26, 1998
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Mike York didn't get a chance to play in the GLI in his first three seasons as a Spartan, as he played for Team USA at the World Junior Championships.
He made up for it Saturday, in his first appearance at the tournament he watched growing up in nearby Waterford.
York scored three goals -- including the first of the game, the game-winner and the last, into an empty net -- to lead Michigan State past Northern Michigan, 5-3, and into the GLI title game Sunday.
The Spartans will face either Michigan or Michigan Tech (the two played after MSU's game) at 5 p.m. Sunday. The game can be seen on FOX Sports Detroit.
York opened the scoring on his second career GLI shift, just 2:17 into the first period. His slapshot beat NMU goaltender Dan Ragusett and gave MSU a 1-0 lead.
It didn't last long, however, as Brad Frattaroli countered less than a minute later. His bad-angle shot beat junior goaltender Mike Gresl, who made just his third career start in place of sophomore Joe Blackburn, who is playing in the World Junior Championship.
Although MSU dominated the first period, outshooting Northern 16-9, the game was tied until Northern scored just over a minute into the second. This time the Spartans answered, with senior defenseman Jeff Kozakowski jumping into the rush and scoring his first goal in 62 games.
Northern took another one-goal advantage, however, scoring at 13:18 of the third period.
"Getting the first goal in the third was key for us and we knew that," head coach Ron Mason said. "If they had scored first, it might have been all over."
Shawn Horcoff provided that important goal for the Spartans just 1:21 in.
The two teams appeared headed to overtime, trading quality opportunities but halting each one. Northern Michigan had the best chance of the next 10 minutes, with a 5-on-3 power play.
"The guys were just all over the place blocking shots," said Gresl of the key penalty killers, who included York, Kozakowski and senior defenseman Chris Bogas. "Once we got one guy back I knew we were all right."
More than all right once York got a break at the 13:59 mark. He faked a slapshot, dropping Ragusett to the ice. Showing uncanny patience, he then drew the puck to his backhand and placed it in the vacant net.
"I just saw the goaltender go down and saw that I didn't have anything to shoot at," York explained. "So I pulled it to my backhand and luckily it went in."
York added the empty-netter to seal the win and give him his second career hat trick. He now has 10 goals on the season.
