Michigan State University Athletics
Michigan State University
Michigan
Hockey Blanks Michigan, 1-0
3/6/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
March 6, 2004
DETROIT - In yet another epic battle in the Michigan State-Michigan rivalry, the Green and the White earned a hard fought 1-0 victory at Joe Louis Arena on Saturday night. The Spartan victory follows Friday night's 4-4 overtime tie in East Lansing.
"I don't think that it gets any bigger than this," said MSU head coach Rick Comley. "Emotionally, it was a very big win. Michigan played with such speed and energy and they are disappointed to have lost, but they played well. They put all of the pressure on us that they could. We were resilient enough not to give them too much, although they were close many times."
The game was a battle of the goaltenders as Michigan State's Dominic Vicari (Fr., Clinton Township, Mich.) earned his nation's best seventh shutout of the season, stopping 34 shots. Michigan's Al Montoya finished with 25 saves in the loss.
"Both goaltenders played great," said Comley. "Dominic (Vicari) came up really big when he had to and our kids were very nervous. They got out there and there were a lot of people in the building and a lot of noise from the gold squad."
The game saw plenty of back and forth action through the first 40 minutes. However, it was MSU that came out strong to open the third period as the Spartans put pressure on the Wolverines' goal. Sophomore forward David Booth (Washington, Mich.) fired that shot that went off Montoya's glove with 17 minutes left and a little over three minutes later, he broke in along and fired a shot that Montoya just got a piece of.
The end-to-end action continued before Mike Lalonde (Jr., Chetwynd, B.C.) broke the scoreless deadlock with his 21st goal of the season at the 14:24 mark. Lalonde took a feed from Tommy Goebel (Fr., Parma, Ohio) and snuck the puck past Montoya, who was screened in front.
"I was basically fumbling around in the slot there and I don't even know where it came from, whether it was just a shot there," commented Lalonde on his goal. "I can't even remember. I was just laying in the slot and I got a piece of it and it went in."
Vicari made his biggest save of the game, stopping David Moss from point blank range with 3:35 to play.
"I knew that it was going to be a close game, right before the drop of the puck," said Vicari on the game. "I knew that it was going to be a back and forth game. I knew that the first goal that went in was going to win it. It just felt like one of those games and that's what happened."
"We are a work in progress," said Comley on the MSU squad. "This was a big weekend and we were a face-off away from sharing that championship. To get a win like this against a team like (Michigan) helps us nationally and it gets us ready for the playoffs."
Michigan State (21-15-2 overall, 17-9-2 CCHA) will face Ferris State in the first round of the CCHA playoffs March 12, 13 and 14 (if necessary). Friday's game begins at 7:05 p.m., while on Saturday, the game begins at 7:35 p.m. and on Sunday, if necessary, the game starts at 7:05 p.m. Saturday's game will be televised by Fox Sports Net Detroit.
Spartan Notebook
* Twenty-three of the last 24 meetings between Michigan State and Michigan have been decided by two goals or less, including five ties.
* With tonight's win, MSU wins the season series against Michigan, 2-1-1.
* Tonight's shutout marked State's eighth of the season (seven by Dominic Vicari and one by Matt Migliaccio). The eight blankings ranks tied for third on MSU's single-season shutouts chart.
