Michigan State University Athletics
Michigan State University
Lake Superior State
Spartan Hockey Falls To Lake Superior State, 7-1
1/3/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Jan. 3, 2003
SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. - Three second-period tallies by Lake Superior State helped propel the Lakers to a 7-1 victory over Michigan State on Friday night (Jan. 3) at Taffy Abel Arena in Sault Ste. Marie. The Spartans fall to 8-9-1 overall and 4-6 in the CCHA, while LSSU improves to 4-14-1 and 1-12 in league action.
"For the first 12-15 minutes, we had good jump and controlled the game," said MSU head coach Rick Comley. "We gave up two bad goals and stopped competing. It was a horrible effort - too many players didn't play. It wasn't one or two, but it was 10 or 11."
Michigan State jumped out of the gates early as the Spartans had several good chances. Ash Goldie (London, Ont.) had a point-blank opportunity in front of LSSU goalie Matt Violin and John-Michael Liles (Zionsville, Ind.) had a shot from the point that hit the cross bar and rolled on its edge through the crease.
Liles finally broke through beating Violin with his fifth goal of the season at the 9:06 mark of the opening stanza. Troy Ferguson (Kitchener, Ont.) dug the puck out from behind the net and past it along the board to Goldie. Goldie found Liles at the point, as he buried the puck past Violin.
The Lakers made it 2-1 on a goal by Kyle Anderson at the 17:12 mark. Spartan netminder Justin Tobe (Farmington, Mich.) made the initial save on Mike Adamek's shot, but couldn't find the rebound as Anderson scored his first goal of the year. LSSU's Derek Seal almost made it 3-1 with 29 seconds left as Tobe made a great glove save to keep the game at 2-1.
The Lakers scored two quick goals to open the second period. Jeremy Bachusz scored just 14 seconds into the period before Chris Peterson made it 4-1 at the 6:48 mark. The Spartans called a timeout as Matt Migliaccio (Wyandotte, Mich.) replaced Tobe in net.
Less than two minutes later, LSSU made it 5-1 on the power play. With traffic in front of Migliaccio, Cheesman poked home a rebound for his third goal of the year at the 8:58 mark.
The Lakers made it 6-1 on a goal by Jeremy Bachusz that dribbled through Migliaccio's pads at the 1:33 mark of the third period. Nathan Ward's third goal of the season gave LSSU the 7-1 win.
The Spartans and Lakers close out the two-game set tomorrow night (Jan. 4) with a 7:05 p.m. face-off at the Taffy Abel Arena.
Spartan Notebook
* Senior defenseman John-Michael Liles has registered a point in three straight contests.
* MSU is 2-6-1 on Friday nights this year.
