Michigan State University Athletics
Michigan State University
Bowling Green
MSU Hockey Outlasts Bowling Green
3/16/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
March 16, 2001
DETROIT - Michigan State advanced to the CCHA championship game by beating Bowling Green, 2-1, in a semifinal match at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit Friday. The win is the Spartans' seventh straight and puts MSU (31-4-4 overall) in the league title match for the fourth time in five season while ending the unprecented postseason run of BGSU (16-19-5 overall), the league's ninth-seeded team coming into the playoffs.
The pesky Falcons opened the scoring with 3:24 left in the first period thanks to some hard-work in the MSU defensive zone. Bowling Green winger Ryan Wetterberg drove to the net up the near side and put a shot on goal, and while MSU netminder Ryan Miller (East Lansing, Mich.) made the initial save, his teammates couldn't control the rebound. The puck kicked into the high slot and was picked up by Kevin Bieksa, who then fired a shot past a the sprawling Spartan goaltender for his fourth goal of the season.
Miller, who was named CCHA Player of the Year Thursday, displayed some of the form that made him the league's best individual performer during the 2000-01 season during the first period. The sophomore standout made a huge save on a breakaway by BGSU's Ryan Murphy on a breakaway midway through the stanza and stoned the Falcons' Scott Hewson during the same shift.
Spartan senior Sean Patchell (Moonstone, Ont.) continued his goal-scoring binge with a power-play tally with 38 seconds left in the first frame. Patchell, stationed near the far goal post to BGSU netminder Tyler Masters' left, corralled a carom off a John-Michael Liles (Zionsville, Ind.) shot from the blue line, cradled the puck and lifted it just under the crossbar for his sixth goal of the year and third in the last three games.
"Different people score for us at different times," said MSU head coach Ron Mason. "It's been that way all year for us."
Patchell gave the Spartans its first lead of the game - one it would not relinquish - with his seventh goal late in the second period. The senior wing took a centering feed between the faceoff circles from Troy Ferguson (Kitchener, Ont.) , who was streaming into the offensive zone near the far half-board, kicked the puck to his stick and beat Masters high to the right side.
"I got tangled up with a (Bowling Green) player and tried to get back in the play," said Patchell. "He went off on a change and I ended up open. I was screaming at Troy Ferguson pretty loud."
The Spartans dominated play in the second stanza, outshooting the Falcons by an 18-6 margin. Bowling Green returned the favor in the final period, however, outgunning Michigan State, 16-7. Miller was equal to the task over the last 20 minutes of regulation, stopping every BGSU shot he faced and shutting down a spirited attack by the underdog Falcons including a fantastic kick save late in the frame.
"They were a tough team to play," said Spartan junior defenseman Jon Insana, who was a standout on the blue line for MSU tonight. "There were a couple shifts where they were cycling and we just did our best to survive."
"We did a good job over the last minute-and-a-half keeping them at bay," said Miller, who made 28 saves on the evening en route to his 29th victory of the season."
