Michigan State University
Michigan
Spartans Win Third Straight Over UM, 3-2
1/29/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Jan. 29, 2010
East Lansing, Mich. - Corey Tropp scored a pair of goals - including his national-best fifth game-winner - as No. 12/13 Michigan State tripped Michigan, 3-2, at Munn Ice Arena on Friday evening. It was MSU's third victory over its archrival this season, and sets up a big showdown Saturday evening at Joe Louis Arena. MSU is now 17-8-4, 12-5-4-1 in conference play.
Post-Game Audio: MSU head coach Rick | UM head coach Red Nick | Corey | Drew
Michigan State's first good chance came on their first power play try early in the first period, when Derek Grant carried it up the right side and made a nifty move at the goal line to get it around a prone goaltender Bryan Hogan. The puck got underneath the goaltender, but captain Chris Summers made a great heads-up play on the goal line to save a goal.
Michigan State got on the board at 15:16, while skating on the power play. Corey Tropp was the final player to get a stick on the puck in front of the net as 8 players swiped at it, and he potted his 18th goal of the season. Assists went to Dean Chelios and Jeff Petry.
The Spartans added to their lead at 17:21 in the second period. Dustin Gazley started the play by carrying the puck through the neutral zone and up the right side. He made a cross slot pass to Andrew Rowe, who placed the shot at the post just under Hogan's blocker hand for a 2-0 MSU lead.
Michigan State's third goal again came from Tropp, his second of the night. Tropp went in and took a shot that Hogan saved with his right leg pad, but the winger put back his own rebound. That put MSU up 3-0 just under three minutes into the period.
The Wolverines trailed 3-0, but worked to chip into the lead. A scrum deep in the MSU zone led to a slew of penalties at early in the period, the final effect putting MSU skating two men down, and Grassi whistled for a five-minute major for facemasking. Carl Hagelin put the Wolverines on the board just 30 seconds later (at 3:50), getting a goal from the bottom of the right circle.
Louie Caporusso brought the Wolverines closer with a goal at 16:40 on the power play, wristing a shot through traffic from the right faceoff dot that beat a screened Palmisano. Despite pulling Hogan late in the game in favor of an extra skater, the Spartans held strong in their own end and registered the 3-2 victory.
NOTES: Michigan State is now 2-0-0 against the Wolverines this season ... Corey Tropp now ranks second in the country in goals (19) and first in game-winners. Both of his goals tonight came on the power play ... Tropp also snapped a seven-game goal drought ... MSU is 14-2-2 when scoring three goals or more ... Andrew Rowe potted his 12th of the season ... Drew Palmisano had his streak of five straight games with 30+ saves snapped, as he made just 22 against the Wolverines on Friday. He was named the game's second star ... Michigan State has won three straight against its archrival for the first time since the 2000-01 season ... MSU has outscored the Wolverines 8-4 this season, and Tropp has three of MSU's goals against UM ... With the victory, MSU has solidified no less than a .500 record in the month of January (currently 3-2-2), its fourth consecutive season of .500 hockey or better ... 21 of MSU's 29 games have been settled by two goals or less, and 10 were one-goal games. The Spartans are 7-3 in one-goal affairs ... MSU has not lost this season when entering the third period with a lead (15-0-1) ...
