Michigan State University Athletics
MSU Hockey Buries Badgers
11/26/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Nov. 26, 2000
Madison, Wis. - Damon Whitten (Brighton, Mich.) had a pair of goals and Sean Patchell (Moonstone, Ont.) and Brad Fast (Fort St. John, B.C.) each tallied three assists as Michigan State (10-1-2 overall, 7-1-1 CCHA) defeated Wisconsin (8-8-0, 5-5-0 WCHA) by a 6-2 score in a College Hockey Showcase matchup at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wis., this afternoon. The Spartans extend their unbeaten streak to ten (9-0-1) with the win while the Badgers lose for the eighth time in nine games.
Whitten got the Spartans off to a quick start when he took a feed from Andrew Hutchinson (Rochester Hills, Mich.) in the near circle and tucked a wrist shot between Wisconsin netminder Graham Melanson and the near post 66 seconds into the game.
The lead was short-lived, however, as the Badgers tallied a pair of goals 14 seconds apart and just 1:11 after Whitten's marker. Andy Wheeler evened the score after picking up a Kent Davyduke shot that hit traffic in front of the Spartan net and banging the rebound past MSU netminder Ryan Miller (East Lansing, Mich.) at 2:15. Erik Jensen gave Wisconsin the lead when he fired a shallow-angle shot past Miller and into the Spartan net.
Whitten notched his second goal of the period during the Spartans' first power-play opportunity of the afternoon. The senior wing appeared to be making a centering pass to Jeremy Jackson (Langley, B.C.), who was breaking toward the Badger net on the near side. Whitten's fluttering pass went on goal and snuck into a narrow opening between Melanson and the far post at 9:55.
MSU regained the lead at 15:40 of the first period when John Nail (Brampton, Ont.), breaking into the slot, took a feed from Sean Patchell (Moonstone, Ont.) stationed on the near wall and beat Melanson low for his third goal of the season.
The Spartans scored both goals in the second period. John-Michael Liles (Zionsville, Ind.) notched his third marker of the season when his plast from the far point on MSU's second power-play opportunity of the game eluded Melanson at 8:06. Adam Hall (Kalamazoo, Mich.) expanded the Spartan edge to 5-2 on a nifty play at 16:31. Jeremy Jackson, skating into the zone one-on-four on the near wall, broke to the net and hit Hall with a backhand pass. Hall, breaking in from the bench on the far side, poked the puck past Melanson before behing hauled down by a Badger defender.
Nail added the sixth MSU goal and his second of the game when he redirected a pass from Fast past Wisconsin goaltender Scott Kabatoff at 14:20 of the final frame.
Miller, who has allowed two or fewer goals in each of his last 12 starts, made 32 saves en route to his 10th win of the year. Melanson stopped 22 shots in two periods of work. Kabatoff worked the third period and turned aside three MSU shots.
The Spartans return to CCHA play next week as they travel to Bowling Green for a pair of games with the Falcons on Dec. 1-2.
