Michigan State University Athletics
Michigan State University
Wayne State (McFadden Invite)
Spartans Over Power Wayne State, 5-1
10/8/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Oct. 8, 2005
Dayton, Ohio - The Michigan State men's hockey team (1-0-0) went 3-10 on the power play and opened up the 2005-06 season with a 5-1 win over Wayne State (0-0-1) at the Lefty McFadden Invitational, in Dayton, Ohio. Sophomore forward Bryan Lerg (Livonia, Mich.) paced the Spartans, with a three-point night, to earn first-star honors. Junior Dominic Vicari made 15 saves to pick up the victory between the pipes.
Wayne State jumped out in front early with a goal, just nine seconds in, from forward Jason Baclig; linemate Mark Nebus found Baclig all alone in the slot and beat Spartan goaltender Dominic Vicari (Clinton Twp., Mich.), to give the Warriors a 1-0 lead.
The Spartans evened things up when freshman forward Justin Abdelkader (Muskegon, Mich.) picked up the rebound of a Corey Potter (Mason, Mich.) shot and slid the puck under Wayne State goalie Matt Kelly. Tyler Howells (Eden Prairie, Minn.) was also credited with an assist on the goal, the first of Abdelkader's Michigan State career.
Warrior Taylor Donohue picked up a game misconduct for checking from behind early in the second period. Michigan State capitalized once on the man advantage when Bryan Lerg (Livonia, Mich.) picked up the puck behind the net, spun out in front and put the puck on net. Junior captain Drew Miller (East Lansing, Mich.) buried the rebound to give MSU a 2-0 lead at 12:24 of the second.
Sophomore Jim McKenzie (Woodbury, Minn.) pushed the lead to 3-1 with a goal at 19:59 of the second period. McKenzie collected the puck, after a David Booth (Washington, Mich.) face-off win, and blasted a slap shot off the post and into the net.
The Green and White added two more goals during the final stanza. Senior forward Colton Fretter put the Spartans up 4-1 with a goal at 1:14 of the third. Bryan Lerg picked up his second assist of the night on the play. Lerg finished off a three point night with a goal late in the period; the sophomore picked up a loose puck at the top of the left circle and, with Kelly (29 saves) out of position, flipped a shot into an empty net.
The Spartans return to action tomorrow, facing off against 2004-05 national runners up North Dakota, at 2:05 p.m. Wayne State will play Lefty McFadden host Miami University at 5:05 p.m.
