Michigan State University Athletics
Michigan State University
Alaska-Fairbanks
Spartans Complete Sweep Of Alaska-Fairbanks
1/15/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Jan. 15, 2006
EAST LANSING, Mich. - - Rick Comley moved into sole possession of fifth place on the all-time NCAA victories list on Saturday evening and the Spartan men's hockey team recorded its third sweep of the season with a 2-1 victory over Alaska-Fairbanks in CCHA action at Munn Ice Arena. Dan Sturges (Verona, Wisc.) and Justin Abdelkader (Muskegon, Mich.) had goals for MSU, which pushes its record to 12-8-5 (6-5-4 CCHA) with the victory. It is a season-best fourth straight win for the Green and White, which also extended its unbeaten streak at home to six straight contests (5-0-1).
The Spartans had the first quality scoring chance of the game less than a minute in. Junior defenseman Ethan Graham (Xenia, Ohio) found senior forward David Booth streaking to the net. Booth tried to redirect the pass into the net but Nanook goaltender Wylie Rogers made a sliding save. Rogers made two more saves from point-blank range on both freshman forward Justin Abdelkader (Muskegon, Mich.) and senior forward Colton Fretter (Harrow, Ont.) in the minutes following.
Alaska-Fairbanks took a 1-0 lead just eight seconds into its first power play opportunity of the night. Nanook defenseman Darcy Campbell took a slapshot from the point that deflected off of the skate of Michigan State defenseman Corey Potter (Mason, Mich.), redirecting high and beating Spartan goaltender Jeff Lerg (Livonia, Mich.). The goal came at 7:53 of the opening frame, with Kyle Greentree and Tyler Eckford credited with assists.
The home team gained the equalizer just seconds after an Alaska-Fairbanks penalty expired, getting on the board at 12:48 of the first. Freshman forward Tim Kennedy (Buffalo, N.Y.) picked the pocket of a Nanook defenseman deep in the left hand corner, and his backhanded pass and found sophomore forward Daniel Sturges (Verona, Wisc.) streaking to the slot from the bench. Sturges cradled Kennedy's backhand pass and fired a wrist shot that beat Rogers stick side for his second goal of the season.
Michigan State had two golden opportunities to take the lead in the final minutes of the opening stanza. The first came when junior forward Drew Miller (East Lansing) fought off Greentree in the right corner and found Chris Mueller (West Seneca, N.Y.) right on the doorstep, but Rogers collected the puck in his chest. Later on in the shift Fretter broke to the net off of the left wing and scooped a backhand shot on Rogers, but the sophomore was up to the task and preserved the 1-1 tie.
The teams traded quality chances midway through the second. Nanook forward Branden Walls collected his own shot off of a Tyler Howells (Eden Prarie, Minn.) block and snapped the puck to the goal. Lerg was equal to the challenge, kicking the puck to the side with his left pad. Fretter had an opportunity that same shift when he walked out of the corner to the left dot and fired a wrist shot, but Rogers flashed his glove and took away what could have been the go-ahead tally.
Michigan State finally broke through with the man advantage at 15:56 of the second. The Nanooks had killed 49 consecutive power play opportunities against (dating back to the first MSU-Nanook meeting in Fairbanks back in December), but Abdelkader stopped the streak when he sped down the right wing and pulled up in the right circle. The sophomore sniped a wrist shot top shelf on Rogers for his seventh goal of the season.
The Spartans appeared to take a two-goal lead just minutes later when Kennedy knocked in a Tim Crowder (Victoria, BC) rebound off of a scrum in front the net. However, the goal was disallowed after the officials consulted the video replay and deemed that Rogers was interfered with enough to disallow the goal, sending the game into the intermission with a 2-1 score.
The Nanooks had a premium chance tie the game five minutes into the third period. Curtis Fraser took a backdoor pass just off the right post. He one-timed the puck towards the net but Lerg made a phenomenal pad save to keep it a one-goal game.
