Michigan State University
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Western Michigan
Spartans Prevail in Shootout
11/1/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Nov. 1, 2008
Kalamazoo, Mich. - Michigan State got s second shootout win of the season at Western Michigan on Saturday night, skating to a 2-2 tie with the Broncos on their home sheet before winning the shootout, 2-1. MSU is now 4-2-2 overall on the season, and own a 2-0-2-2 mark in CCHA play. Western Michigan is 1-5-2, 0-2-2-2. Kurt Kivisto and Matt Schepke had the shootout goals for MSU, while Trevor Nill and Tim Crowder had the goals in regulation. Drew Palmisano drew the start in net, making 32 saves in regulation and limiting the Broncos to one shootout goal in the win.
"We had a rough first 30 minutes, but got better in the second half," admitted head coach Rick Comley. "This is a rough building to play in, and we took a lot of penalties, which sometimes happens with a young team. This will be a good learning experience for our team for sure, but we're happy to get two points."
The game featured up-tempo, spirited play, with a lot of energy expended by both teams and aggressive play in all three zones. The teams skated through a scoreless first period, but the home team held a 12-3 edge in shots.
Freshman blueliner Kevin Connauton broke the scoreless tie less than a minute into the second period, as he kept a clearing pass in at the left point and eluded the high defender; his slapshot beat Palmisano stick-side. It was the blueliner's first career goal.
Western Michigan came out flying in the second period, advancing a fast-paced, physical, up-tempo game that generated an additional 13 shots in the period.
Michigan State's equalizer came at 17:42 of the middle frame, just as a penalty was expiring to return the teams to skating 4-on-4. MSU streaked up the ice on a three-on-one break, and Matt Schepke dished at the last second to Tim Crowder on the right side, who tipped it past Gill for his second of the season.
The Spartans went on the power play for most of the final two minutes of the period, which included 30 seconds of 5-on-3. However, the Broncos remained disruptive, and the teams went into the locker room deadlocked at one.
It was a power play shot by Tyler Ludwig at 8:13 of the final period that allowed the home team to take a 2-1 lead; Ludwig's shot made it through considerable traffic to elude Palmisano glove-side.
Less than two minutes later, the Spartans got the equalizer. The puck trickled out from a scrum in front of the net, and Trevor Nill's stick was the last to tap it. The puck trickled past the line on a wide-open right side as a mass of bodies worked to untangle at the left post. It was Nill's first collegiate tally, with an assist to Jay Sprague, who was playing in his first game of the season after missing the first seven with an injury.
The teams went to overtime, where Western managed two shots in the bonus period, but Drew Palmisano came up with a pair of stops, one of which came on a blast from the point by Jordan Collins in the final minute. The teams then went to the shootout, each squad's second of the season.
Palmisano made a career-best 32 saves, while Riley Gill made 21 for Western.
Michigan State takes to the road for a series in Columbus next weekend against Ohio State.
NOTES: Michigan State has gone to overtime in each of its first two CCHA series, and won each of its two shootouts by a 2-1 margin ... Western Michigan's 11 penalties is the most by an MSU opponent this year; this was also the first game this season that an opponent had more penalty minutes than the Spartans. MSU did tie its season high with 10 penalties for 20 minutes ... The Spartans went 0-8 on the power play, and its penalty kill was 5-for-6 ... Drew Palmisano made his second career start. It is just the fourth time that someone other than Lerg has started a game since Jan. 1, 2006 ... Palmisano was peppered with 12 first-period shots, which was more than half than he faced in the entire game against UMass-Lowell (Oct. 17). He made another 12 in the middle period ... Trevor Nill got a game-tying goal in the second period, his first collegiate tally ... Jay Sprague, who missed the first seven games of the season, made his season debut tonight and tallied an assist on Nill's goal ...
