Michigan State University Athletics
Michigan State University
Niagara
Spartan Hockey Powers Past Niagara, 5-4 In Overtime
11/9/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Nov. 9, 2002
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Sophomore forward Brock Radunske (New Hamburg, Ont.) continues to be in the right place at the right time and became the hero once again for the Michigan State hockey team. Radunske's goal with 1:07 left in overtime sent Michigan State to a 5-4 overtime victory over Niagara on Saturday (Nov. 9) at Munn Arena.
Rudunske's goal, his second of the season, was fed to him off a pass from sophomore linemate Ash Goldie (London, Ont.). Senior John-Michael Liles (Zionsville, Ind.) handed the puck off to Goldie past the blue line. Goldie dumped the puck up the middle to his roommate, Radunske, buried the puck past Niagara goalie Jeff VanNynatten and sent the 6,504 Spartan faithful home happy.
Radunske, who played with VanNynatten on the same midget team in Waterloo, Ont., said he had a word with his old teammate after the game.
"He just told me I was lucky," Radunske said with a laugh. "I just thought I should blast it in. I knew I had a good opportunity if I put everything on it."
It was two quick Niagara goals that sent the game into the extra stanza. With 3:50 left in the third period, Niagara winger Bernie Sigrist knocked a shot over freshman Justin Tobe's (Northville, Mich.) shoulder to pull the Purple Eagles within one, 4-3. Joe Tallari, the nation's leading goal scorer, sent the game into overtime with his 13th tally of the season with less than a minute left in the game.
 Sophomore forward Jim Slater was the No. 1 star of the game after registering 2-1--3 totals.  | |
The other story of the night was the play of sophomore center Jim Slater (Lapeer, Mich.). The sophomore was originally listed as a scratch before warm-ups, after suffering a hyper extended elbow in Friday's loss. Slater ended the night with three points - two of them from goals - and was the number one star of the game.
"He (Slater) has a football mentality when he plays the game," commented MSU head coach Rick Comley about his sophomore star. "If there is one guy we can't play without right now, it's him. He's a guy I trust a lot because he plays so much."
Niagara opened the scoring 1:57 into the first period when defenseman Casey Handrahan passed the puck to winger Chris Sebastian. Sebastian then went left side to center Hannu Karru who scored on Tobe.
Back-to-back goals by Slater gave MSU a 2-1 advantage. Freshman David Booth (Washington, Mich.) slid the puck cross-ice to Slater who nailed a shot past Niagara goalie Rob Bonk's right side to even the score at one. It goal also marked MSU's first shot on goal for the game.
Slater answered again for the Spartans on the power play at 11:29 when junior Joe Markusen (Park River, N.D.) assisted sophomore Duncan Keith (Penticton, B.C.) on an outside pass. Keith then passed to Slater who took a slapshot on Bonk's right side. Slater recorded his third goal of the season, and put the Spartans ahead 2-1.
Slater said although he was a little sore, the adrenaline and intensity of Munn Ice Arena kept him focused on scoring.
"When you're hurt you can't think about it because it's all in the mind. You just go out there and play," commented Slater. "Even if I didn't score goals or assists, I was going to make sure I played a sound defensive game."
At the start of the second period, the Spartans took a 3- l lead when freshman Nenad Gajic (Burnaby, B.C.) shot the puck over new Niagara goalie Jeff VanNynatten. Gajic received the assists from Slater and Keith at 2:12 in the period.
Niagara answered back just 15 seconds later when the Purple Eagles' Jeff Cross found the net to pull the Purple Eagles back to within one, 3-2. Andrew Lackner and Ryan Gale drew the assists on Cross' goal.
The Spartans scored at 6:40 in the third period when the winger duo of Gajic and senior Brian Maloney (Bassano, Alta.) assisted sophomore Ash Goldie (London, Ont.) on a goal that carried into the net over VanNynatten.
Coach Comley said he was glad to see a hard-fighting style team like Niagara, but was glad to see the game end.
"The game felt like it took about eight hours," remarked Comley. "The inability to score has affected some of our guys so much. During the game we're forcing some things, and how some of those pucks don't go in, I just don't know."
Next weekend (Nov. 15-16), Michigan State faces-off against Ohio State in a two-game series in Columbus.
