Michigan State University Athletics
Michigan State University
Ohio St
MSU Hockey Batters Buckeyes
2/23/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Feb. 23, 2001
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Sophomore forward Brian Maloney (Bassano, Alta.) scored two power-play goals and freshman defenseman Joe Markusen (Grafton, N.D.) added a goal and an assist as Michigan State downed Ohio State, 5-2, in front of 11,157 fans at Value City Arena tonight.
The top-ranked Spartans, who clinched the Central Collegiate Hockey Association regular-season title by virtue of Lake Superior State's win over Michigan Thursday, improved to 26-4-4 overall and 19-4-3 in conference play while the Buckeyes (16-13-2, 13-9-2 CCHA) squandered a chance to move ahead of Miami into fourth place in the conference standings.
"When you lock up a league championship you're really concerned about the next game you play," said Spartan head coach Ron Mason. "We did it two years ago, locked it up early and lost the next night, 5-1."
The Spartans dominated play for most of the first period, outshooting Ohio State, 16-0, in the game's first 17 minutes and recording the contest's first two goals. Sophomore centerman Troy Ferguson (Kitchener, Ont.) opened the scoring, grabbing the rebound off a shot from defenseman Andrew Hutchinson (Rochester Hills, Mich.) on the near side of the goal mouth and flipping the puck past Buckeye goaltender Mike Betz at 6:52.
Red-hot senior wing John Nail (Brampton, Ont.) continued his scoring tear, notching his team-high 17th goal of the season midway through the first frame on a play initiated by Markusen, who pinched into the offensive zone from his position on the near point and threw a pass from the end line to Nail, who was all alone on Betz's left.
"I always enjoy being able to make a few plays," said Markusen. "Their forwards were coming out hard to the point all night. If you fake a few shots, they had a tendency to go down."
Ohio State turned up the offensive pressure late in the opening stanza, launching six shots on goal and beating Spartan netminder Joe Blackburn (Livonia, Mich.) at the 2:30 mark. Blackburn steered aside a shallow-angle shot launched by Buckeye forward Nick Ganga, but teammate R.J. Umberger corralled the rebound and backhanded it past the sprawling MSU netminder.
The Buckeyes drew even midway through the second period, again taking advantage of a loose puck in front of the MSU net. This time, Blackburn stopped Umberger's drive from the far point, but Jean-Francois Dufour took advantage of the Spartans' inability to clear the puck and swatted the rebound past the senior backstop 8:44 into the period.
Maloney answered Dufour with a power-play goal a little more than two minutes later. With Nick Ganga serving a two-minute minor for slashing after running Blackburn, Maloney skated into the near circle and unleashed a blast that caromed off Betz's glove and trickled into the net with 8:13 left in the middle frame.
"(The OSU defenseman) gave me a lot of time so I was able to step up from the half-boards," said Maloney. "I wound up and the guy kind of went down and he was kind of screening (Betz). I just shot it around their defenseman and it went in."
Markusen scored his first collegiate goal early in the third period. The rookie rearguard walked around OSU forward Dave Steckel after the Spartans won a draw in the Buckeyes' defensive zone and fired a rocket from the near circle that beat Betz high to his glove side 2:46 into the stanza.
Maloney provided the final margin of victory with his 11th goal of the year on MSU's last power-play opportunity of the evening at 16:12. Blackburn turned aside 25 Ohio State shots, earning his second win in as many starts this season. Betz made 29 saves for the Buckeyes.
The two teams return to action Saturday at Value City Arena. Faceoff in Columbus is set for 7:05 p.m. EST.
