Neil's Notebook: Spartans Must Continue To Build On Weekend

Oct. 23, 2016

By Neil Koepke
MSUSpartans.com staff writer

EAST LANSING â€" In some ways, Michigan State's play in Saturday's 3-1 loss to No. 6 Denver at Munn Arena was encouraging.

But in others, it was also frustrating.

That was the feeling by Spartan coaches and players, and even the fans, during the weekend, starting with MSU's 2-1 loss in Friday's non-conference series opener.

MSU showed a lot improvement compared to last weekend's two season-opening losses â€" 6-1 and 7-3 â€" at Lake Superior State.

The Spartans were vastly better against Denver defensively, killing penalties and with goaltending.

But the inability to possess the puck consistently, create better scoring chances, get pucks on goal instead of wide or over the net and finish chances left the inexperienced Spartans a little frustrated.

MSU failed to convert on six power-plays in which a goal or two could have changed the complexion of the game.

"There are a lot of lessons to be learned but I hate learning them through losing," MSU coach Tom Anastos said.

The Spartans had seven minutes of power-play time in the second period and managed only one shot on goal, and gave up a dangerous breakaway to the Pioneers, which was stopped by freshman goalie John Lethemon.

"I saw parts of our game that had lots of growth and I saw many individual players really grow,'' Anastos said. "Our guys are understanding to a better degree of what we're asking them to do. But I think our level of execution has to take a big step in a lot of different areas.''

That is especially true in creating scoring chances during 5-on-5 and power-play situations.

"I think our scoring is going to come, but it's not going to come until we give the puck more opportunity to go in,'' Anastos said. "We have to hit the net and create more traffic.

"In the second period, we had a series of power plays and it gave them the momentum instead of us having the momentum. We have to learn to take advantage of that. We have to become a better team by hitting the net. In the second period, we had 14 shot attempts and 10 missed the net (and two were blocked and two were saved).

"That's not going to give you a chance to score goals. And we had some good opportunities.''

Denver goaltender Tanner Jaillet made 19 saves, nine in the opening period, two in the second and eight in the third in which the Spartans had a good opportunity to tie it, just like they did on Friday.

"The biggest area we have to get better at is our ability to transition the puck,'' Anastos said. "We have to move it out of our zone and transition it in the neutral zone. We have to become more effective at moving the puck up and getting speed on the attack.''

Despite giving up goals to DU sniper Troy Terry, a sophomore right wing, early in the first period and late in the same period, Michigan State stayed resilient and competed hard to stay in the game.

Lethemon settled in and played very well, the defensive corps was strong in the MSU zone through the second period, leading the way to MSU's first goal.

The offense finally clicked early in the third period when Mason Appleton took a feed in the slot from Patrick Khodorenko and fired the puck past Jaillet at 4:01.

MSU had plenty of time to work for the tying goal, but the Pioneers allowed few good chances and kept up their intensity and quickness in trying to possess the puck.

The Spartans' hopes ended when Pioneer senior center Matt Marcinew scored into an empty net with 1:04 remaining.

"I'm disappointed that we weren't able to close the gap and try to find a way to win,'' Anastos said. "Denver is awfully good team. They play with a lot of speed and put a lot of pressure on you. They don't give you much.''

LETHEMON REBOUNDS: Freshman goalie John Lethemon had a tough collegiate debut last Saturday at LSSU when he gave up four goals in the first period, and got replaced by Ed Minney to start the second period.

After Minney's strong game against Denver in Friday's 2-1 loss, Coach Tom Anastos went with Lethemon in Saturday's series finale, and the 6-foot-1, 190-pound rookie from Northville responded with a sharp, 23-save performance that kept MSU in the game until the final minute.

Denver scored twice in the first period, both by Troy Terry, but Lethemon didn't get shaken. He settled in, grew in confidence and made some big saves, including stopping Terry on a shorthanded breakaway in the second period, foiling his bid for a hat trick.

"We gave up two goals in the first period and that's not where you want to be, but our team played well in front of me and I think I made some good saves,'' Lethemon said. "I didn't do much different than last week. I went through my same pregame routine, but as a goalie you want to bounce back.

"I just tried to keep the guys in it and give us a chance to win. As the game went on, I got more confidence, I settled in and was able to make a few more saves.''

On Denver's second goal, Terry's shot went over Lethemon's right shoulder and the puck went under the crossbar and into the top corner and apparently went through the net and back into play. But the referees never clearly saw the puck enter the net and play continued for 38 seconds before a stoppage of play led to a video review by the officials.

They watched a replay of the play several times and finally ruled that it was a good goal.

"No. 19 (Terry) is one of their sharpshooters and we knew coming in that he likes to go (catching) glove but it ended up on the blocker side over my right shoulder,'' Lethemon said. "He came down the wing and had some space and I thought I had the angle, but he beat me over the shoulder.

"I didn't know if it went in. I thought it was weird that I didn't hear a sound. The officials checked the net and there wasn't a hole â€" the puck just split the netting and kept going. It was a heckuva shot by No 19.''

Lethemon said he's confident that the Spartans, with eight freshmen and four sophomores in the lineup on Saturday, will develop into a skilled, competitive team.

"It's a process. We have a young team and it may take a little bit of time, but I think we have a great group and we can do a lot,'' he said. "I think we have one of the best in-shape teams, and work ethic isn't a problem. We just have to get more comfortable with each other and execute.''

Anastos said he was impressed with Lethemon not getting rattled over the two first-period goals.

"He battled back, handled the puck well and started to see the puck well and made some big saves,'' he said. "It was a good performance for him and he should gain some confidence.

