Michigan State University Athletics
Michigan State University
Northern Michigan
Hockey Falls To Northern Michigan, 3-2
10/22/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Oct. 22, 2004
MARQUETTE, Mich. - Michigan State (1-2-0 overall, 0-1-0 CCHA) dropped a 3-2 heartbreaker to Northern Michigan (2-1-0 overall, 1-0-0 CCHA) in the CCHA opener for both teams on Friday night (Oct. 22) in Marquette, Mich.
"It was a one-goal game on the road," said MSU head coach Rick Comley. "It was a hard, fought game. These are two pretty close teams. I really thought our kids worked hard."
The Spartans jumped out to an early 1-0 lead on a power-play goal by Colton Fretter (Jr., Harrow, Ont.) at the 6:48 mark of the opening stanza. Jim Slater (Sr., Lapeer, Mich.) won the face-off just inside the blueline and fed the puck into the corner to Tommy Goebel (So., Parma, Ohio), who sent the puck back to Fretter at the blueline, who one-timed a shot that beat NMU netminder Bill Zaniboni.
"We had some up and downs today," said Fretter. "In the first period, we were playing pretty well. We took some bad penalties that really hurt us."
Less than one minute later, NMU tied the game at one as Clayton Lainsbury slipped the puck past Dominic Vicari (So., Clinton Township, Mich.) in a scramble in front of the Spartan net. The Wildcats made it 2-1 on a shorthanded tally by Andrew Contois, just 2:26 into the second period.
A Spartan turnover gave the Wildcats a 3-1 lead less than five minutes into the third period as Lainsbury buried a shot that beat Vicari. Vicari finished the game with 28 stops, including 10 in both the second and third periods.
 Kevin Estrada tallied his first goal of the season at NMU.  | |
"We need to come back and work even harder tomorrow," said Estrada. "We have to step up when we have chances."
State had several chances to tie the game in the final minute, but couldn't capitalize in dropping a 3-2 decision. The Spartans had a 5-on-3 power play opportunity with 8.6 seconds left as NMU took a pair of penalties, including a bench minor for fans throwing shakers on the ice.
The Spartans finished 1-for-12 with the man advantage, while Northern Michigan was 0-for-8.
"We took too many penalties," remarked Comley. "We need to get a power play that is good enough and take advantage of those opportunities."
MSU and NMU close out the two-game set tomorrow (Saturday, Oct. 23) with a 7:35 p.m. start at the Berry Events Center.
Spartan Notebook
* SO F Colton Fretter has scored three goals in the last two games.
* SR F Jim Slater posted his first multiple-point game of the season with a pair of assists.
* MSU holds a 23-17-2 edge in the all-time series with NMU. However, NMU has won five of the last six games between the schools.
* For the third straight game, MSU has six freshmen dressed for the game. In addition to blueliners Jeff Dunne and Daniel Vukovic, forwards Bryan Lerg, Jim McKenzie, Chris Mueller and Peder Skinner saw action.
* MSU, which opened its 23rd season in the CCHA tonight, has compiled a 14-7-3 all-time mark in conference openers. Tonight's game marked the second time in school history that State opened its CCHA schedule against Northern Michigan.
