Spartans, Nanooks: All Tied Up

Dec. 10, 2005

Fairbanks, Alaska - A late Nanook goal ended Michigan State's hopes of a road victory Friday night as the Spartans were forced to settle for the 4-4 tie at Alaska Fairbanks. MSU jumped out to an early 3-0 lead, but let UAF back into the game in a sloppy second period. Senior forward Colton Fretter (Harrow, Ont.), junior captain Drew Miller, (East Lansing, Mich.) and sophomore forward Jim McKenzie (Woodbury, Minn.) all collected two points on the night.

Sophomore Bryan Lerg (Livonia, Mich.) picked up a goal at 4:40 of the first period, giving Michigan State an early 1-0 lead, when he took a pass from freshman Nick Sucharski (Toronto, Ont.), wrapped around the net and shoveled the puck between the legs of Nanook goaltender Wylie Rogers. Junior defenseman Tyler Howells (Eden Prairie, Minn.) also assisted on the play.

Freshman forward Justin Abdelkader (Muskegon, Mich.) gave the Spartans a two-goal cushion at 14:06 with a power-play strike from the slot. Miller and Fretter were credited with the assists on the play. The goal chased UAF's starter Rogers from the net after he allowed two goals on just four early shots.

The Green and White made it 3-0 just 1:38 later with their second power-play goal of the period, when David Booth (Washington, Mich.) collected a rebound of a Howell's wrist-shot, at the top of the crease and wrested a shot over UAF's new netminder, Chad Johnson.

UAF nearly got one back on a power play chance of their own at the 3:54 mark, when a Darcy Campbell shot snuck past Spartan goaltender Jeff Lerg (Livonia, Mich.), ricocheted off the post and bounced back underneath the freshman netminder.

Seconds later, Michigan State's Corey Potter (Mason, Mich.) was assessed a five-minute major and a game misconduct for checking from behind with Daniel Vukovic (North York, Ont.) already seated in the penalty box, putting the MSU down two men. The Spartans managed to kill off the five-on-three opportunity, but Nanook Adam Naglich got UAF on the board 1:45 into the major penalty with an easy tap-in goal, set up by Curtis Fraser.

Fairbanks pulled within one, when Kyle Jones deflected a Kyle Greentree shot past Jeff Lerg just seconds after Potter's major penalty had concluded. It was the first of two second-period goals for Jones, who also drew the Nanooks even on an identical play in the second stanza.

After surrendering two power-play goals in the first period, the Nanook penalty kill came alive in the third period. The Spartans opened the final stanza with a five-on-three power play, but were unable to capitalize. MSU had three more power play opportunities in the frame, including a five-minute major assessed to Fairbanks' Tyler Ekford, but failed to score each time.

Fretter put the Spartans ahead 4-3 with just 1:54 remaining in the contest. The senior collected a rebound of a Miller shot on a partial breakaway and buried it behind Johnson. The lead was short lived, however, as the Nanooks got a goal from Kyle Jones, his third of the night, to even the score with 0:33 remaining.

The two teams will meet again tomorrow night, at 11:05 p.m. EST, to conclude the weekend series.

Spartan Notebook -

* When Bryan Lerg scored at 4:40 of the first period, it capped a streak in which the sophomore from Livonia, Mich., had scored five-of-six Spartan goals. Lerg now has five goals in the last three games after having scored just two in the opening 15 games in 2005-06.

* Freshman forward Nick Sucharski picked up the first point of his Michigan State career with his assist on Bryan Lerg's first period goal.

* Justin Abdelkader's first period goal was his first since a Nov. 15 contest at Ohio State. Senior forward David Booth snapped an even longer drought, finding the back of the net for the first time since a 3-0 win over North Dakota in the Lefty McFadden Tournament.

* With a first period assist and a third period goal, senior Colton Fretter raised his season totals to 5-10-15 and has now registered seven points in his last seven games. The Harrow, Ont., native is now just one point shy of the 100 point plateau.

* Junior defenseman Tyler Howells chipped in a pair of first period assists to raise his season totals to 5-14-19, a new single-season career high.

* MSU's first period was one of the strongest 20 minutes of play this season for the Spartans. The Green and White scored three times on just five shots and were 2-for-2 on the power play.

* UAF picked up a pair of goals on the power play, marking the seventh time this season that the Spartans have allowed multiple man-advantage strikes this season.

* UAF's Kyle Jones recorded a hat trick in Friday night's contest, the first against Michigan State this season.