Michigan State University
Wisconsin (College Hockey Showcase)
Hockey Blanks No. 2 Wisconsin, 4-0
11/27/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Nov. 26, 2004
MADISON, Wis. - It was exactly the type of performance that Michigan State head coach Rick Comley was looking for from his Spartans on the road Friday night. The MSU hockey team picked up a 4-0 shutout over No. 2 Wisconsin (9-4 overall) in the College Hockey Showcase before a crowd of 11,949 at the Kohl Center in Madison.
"We played with composure," Comley remarked. "It was an emotional win. We kept it simple. We were much smarter with the puck tonight and got some good goaltending."
MSU sophomore netminder Dominic Vicari (Clinton Township, Mich.) finished with 28 saves for his second shutout of the season and the ninth of his career. Vicari stopped nine shots in both the first and third periods and 10 in the middle stanza.
"It felt pretty good," said Vicari on his performance. "I got a couple good shots early. It was a fun game. We came out and our forwards were flying. We got the first goal and that was huge."
 Colton Fretter recorded his third multiple-goal game of the season with a pair of goals vs. Wisconsin.  | |
"It was a victory for our team," said Fretter. "We battled hard today. We caused some turnovers and didn't have that many. It was good to get the win."
Wisconsin had several great chances to get on the board, but Vicari stood tall in goal. He stopped Ryan MacMurchy point blank and also kicked out a blast by Jeff Likens from between the face-off circle.
Back-to-back power-play goals, just 1:33 apart in the second period, gave the Spartans a 2-0 advantage. Fretter tallied his second goal of the game on a blast from the right point at the 4:44 mark before Drew Miller, who was camped at the side of the net, buried a shot for his sixth goal of the season.
MSU continued its strong play in the third period as Jim Slater (Sr., Lapeer, Mich.) tallied his fifth goal of the season to put the Spartans up, 4-0. Slater took a feed from David Booth (Jr., Washington, Mich.) in the neutral zone and skated into the Badgers zone and fired a shot from just inside the face-off circle that beat Bernd Bruckler.
All told, Bruckler and Elliott combined to make 24 stops for the Badgers.
"This was a solid win for us," said Slater. "We played great for 60 minutes. There was a lot of energy on the bench."
MSU (6-6-1 overall) heads to No. 3 Minnesota to face the Golden Gophers in Minneapolis, Minn., tomorrow night at 8:05 p.m. EST. Saturday's game will be televised live by Fox Sports North.
Spartan Notebook
* MSU lost both SR F Mike Lalonde (second period) and SO D Ethan Graham (third period) to injury.
* FR D Jeff Dunne made his first appearance since the Nov. 6 game at Ferris State - a span of four games.
* With a pair of goals, JR F Colton Fretter surpassed his season best of seven goals, set during his freshman campaign in 2002-03. The Harrow, Ont., native now has eight goals on the season.
* JR F Colton Fretter finished with three points (two goals, one assist) for his team-best fourth multiple-point game of the season. It marks the fifth time in his career that he has tallied three points in a contest.
* SR F Jim Slater, who picked up assists on State's second and third goals and scored MSU's fourth goal, recorded his second straight multiple-point game with three points. He posted a goal and an assist in MSU's 5-4 loss to Michigan last Saturday.
* SO F Drew Miller already has 10 points on the season (six goals, four assists) after recording just 10 (four goals, six assists) all last year.
* The Spartans are now 6-0 when leading after 40 minutes of play this season.
* MSU finished 2-for-6 with the man advantage, while Wisconsin was 0-for-4.
* With tonight's 4-0 win, the Spartans are now 4-0 against the Badgers in the College Hockey Showcase in Madison.
