Michigan State University Athletics
Michigan State University
Maine
Spartans Get First Win, Down No. 6 Maine 3-2
10/15/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Oct. 15, 2010
East Lansing, Mich. - Michigan State withstood a third-period flurry by Maine and got a late game-winner from senior Dustin Gazley to record a 3-2 win over the Black Bears on Friday at Munn Ice Arena. Brock Shelgren had a goal and an assist and Drew Palmisano made 28 saves for his first victory of the season.
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MSU Head Coach Rick | Maine Head Coach Tim Whitehead | Dustin | Brock
MSU's game winner came at 14:53 of the third period, two and a half minutes after Maine potted power play tallies 10 seconds apart to turn a 2-0 deficit into a tie game. Shelgren pounced on a loose puck in the neutral zone and carried it across the line into the high slot. He dished to Gazley, who launched a shot from just above the dot in the left circle, and beat Sullivan to give the Spartans the eventual game-winner.
Michigan State opened the game with a 1-0 lead, put on the board at 9:22 of the opening period. Trevor Nill passed the puck from the left half wall into the high slot for a crashing Shelgren, and the blueliner's shot through traffic beat rookie goalie Dan Sulliva glove-side.
A flurry of penalties muddled the final minutes of the opening frame, and MSU opened the middle period with nearly a minute of extra-man time. While they couldn't convert on that, it didn't take much longer for the Spartans to get back on the scoreboard. Brett Perlini had the puck on the left side, and pushed it behind the cage. Freshman Lee Reimer retrieved it from behind the net and brought it out in front to the right side, and dished it back to Perlini for the junior's second of the weekend and a 2-0 MSU lead.
Palmisano made some quality saves to keep the Black Bears off the board, including a pair of point-blank stops off the sticks of Joey Diamond and Brian Flynn on the power play at the 11:25 mark, to frustrate the road-team skaters. The play got increasingly physical and at times chippy as the period wore on, but the Spartans took the 2-0 lead into the second intermission.
Midway through the third period, Shelgren (interference) and Mike Merrifield (tripping) were sent to the box roughly a minute apart, putting the potent Maine power play on the ice for extended period of man-advantage hockey. The result was disasterous for the Spartans, as Spencer Abbott scored that pair of power-play goals 10 seconds apart. Abbott's first came on a one-timer from the top of the left circle, and the second a from the slot close to the right circle off a feed from Gustav Nyquist. Abbott's tallies were recorded at 11:10 and 11:20, and were his third and fourth of the season.
The lead was not for long, as MSU immediately came out composed, refusing to get rattled by the tallies. Just two and a half minutes later, Gazley potted the game-winner.
Maine outshot MSU 30-21, and the Spartans blocked 22 shots, compared to just four for the Black Bears.
The Spartans will enter CCHA play next weekend when they host Alaska at Munn Ice Arena. Friday's game will be played at 7:05 p.m. and televised live on Comcast. Saturday's contest will be played at 5:05 p.m.
NOTES: Freshman Lee Reimer is the first freshman to get on the board this season, his first collegiate point coming on Brett Perlini's second-period goal ... Brock Shelgren's goal was his first since Feb. 20, 2009, towards the end of his freshman season ... Palmisano finished the weekend with 65 saves on 71 shots. MSU improved to 39-28-6 all-time in non-conference games under Rick Comley.
