Michigan State University Athletics
MSU Hockey Sweeps Miami
11/17/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Nov. 17, 2001
EAST LANSING, Mich. - He did it again.
MSU goaltender Ryan Miller (East Lansing, Mich.) guided his team to a series sweep of Miami, holding the RedHawks scoreless for the second straight night as the Spartans (8-2-1, 7-2-1 Central Collegiate Hockey Association) clawed their way to a 2-0 win.
The 6,683 fans at Munn Ice Arena watched Miller sparkle between the pipes, turning aside 28 shots en route to his 23rd career shutout.
"I have never seen a goalie like him," said Michigan State coach Ron Mason. "He's in the zone right now."
"I was sitting on the bench with (Joe) Goodenow today," said Spartan freshman Lee Falardeau (Midland, Mich.) said. "He was pointing out a save that Ryan made and how Ryan just gobbles up the puck when it comes around him. That's one of the big differences about him and the other goalies around the league. Anything that comes to him, he takes it and he covers it or gets it out of there. It's really impressive."
Falardeau gave the Spartans a 1-0 lead eight minutes into the second period with his third goal of the year. Goodenow swatted a backhand shot that Miami goaltender David Burleigh turned aside but the rebound caromed to Falardeau, who flicked the puck past the RedHawk goaltender.
"If you look at the scores you'll see shutouts, but we battled to score goals," Mason said.
Junior forward Brian Maloney (Bassano, Alta.) added an insurance goal 4:21 into the third period when his blast from the far faceoff circle off a feed from linemate Steve Jackson (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) rocketed past Burleigh.
The story of the night, however, was Miller, who now owns a conference-best five shutouts on the season and has lowered his goals against average to a sparkling 1.49 while raising his saves percentage to .937.
"They come out flying and you really have bear down against a team like that," said Miller of the RedHawks. "They have a lot of threats. They work the puck in the zone and come to the net hard and they showed that tonight being really feisty. A team like that you just have to frustrate them and shut them down.
"That was the kind of game we had to play. It helps that I have a good defense in front of me. They were playing well tonight. A lot of the shots came from cycling out of the corner and perimeter. The main thing on that is to just control the rebounds and the defense can take care of everything else."
Michigan State wraps up its seven-game home stand next week as the Spartans host Wisconsin and Minnesota in the College Hockey Showcase. The Spartans will face the Badgers Nov. 23 at 7:05 p.m. with Minnesota invading Munn Ice Arena on Sunday at 1:35 p.m.
