Michigan State University
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Western Michigan
Spartans Complete Sweep with 5-3 Win
10/31/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Oct. 31, 2009
Kalamazoo, Mich. -- - Michigan State withstood late pressure from the Western Michigan power play and held on for a 5-3 victory in Kalamazoo on Saturday evening. The Spartans recorded their first CCHA sweep since late in the 2007-08 season. Corey Tropp got the eventual game-winner, but in a week that Rick Comley emphasized the need for the Spartans to get some scoring from places other than their top two lines, MSU got the first two goals of the game from fourth-line freshmen. Both Anthony Hayes and Dean Chelios netted their first collegiate tallies.
"I thought we played well tonight- better than we did last night," commented Rick Comley. "Im happy with our results, and it was great to get the fourth line on the board, too. I'd like to see us cut down on the penalties, but they are hard-work penalties, not ones that we're taking out of laziness. Our kids are working hard every week, and its nice to see them being rewarded."
Both teams came out with good energy, and the Spartans got on the board early on a nice goal by Anthony Hayes, his first collegiate point. The puck was tied up in the neutral zone along the wall, and was freed by winger Kevin Walrod. Walrod dished it to Hayes, who broke across the blueline with Dean Chelios. Hayes put the puck on net - the save was made by Riley Gill, but he bobbled the puck and it bounced behind him and into the back of the net. The home team tied the game with a power-play goal at 10:38. Jared Katz got the marker, his second of the year, by beating Jarosz high blocker side with a shot from just to the left of the goalcage.
Michigan State went up 2-1 with a goal early in the second frame. Carrying the puck into the offensive zone on a rush, Hayes dished to his winger Chelios, and Chelios got his first collegiate goalwith his shot that beat Gill short-side. A persistent MSU offense added to its lead less than 90 seconds later - with lots of pressure down low, Gill made three straight point-blank saves off the sticks of Daultan Leveille and Dustin Gazley before Andrew Rowe's tap finally snuck through the netminder's pads.
Katz cut into the lead with his second goal of the evening, a tally at the eight-minute mark of the middle period. He wristed a shot from the right circle through traffic and under the right arm of Jarosz. That sent MSU into the locker room with a 3-2 advantage after two periods.
The teams each had a penalty to kill off in the early part of the final period, and both did so without incident. MSU added to its lead at 6:44, when the top line broke through with its first goal of the weekend when Nick Sucharski carried the puck into the offensive zone and got it to the net for Tropp, who was stationed at the left post. It was Tropp's seventh goal of the season.
Things got hairy for the Spartans in the final stages of the third period. With Kevin Walrod in the box on a boarding call, Torey Krug was whistled for a hitting from behind major, giving Western a five-on-three for 1:10 and just over four minutes of non-releaseable power play time. Chris Clackson converted on the five-on-three to bring WMU within a goal at 17:03, and WMU called its timeout with 1:31 on the clock. Riley Gill headed to the bench at that point to give Western an extra attacker, and the Broncos skated 6-on-4. The Spartan defense stood tall, as freshman Chris Forfar came up with a big block at the hash marks with seconds remaining, and Gazley and Andrew Rowe combined for a shorthanded empty-net tally.
The Spartans, now 6-2 overall and 3-1 in CCHA play, will host a Thursday-Friday home series against Nebraska-Omaha. Gametime each evening is 7:05.
NOTES: Michigan State won its third road game of the season, one more than it won in all of last year ... The Spartans have now won three straight conference games and sit atop the conference standings (tied with Miami) with nine points ... Dustin Gazley finished his weekend with two goals and an assist, which included the game-winner on Friday and a shorthanded marker on Saturday ... Anthony Hayes scored his first collegiate goal and had his first collegiate assist as well ... Freshmem accounted for three of MSU's seven goals this weekend ...
