Hockey Falls 3-2 To UMass-Lowell

Jan. 10, 2004

EAST LANSING, Mich. - After giving up an early lead and coming back to tie the game, the Michigan State men's ice hockey team lost the second game of their series with UMass-Lowell on Saturday, 3-2. The Spartans failed to sweep a weekend series for the eighth consecutive time. With the loss, MSU falls to 12-11-1 for the season, while the River Hawks improve to 11-9-3.

"I just don't get it," said MSU head coach Rick Comley. "We came out so flat tonight, the lack of emotion just blows my mind. I thought we would be better; we played so well last night. We came out tonight and just did not answer the bell. I just don't like what I see right now.

"Good teams win at home, and we haven't been taking care of that. Now, we have to go on the road and play good teams in their home arenas. Our biggest problem is limited emotion. We would be a totally different team if we would play with some passion. It's hard to say what to do. You can't fake emotion."

Michigan State came out a little sluggish off the opening face off. The Spartans failed to convert on their first two power-play opportunities of the game. It was UMass-Lowell who struck first at 6:16 into the period. River Hawks' forward Ben Walter, took a pass from UML's leading scorer for the season, Elias Godoy, and put the puck behind Dominic Vicari (Fr., Clinton Township, Mich.). It was the first goal Vicari had given up in over 120:00 minutes of play.

"In the first period, we had no legs and no enthusiasm," said forward David Booth. "I was disappointed in how we came out."

UML took their momentum off the first goal of the weekend series and put the Spartans at a 2-0 deficit. With just over five minutes remaining, Godoy shuffled the puck up ice to his teammate Brad King who rifled a shot on net. Vicari made the stop but failed to clear the rebound and River Hawk forward Rene Gautheir was in front of the MSU netminder to knock the puck between his legs.

With less than two minutes to go in the first stanza, the Spartans recovered finally netting a power-play goal. The power-play line of Drew Miller (Fr., East Lansing, Mich.), Lee Falardeau (Jr., Midland, Mich.), and Colton Fretter (So., Harrow, Ont.) worked the puck deep into the UML zone with commanding control of the puck. The puck bounced out to the blue line and landed on the stick of Corey Potter (So., Mason, Mich.) who fired a shot that was blocked. However, Miller was in position to pick up the rebound, and Fretter eventually slammed the puck into the back of the net. State only trailed by one goal, 2-1.

The Spartans came out ready to play in the second period, spending most of the opening minutes in the UML zone. Freshman defenseman A.J. Thelen (Savage, Minn.) took a shot from the blue line and it deflected off senior captain Jim Slater's (Lapeer, Mich.) skate and found it's way behind the UML goaltender, John Yaros. The goal knotted the game at 2-2.

After giving up the two goals in the first period, Vicari seemed to settle back into his rhythm. He made several key saves on a UML powerplay despite losing his stick. Vicari made 13 saves for the game. Yaros stopped 24 Spartan shots kept UML in the game, thwarting several quality scoring chances.

Late in the third period, UML had the puck in the Michigan State zone. After a few shots a scramble in front of the net led to River Hawks forward Ben Walter sliding the puck into the side of the net to put UMass-Lowell up, 3-2.

With Vicari pulled, Michigan State failed to convert on several shots that could have tied the game as the River Hawks prevailed, 3-2.

"We have to find it (passion) and dig down deep within ourselves," said junior captain Jim Slater. "Right now, we have a lot of guys that don't have it. Passion is what it takes to win games. We have to find ways to get it done. Guys have to step up right now."

Michigan State will resume CCHA play next weekend (Jan. 16-17) as they travel to play Bowling Green. The two teams will meet on Friday and Saturday night at 7:05 p.m.

Spartan Notes
Getting on the board...
**Senior captain Jim Slater moved alone into first place in the CCHA scoring race by chalking up a goal to give him 13 goals and 18 assist for 31 points.

Taking charge...
**Freshman goaltender Dominic Vicari is the third MSU goaltender in the last 25 years to assume the starting role as a freshman. The other two were Hobey Baker Award winner Ryan Miller (2000) and Second Team All-American Jason Muzzatti (1988).

Freshmen blue liners succeed...
**With the outstanding play of first pair defensemen Ethan Graham and high-scoring A.J. Thelen (18 points), you may forget about another freshman defenseman Chris Snavely who has only 10 points on the season. Snavely has found other ways to contribute posting a +12 rating on the season, which is third best on the team.

Doing it all...
**Freshman Tyler Howells has played a versatile role in the Spartan lineup this season. Howells has played in all 24 games this season and is a natural winger. To help the team, he has suited up as a defenseman four times this season.

Quotable
"I think everyone needs to jump on everyone to get it going. Passion and locker room intensity just isn't there. We need to get that back. Our team needs to find heart right now." - defenseman A.J. Thelen.

"Guys just are not playing up to their potential. It's frustrating and tough." - netminder Dominic Vicari.

"We knew going into tonight, it was going to be a big game for us in the rankings. We didn't get it done. Now, we are heading back to league play. Guys have to step it up right now." - forward Jim Slater.