Michigan State University Athletics
Michigan State University
Michigan
#19 Spartans Stun #6 Michigan, 2-0
1/17/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Jan. 17, 2006
East Lansing, MI - Freshman netminder Jeff Lerg (Livonia, Mich.) recorded 31 saves, while Colton Fretter (Harrow, Ont.) and Bryan Lerg (Livonia, Mich.) each potted special-teams tallies as homestanding Michigan State stunned sixth-ranked Michigan, 2-0, on Tuesday evening at Munn Ice Arena. The Spartans won their fifth straight game - a season best - and improve to 13-8-5 on the year, 7-5-4 in the CCHA. Michigan drops its second straight and falls to 13-8-1, 8-5-1 CCHA. The victory moves the Spartans into a third-place tie with Lake Superior in the CCHA standings (18 points), as MSU catapults over the Wolverines with the midweek win. Miami sits atop the standings with 26 points, followed by Northern Michigan (19), the Spartans and Lakers (18), Michigan (17), and Ohio State (16).
"I don't think there was any upset tonight - I think we played well, and right now it's a level table," said head coach Rick Comley at the conclusion of the contest. "I think these teams are as level as you can get."
In a tightly contested first period, the Spartans generated scoring opportunities with physical forechecking, while the Wolverines converted MSU turnovers into scoring chances. Michigan's Tim Miller had a chance to put the Wolverines on the board less than two minutes into the game, but netminder Jeff Lerg made a pad save on Miller's shot from the doorstep, keeping the game scoreless.
The Spartans controlled the tempo midway through the period, and their aggressiveness was rewarded at 13:31 when Michigan took two simultaneous penalties, sending the Spartans on a two-minute 5-on-3 power play. The Spartans capitalized on the opportunity, as Fretter netted his eighth goal of the season at the 14:50 mark, giving MSU a 1-0 lead. After 30 seconds of sustained pressure, Michigan goalie Noah Ruden made the initial save on a shot by Drew Miller (East Lansing, Mich.) from the corner. The rebound squirted out in front of the crease, where Fretter fought through a Michigan defender and deflected the puck out of the air over Ruden's glove for the eventual game winner. Corey Potter also picked up an assist on the goal.
Fretter reignited the crowd early in the second period when his hip check upended Michigan's T.J. Hensick head-over-heels, bringing the crowd of 5,580 to its feet. The Wolverines picked up their intensity, using a Michigan State penalty at the 3:11 mark of the period to apply sustained offensive pressure. Michigan held the zone for the first 1:35 of its power play, but blocked shots by Miller, Graham and Nightingale ¬- and a pair of saves by Lerg - kept the Wolverines off the scoreboard. Tim Kennedy finally cleared the zone, ending the U-M threat and keeping MSU's lead intact.
Michigan returned to the power play at the 9:08 mark and was primed to seize momentum, but Bryan Lerg reversed MSU's fortunes and scored his team-leading ninth goal of the year 15 seconds into the penalty kill, giving Michigan State a 2-0 lead at 9:23 of the second period. Jared Nightingale flipped the puck out of the zone and Lerg raced uncontested down center ice, gloving the puck down in stride, allowing him to skate into a clean breakaway. Lerg made a beautiful move, faking the forehand before finally slipping a backhand over Ruden's outstretched pad, giving the Spartans a two-goal cushion. David Booth picked up the second assist on the goal.
The Spartans had to make great defensive plays to protect their lead, as Michigan went on a third consecutive power play after Lerg's shorthanded tally. Netminder Jeff Lerg made a brilliant poke check to deflect a backdoor pass, once again shutting the door on a Michigan scoring chance.
Michigan State entered the third period with a two-goal lead, and remained aggressive with thoughts of extending its lead. Justin Abdelkader, Tim Kennedy, and Fretter created scoring chances early in the period, as MSU continued to come at the Wolverine defense in waves and contain Michigan's offense at the other end. As the period waned, Michigan increased its pressure, but Lerg stepped up and continued to make big saves, and the Spartan offense helped its netminder by clearing out in front of the net.
With 4:30 left in the game, McKenzie had a chance to put the game out of reach on a breakaway, but Ruden made two of his best saves on the night to keep the Wolverines within two goals. Ruden made a spectacular right pad save on McKenzie's wrist shot, and followed it with a sprawling glove save on the rebound attempt by Bryan Lerg.
Michigan's Danny Fardig took a hooking penalty with 1:26 left in the game, and Jack Johnson took a 5:00 major and a game disqualification for contact to the head excessive roughness with :38 left in the game, effectively ending Michigan's comeback bid. Ruden couldn't be pulled for any significant stretch for an extra skater, and the Spartans extended their unbeaten streak against their archrival to five games.
Ruden was nearly as impressive as Lerg despite the loss, as the Wolverine senior netminder made 35 saves on the night. Lerg's 31 saves equals his total from his last shutout, which came last Friday night against Alaska Fairbanks.
Both teams will be in CCHA action this weekend, as the Spartans will take on Nebraska-Omaha at the Quest Center and the Wolverines will play host to Bowling Green.
Spartan Notebook:
• Michigan State has won five straight games for the first time since late in the 2004-05 season. The longest winning streak of the current season had been three games, accomplished twice. The Spartans are unbeaten in their last seven games at Munn, and stand at 8-3-2 in 2005-06.
* The two-goal win was the largest margin of victory for either team since Michigan took a 4-2 win on Nov. 18, 2004. The last five games were all settled by one goal, or ended in a tie (1-1-3).
• The Wolverines edge in the all-time series now stands at 128-114-14, but the Spartans lead 57-45-7 on their home ice. • This MSU victory pushes its season record against Michigan to 1-0-1, and its CCHA "clustermates" to 4-2-2 on the year, with a pair of games against Nebraska-Omaha on the docket for the upcoming weekend.
• Bryan Lerg's shorthanded goal was the first man-down tally of his career, and the team's fourth of the season.
• Tonight's game wraps up a five-game homestand during which the Spartans were undefeated (5-0-0). A weekend series in Omaha against the Mavericks will be followed by a midweek tilt at home against Ferris State and a rematch with the Wolverines next Friday at Munn.
• MSU held Michigan's power play (which entered the game ranked first in the CCHA and third nationally) without a goal in four attempts; the Wolverines had been operating with a 23.1% success rate (36-156) going into the game.
• Netminder Jeff Lerg has been in net for each of the last five Spartan victories, and has allowed just three goals in that span. In the last five contests, he owns a .975 save percentage (stopping 117 of 120 shots) and a goals against average of 0.60.
• Michigan defenseman Jack Johnson received a five-minute major and a game misconduct for his hit on Tyler Howells late in the game.
• Colton Fretter's goal gives him 10 career points (2-8-10) against the Wolverines in his career, the most of any current MSU player. Before tonight, his most recent goal against Michigan was the overtime winner in MSU's 2-1 victory over its archrival in the 2004 Great Lakes Invitational championship game.
• Fretter's goal was his eighth of the season, a tie for the team lead. Drew Miller assisted on Fretter's first-period tally, his fourth point in his last four games. Corey Potter's assist on the same goal gave him eight for the year, tying his personal single-season best.