A late penalty on Tyler Eckford kept UAF from pulling its goalie until the final 30 seconds, and the visitors could not mount a serious scoring attack in that final half-minute. Some late fisticuffs in the game resulted in a combined 50 penalty minutes assessed for the two teams at the buzzer, most noteworthy game disqualifications handed out to MSU's Chris Mueller and UAF's TJ Campbell. Both will be forced to miss their team's next game; Mueller will not be available for State on Tuesday against Michigan, while Campbell will miss Fairbanks' next outing against Ohio State on Friday.
Michigan State has a quick turnaround, as it will host archrival Michigan at Munn Arena on Tuesday. The game, which will be televised live on FSN, will start at 7:35 p.m.
Spartan Notebook:
- The win over Alaska-Fairbanks gives head coach Rick Comley 675 career victories. That puts him in fifth place alone on the all-time win list, one better than Len Ceglarski of Clarkson and Boston College. Michigan State athletic director and former head coach Ron Mason tops the list with 924 career wins.
- Michigan State's record at Munn Ice Arena is now 7-3-2 on the season. The victory extends Michigan State's unbeaten streak at Munn Arena to six games, dating back to the 2-2 tie versus Minnesota on Nov. 26.
- The Spartan win pushes its record to 7-2-2 in games following a victory and 6-3-2 on Saturdays.
- This being the second game of a two-game series with the Nanooks, the Spartans now have a record of 3-3-0 in the closing match of a series. This was Michigan State's third sweep of the season and second in CCHA play. The last sweep of a conference foe was Nov. 4-5 against Northern Michigan, also here at Munn.
- Michigan State is currently 4-0-0 in the month of January. This four-game winning streak is its longest of the season. The Spartans had two three-game winning streaks earlier in the year.
- With the win, Michigan State finishes its season series against Alaska-Fairbanks with a record of 3-0-1. Its record against its CCHA "clustermates" (Alaska Fairbanks, Michigan, and Nebraska-Omaha) stands at 3-2-2 on the year.
- Saturday's win was televised by College Sports Television (CSTV). Michigan State now has a record of 6-5-2 in televised games. Tuesday's game against Michigan is being televised by Fox Sports Detroit.
- Michigan State's victory gives the squad a record of 4-1-0 in its past five games and a record of 6-2-1 in the last ten.
- MSU is now 3-4-2 on the year when its opponent scores the first goal of the game.
- With Alaska-Fairbanks going 1-for-5 on the power play, Michigan State is now 5-6-4 when its opponent scores a goal with the man advantage. The Spartans have allowed just two goals in their last 15 power play opportunities against during their four-game winning streak.
- Darcy Campbell's first-period goal snapped a UAF scoreless streak of 133:26 against Michigan State goaltending. The Nanooks netted a tally at 19:27 of the third period to force a 4-4 tie in the first game of a two-game set in Alaska on December 9, then suffered two shutouts in a row before the first period tally this evening..
- Sophomore Daniel Sturges' goal was the second of his career. His first came in Michigan State's 7-4 loss to Nebraska-Omaha Nov. 11.
- For the first time in his young career, freshman Tim Kennedy has points in consecutive games. Kennedy also had his third career multi-point game Saturday night.
- Senior defenseman Corey Potter tied his career high by collecting his eighth assist of the season.
- Justin Abdelkader has recorded eight points in the last eight Spartan games, and scored the first power-play tally against UAF in the Nanooks' last 50 man-down situations.
- Michigan State's record when it capitalizes on a power play is now (8-6-3).
- Freshman goaltender Jeff Lerg has seen action in a career-high five consecutive games. Lerg made a relief appearance in Michigan State's 6-3 loss to Colorado College on Dec. 30 in the Great Lakes Invitational championship game and has started every game since. He has won all four of those starts, allowing a total of three goals. His save percentage during that span is .966, stopping 86 of 89 shots faced.
- The 2-1 victory on Saturday gives MSU a record of 4-2-0 in one goal games and a record of 4-0-0 when it allows only one goal.
- Michigan State recorded its first win of the season when scoring only two goals. Its record now stands at 1-4-2 when putting two goals on the scoreboard in a game.
- Michigan State outshot Alaska-Fairbanks 30-14. MSU has a record of 8-4-3 when it outshoots its opponent, a 8-4-3 record when recording 30 or more shots, and 4-0-0 when it allows fewer than 20 shots.
