Michigan State University Athletics
MSU Hockey Downs Bowling Green
11/1/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Nov. 1, 2001
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State got five goals from freshmen as the Spartans snapped a two-game losing streak with a 6-3 victory over Bowling Green Thursday (Nov. 1) in front of 6,548 at Munn Ice Arena.
Just 2:58 into the first period, freshman Lee Falardeau (Midland, Mich.) scored his second goal of the season, an unassisted marker on a looping shot from behind the far faceoff circle that eluded Falcon goaltender Tyler Masters.
Junior Brian Maloney (Bassano, Alta.) gave the Spartans a 2-0 lead on a shorthanded goal seven minutes later. He picked up a loose puck in the Bowling Green zone, deked a Falcon defender and scorched Masters with a snap shot high to his glove side.
"The pass came out to their defenseman and he kind of fumbled with it," said Maloney, who was paired up with Ash Goldie (London, Ont.) and Steve Jackson (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) for the night. "I was going to ice it right away, but I just grabbed it and went around him. The goaltender was kind of back in his net and he gave me the hole upstairs, so I just put my head down and shot it."
Bowling Green halved the MSU edge 11:40 into the first stanza on a goal from defenseman Grady Moore.
Two goals from freshmen in the second period put the Spartans up 4-1 after 40 minutes of play.
Goldie scored his second goal of the year on the power play on a tip-in off a shot from the blue line by junior defenseman John-Michael Liles (Zionsville, Ind.). Later in the second, wing Kevin Estrada (Surrey, B.C.) recorded his first collegiate goal at 19:53. Sophomore Tim Hearon (Southgate, Mich.) won a faceoff cleanly, drawing the puck back to junior Andrew Hutchinson (Hudson, Ohio). Hutchinson set up shop behing the Bowling Green net and found Estrada for a one-timer as he broke toward the cage on the near wing.
"I saw (Hutchinson) was going to cheat over to me," said Estrada. "I tried to go far side and ended up being in the right spot."
Freshman Mike Lalonde (Chetwynd, B.C.) extended the MSU lead to 5-1 just 44 seconds into the third with his second goal of the season. Falardeau and Hutchinson each earned assists.
Bowling Green's Greg Day narrowed the Spartans' edge to 5-2 with a goal at 3:18. MSU would regain its four-goal advantage with 12:05 left in regulation when freshman Jim Slater scored his third goal of the year, ending Masters' night in the process. He would be replaced in goal by freshman Jordan Sigalet.
The Falcons finished the scoring with 8:57 left on a goal from Ryan Wetterberg.
"We kind of fell a part there defensively," Maloney said. "We take pride in our defensive game and we gave up a couple soft ones in there. If we can put the puck in the net like this every night then it's going to help."
The Spartans outshot Bowling Green 42-24. MSU junior goaltender Ryan Miller (East Lansing, Mich.) made 21 saves. Masters made 24 saves for the Falcons while Sigalet stopped 12 shots.
"Tomorrow's going to be another hard-fought game," said Estrada of the series finale, which gets underway at Munn Ice Arena at 6:35 p.m. "Tomorrow's going to be a little bit tighter, a little bit stronger. They're going to want to get one back from us."
