Michigan State University
Ohio State
Hockey Shuts Out No. 11 Ohio State, 3-0
1/25/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Jan. 25, 2004
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Michigan State hockey earned a 3-0 shutout of No. 11 Ohio State on Saturday at Value City Arena. With the win, MSU earned its first sweep since the Oct. 31-Nov. 1 Ferris State series. In addition, MSU picked up its first road sweep since Feb. 22-23, 2002.
"Overall, I thought we played very well," said MSU head coach Rick Comley. "It was one of our most consistent efforts all year. The power-play goal to start the third period was key."
Michigan State jumped on the scoreboard first at the 13:03 of the middle stanza. Freshman forward Chris Lawrence (Havertown, Pa.) won the face-off in the offensive zone and drew the puck back to A.J. Thelen (Fr., Savage, Minn.) at the point. Thelen blasted a shot from the point that beat OSU netminder Mike Betz, who was screened on the play, high on the glove side.
"The first goal, I just got the puck to the net and hoped that good things would happen," said Thelen. "Coach emphasizes always getting pucks on net."
Thelen made it 2-0 with his second goal of the night this, another blast from the point that beat Betz but this time on the power play. Brock Radunske (Jr., New Hamburg, Ont.) dug the puck out and threw the puck back to Corey Potter (So., Mason, Mich.) at the blue line, who passed it over to Thelen who ripped the shot for the goal. It marked Thelen's first two-goal game of his career.
Junior forward Adam Nightingale (Cheboygan, Mich.) sealed the win with an empty-net tally at the 17:54 mark of the third period.
 Matt Migliaccio stopped 28 shots en route to his first shutout of the season.  | |
Junior netminder Matt Migliaccio picked up his first shutout of the season, stopping all 28 Buckeye shots. Mike Betz finished with 22 stops for the Buckeyes.
"I felt good and comfortable tonight," said Migliaccio. "Everything was hitting me. Our wingers and our defenseman did a great job of clearing out the puck. Overall, I thought we did a good job of defending Ohio State."
Michigan State returns to Munn Ice Arena to meet Miami Jan. 30-31. Face-off both nights is set for 7:05 p.m.
Spartan Notebook
* Due to the injury to Dominic Vicari, sophomore netminder Rod Tocco was State's back-up goaltender on Saturday night. Tocco made the trek to Columbus from East Lansing on Saturday morning.
* Freshman defenseman A.J. Thelen posted a four-point weekend against Ohio State. He tallied a pair of assists on Friday and added two goals on Saturday for his first multiple-goal game of his career.
* With the 4-2 win on Friday and the 3-0 blanking on Saturday, Michigan State recorded its first road sweep since Feb. 22-23, 2002 when the Spartans took a pair at Miami (3-1 and 4-3).