"Getting good efforts out of (both our goalies) this weekend is a real positive. Our plan was to get these guys experience and see how things shake out. We're open to playing one guy or multiple guys. What is important is that they're playing at a level that gives us a chance to win every night.''

Said red-shirt freshman defenseman Jerad Rosburg:

"John played great. The first goal was nothing on him. That was on me. He played really well. It was good to see him keeping us in the game with some great saves, just like Minney did on Friday. It's good to have two strong goalies.''

DEFENSE RISES: After giving up 13 goals at Lake Superior State, MSU held the highly skilled Pioneers to two goals each night and an empty-netter on Saturday.

The Spartan defense got a boost over the weekend with the return of junior Carson Gatt, who missed the series at LSSU with a shoulder injury, suffered in the exhibition game against Toronto on Oct 2.

Gatt teamed with senior Rhett Holland, sophomore Zach Osburn was paired with freshman Butrus Ghafari and red-shirt freshman Jerad Rosburg and freshman Mitch Eliot formed the other defensive pairing.

Last Saturday, with Gatt out and Holland sitting out a suspension for fighting the previous night, MSU had five first-year defensemen in the lineup.

"They (Holland and Gatt) add some physicality and size back there, and I don't think it was a coincidence that our penalty killing was better this weekend,'' Anastos said. "We gained some experience for the younger guys.''

MSU gave up six power-play goals against Lake Superior State, but didn't allow any vs. Denver. The Pioneers were 0-for-4 on Friday and failed to convert on one power play on Saturday.

"I was pleased with the gains we made from a week ago and how we competed and defended in our defensive zone,'' Anastos said. "We had good sticks, good physicality and made good decisions in front of our net. That was a gain for the defense.''

POWER PLAY WOES: Sophomore right wing Mason Appleton was excited about scoring his first goal of the season in the third period, but he was frustrated by his team's inability to take advantage of power plays.

"I don't think we worked our way back to get pucks when they cleared them from our zone, and our breakout didn't come in (the DU zone) as a unit of five,'' he said. "On a power play, you have to be working together and that wasn't the case tonight.

"We didn't get settled in the zone like we wanted to and couldn't make the plays we wanted and get the chances. It started in our zone when we couldn't get the puck out like we wanted to.''

The Spartans had one full power play in the first period and managed two shots on goal. In the second period, MSU had three power plays â€" two for two minutes and one for 2:58 and had one shot on goal. In the final period, the Spartans had two short power plays â€" one for 12 seconds and one for 34 seconds and did not get a shot on goal.

Appleton, a 6-foot-2, 200-pound right wing from Green Bay, praised Denver's team defense for making it hard on the Spartans to create quality scoring opportunities.

"They worked really hard as a unit of five, they all have good sticks, so lanes and shooting opportunities that you think might be there weren't necessarily at the times you wanted them,'' he said. "I thought their back pressure was good all weekend. We didn't have much time to pull up and make plays in the slot. They worked hard in all zones.''

Appleton finally got some time and space early in the third period and scored MSU's only goal from the edge of the left circle to cut DU's lead to 2-1

"I was coming through the neutral zone and PK (linemate Patrick Khodorenko) made a good read and found me in the slot and I tried to use the (defenseman) as a screen,'' he said. "I was able to put it off the side of his leg and the puck found the back of the net.''

Like his coach, Tom Anastos, Appleton says his team has to focus on accurate shooting.

"We have to get more shots on goal and not next to the goal or over the goal or into their shin pads,'' he said. "I can recall a couple of opportunities when we shot over the net. You don't give yourself a chance to get a rebound if you shoot it over the net.''

Appleton is confident that his line, with freshman Khodorenko at center and freshman Taro Hirose on left wing, will get in sync and become a scoring threat.

"I think all three of us have good brains and good skills, but we have to possess the puck more,'' he said. "We have to get it on net and get good net-front presence.

"I think we definitely will evolve. For (Khodorenko and Hirose), today was only their fourth college game, and we've played together for only two weeks. I think we have the ability to take our game to a different level.''

UP NEXT: Michigan State plays only one game next weekend â€" against Princeton at 7 p.m. Friday at Munn Arena. The Spartans are idle on Saturday.

Princeton, like all Ivy League schools in the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) don't start their seasons until late October. The Tigers' first game is against MSU, and then on Saturday, they face the U.S. Under-18 team in an exhibition game in Plymouth.

IN THE BIG TEN: For the second straight night, No. 7 Minnesota (2-2) was upset by No. 14 St. Cloud State, 3-2, on Saturday for a non-conference sweep. The Huskies (2-2) broke a 2-2 tie with seven minutes left.

On Friday, St. Cloud overcame a 5-2 deficit in the third period and emerged with a 6-5 win over the Gophers in overtime.

Michigan's bid for a sweep of Michigan Tech fell short when the teams played to a 3-3 tie in Ann Arbor, after the Wolverines (3-1-1) won 4-3 on Friday. MTU (1-5-2) scored two goals in the third period Saturday to take a 3-2 lead but U-M tied it with 4:10 left.

Penn State (3-1-1) topped No. 3 Notre Dame 3-2 in overtime on Saturday in South Bend. In their series opener, the teams played to a 3-3 tie.

Next weekend, Wisconsin (2-2) and Minnesota head east to play St. Lawrence and Clarkson. The Badgers play at St. Lawrence on Friday and at Clarkson on Saturday. The Gophers start with Clarkson on Friday and end with St. Lawrence on Saturday.

Michigan also travels east to play non-conference games at Vermont on Friday and Dartmouth on Saturday.

Penn State plays host to Canisius in a non-conference series on Friday and Saturday.