Michigan State University
Wisconsin
MSU 5, Wisconsin 1
3/25/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
March 25, 2001
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - It was a sweet sixteen for Michigan State Sunday.
Just 16 minutes after the Spartan men's basketball team clinched its third straight trip to the NCAA Final Four, the MSU hockey team downed Wisconsin, 5-1, in an NCAA West Regional quarterfinal game in front of a partisan crowd at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids. The win propels the top-ranked Spartans (33-4-4 overall) to the NCAA Frozen Four for the second time in three seasons.
"If Tom (Izzo) can do it, then Ron can do it," said MSU head coach Ron Mason. "There's a lot of good feeling around Michigan State today."
MSU advances to the NCAA Frozen Four in Albany, N.Y., in two weeks to face North Dakota in a semifinal match Thursday, April 5. The game, which will be televised on espn2, will take place at 1:30 p.m. EST. Michigan will meet Boston College in the other semifinal.
"(Reaching the Frozen Four) is one of our goals every year and to get there is very tough," said MSU senior captain Rustyn Dolyny (Fort Frances, Ont.). "Basketball `s done an excellent job over the four years. It's going to be real neat that both teams are in the Final Four at the same time. For them to beat Temple and us to beat Wisconsin today - that's a pretty neat thing."
Junior Jon Insana (New Baltimore, Mich) opened the scoring for the Spartans 7:45 into the first with an unassisted goal. Andrew Bogle (Calgary, Alta.) started the play by firing a shot on the Wisconsin goal from the blue line. Badgers' netminder Graham Melanson came out of the crease to play the puck ahead, but whiffed on the clearing attempt. Insana capitalized on the Wisconsin error and scored on a virtually empty net for his third goal of the year and first point since Jan. 27 vs. Michigan, snapping a 13-game scoreless streak in the process.
"I just wanted to kill some time until our forwards got on the ice to forecheck," said Insana. "I didn't expect (Melanson) to put the puck on my stick."
Senior Sean Patchell (Moonstone, Ont.) gave MSU a two-goal edge with a power-play tally late in the first frame. Defenseman Brad Fast (Fort St. John, B.C.) took a shot on goal that caromed to forward Troy Ferguson (Kitchener, Ont.) on the left-wing half boards. Ferguson walked in between the circles and made a perfect pass to Patchell, who was stationed on the doorstep to Melanson's left.
"I was yelling pretty loud at Fergie and he got the pass across to me," said Patchell. "I would have been disappointed if I hadn't scored."
The Badgers halved the Spartan lead with a power-play marker of their own early in the second stanza. A clearing attempt by MSU rearguard Andrew Hutchinson (Rochester Hills, Mich) was knocked down by Wisconsin's Rene Bourque. The puck ricocheted to Andy Wheeler, whose shot was denied by goaltender Ryan Miller (East Lansing, Mich.) but the Badgers' Matt Hussey was there to pick up the rebound for his ninth goal at 8:52.
Wisconsin's momentum shift was short-lived, however, as the Spartans tallied just 12 seconds later. This time, Patchell cut off a Melanson clearing attempt and launched a pass to linemate John Nail (Brampton, Ont.), who was breaking to the net on the right wing and easily converted for his team-high 20th goal of the season.
"When we get scored upon, our team has done a great job of rolling with the punches," said Patchell. "It was great to get it at that point in time."
Junior Joe Goodenow (Detroit, Mich.) pushed MSU to a 4-1 lead with a power-play goal, the Spartans' second of the game, at 11:50. The pretty play was initiated by winger Brian Maloney (Bassano, Alta.), who hit Goodenow as he streaked to the goal mouth with a tape-to-tape pass from the far faceoff circle.
The Spartan power play clicked again in the third period. Senior captain Rustyn Dolyny (Fort Frances, Ont.) unleashed a blast from the blue line that eluded Melanson high to his stick side a little more than five minutes into the final stanza.
Patchell, Insana and Hutchinson were named to the all-West Regional team. They were joined by Wisconsin's Dany Heatley, Peter Aubry of Mercyhurst and Michigan's Mike Cammalleri, who was honored as the regional's Most Outstanding Player.
