Fresh-Faced Hero
12/8/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Dec. 8, 2010
Flashback Video: Cold War game highlights
This week, the Spartan hockey program will prepare for the Big Chill at the Big House, a showdown with archrival Michigan at Michigan Stadium which is expected to draw a world-record crowd of nearly 110,000 spectators. Nearly a decade ago, the Michigan State athletic department staged the first modern outdoor game, and it has grown from novelty to a now-annual event in the National Hockey League. Michigan State successfully hosting this event was the genesis for no fewer than 20 outdoor events executed or planned for the 2010-11 season since MSU put on the first one on Oct. 6, 2001.
Come back to www.msuspartans.com every day this week to revisit that inaugural event through the recollections of current and former Spartan players, staff, and administrators who helped give birth to one of the beloved now-annual events of a hockey season.
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MONDAY: Hockey Pioneers
TUESDAY: Hockey in the Shadows of Tragedy
Michigan State hockey captain Torey Krug will always remember his first game as a member of the Spartans.
"My first college game, we played Clarkson at home, and it was definitely eye-opening in itself," Krug said. "You step on the ice, especially here at Munn Ice Arena, it's so intimate with the fans so close. Coming from junior hockey, everything's so much faster and you're playing against grown men now, so it's definitely just a ridiculous experience."
But even Krug - the first sophomore to wear the Spartans' lone `C' as captain - could not have imagined playing his first game in front of a world-record crowd at Spartan Stadium. Krug watched a replay of the Cold War with his teammates on Monday, and said that he could not fathom playing his first game in that type of environment.
"Just to have your first game against Michigan - in general, everything is a step faster," Krug said. "When you step on the ice against Michigan, you're going to get hit every time you touch the puck, and the game itself is just one step faster. So, playing against Michigan, outdoors, in front of 74,000 people - I don't think anybody can imagine that, especially in your first game when you're coming from junior hockey. You were playing against 19 or 20-year-olds, and now you're stepping on the ice with 23 and 24-year-old men, plus just to be sucked in by the rivalry. I couldn't even imagine."
However, for a handful of fresh faces on both teams, that was their reality. One, however, not only had that introduction to Spartan hockey, but also scored one of the most memorable goals in series history. Jim Slater, now a forward for the Atlanta Thrashers of the NHL, was once a wide-eyed freshman in East Lansing, and he showed up just in time to center the Spartans' first line for the Cold War.
"That was my first-ever college hockey game," Slater recalls. "It was quite a way to come into the college ranks. I look at it as one of my best hockey experiences, and I'm glad I was part of it."
Slater said that his first game was a memorable night, to say the least.
"When you're first walking out there and you're skating around for warm-ups, and then you go off and come back for the first period, there's quite an excitement," Slater said. "Then the national anthem is played. After that, you can kind of settle in to your game and what you have to do. But obviously, it's hard to forget how many fans are in the stands, especially at home at Spartan Stadium with all the fans there, and your friends and your family ... it was a great experience."
Slater made his family's drive from Lapeer, Mich. to East Lansing a memory of a lifetime. The freshman forward recorded his first point as a Spartan just five minutes into the game, when he assisted on then-captain Adam Hall's goal. Then, roughly 54 game minutes later, Slater recorded one of the most memorable goals in MSU hockey history.
With the Spartans trailing 3-2 in the closing moments of the historic game at Spartan Stadium, Brad Fast tried to fire the puck towards the Wolverines' goal. Somehow the puck found its way to Slater's stick, and from the left side of the slot, the freshman snapped the puck past goaltender Josh Blackburn. With 47 seconds left in regulation, Slater's first college-hockey goal saved the night for the home team, who settled on a 3-3 tie with the rivals after a scoreless overtime session.
"It came down right to the end there," Slater said. "Obviously you never want to lose, especially to Michigan, and even moreso in front of a world-record crowd. It was just one of those things where we had the goalie pulled and I was just in the right spot at the right time. The puck came to me and I was able to beat Michigan's goalie for the tie, and after that it was just all celebrating.
"It was pretty nice to get that first one in such a big environment."
Slater's goal was one of 64 he recorded as a member of the Spartans, and he has found the back of the net 46 times in his NHL career. But his first, on a sheet of ice constructed at Spartan Stadium, was one of the most memorable goals in Spartans history.
"Jimmy's goal was a big goal on many levels," said recalls MSU assistant coach Tom Newton. "It gave us a chance to win that game. It was a first goal for a player who has gone on to an NHL career; that probably if you'd talk to him today it'd be one of his most memorable goals. That was a huge goal, and it would have been just a crying shame if we wouldn't have gotten that back to even."
Krug said that this year's Spartan team celebrated Slater's goal as if they were in the stands when they gathered to watch the game to kick off Big Chill week. The Spartan captain said he could feel the emotions of the event, simply from re-watching it on television.
"I'm at a loss for words," Krug said. "How special it was, the whole event was ... how incredible. It couldn't have been written better, it couldn't have a better story, and for him to step up the way he did as a freshman in his first game is unbelievable."
