Michigan State University Athletics
Michigan State University
North Dakota (NCAA Semifinals)
Defending Champs Oust Spartans 2-0
4/5/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
April 5, 2001
Michigan State has been the nation's top-ranked college hockey team for 19 weeks. Come Saturday night, however, there will be a new No. 1.
Defending national champion North Dakota (29-7-9 overall) scored a pair of first-period goal and Fighting Sioux goaltender Karl Goehring made 30 saves en route to a 2-0 win over the Spartans (33-5-4) in Thursday's NCAA Frozen Four semifinal in Albany, N.Y., today. Today's North Dakota win marks the first time in school history the Spartans have benn blanked in NCAA Tournament play and ends MSU's quest to win its first national title since 1986.
"First of all, North Dakota played a great game," said MSU head coach Ron Mason. "We could never get our game going. It's tough to fight from behind and hard to do against a good team."
North Dakota took the lead just 1:15 into the first period on the first shot of the game. The Sioux's Kevin Spiewak took a feed from teammate Jason Notermann between the faceoff circles and rifled a shot high over MSU goaltender Ryan Miller's (East Lansing, Mich.) right shoulder that ricocheted off the post for his seventh goal of the year.
"When they scored on the first shot, I just wanted to regain my composure," said Miller. "I wanted to keep the team in it, but it didn't happen that way."
Ryan Bayda advanced the North Dakota edge to two goals on a power-play tally with 4:28 left in the first. Bayda picked up a rebound off a shot from Bryan Lundbohm as it caromed off the back boards, then snuck the puck past Miller inside the near post for his 25th marker of the season.
The Sioux controlled play for the balance of the opening frame, outshooting the Spartans, 17-7. MSU was not without a couple quality scoring chances, however. Senior wing Damon Whitten (Brighton, Mich.) nearly scored on the Spartans' first power-play opportunity of the game when he found himself all alone on the near side of the goal mouth, but his shot attempt was smothered by goaltender Karl Goehring. Center Troy Ferguson (Kitchener, Ont.) had a similar chance late in the first frame during State's second man advantage, but the sophomore didn't get a good piece of a one-time attempt and the shot fluttered harmlessly into Goehring's pads.
"They got off to a good start," said MSU captain Rustyn Dolyny (Fort Frances, Ont.). "When a good team gets off to a 2-0 start it's tough to come back. We had a tough first period, but they played an excellent game."
Neither team could muster a goal in the second period, a frame that clearly belonged to Miller, who followed up his 15-save effort in the first by making 12 stops in the middle stanza. Among his highlight-reel saves was a tumbling, somersault-like stop on Bryan Lundbohm, who broke in uncontested on the right wing, seven minutes into the period.
MSU had the bulk of its quality scoring chances in the final period, but Goehring, who posted his fourth shutout of the season, kept the Spartans at bay, making 15 saves in the third. Miller, who today was named to the West All-America first team and is a leading candidate to win the 2001 Hobey Baker Award, stopped 34 shots.
"We have a wonderful group that overachieved on a consistent basis," said Mason of the 2000-01 Spartans. "It's tough to end on a loss, but we'll get over it."
