Photo by: Rey Del Rio/MSU Athletic Communications
Neil’s Notebook: Spartans Impressive in Sweep at No. 8 Cornell
10/28/2018 9:12:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
By Neil Koepke
MSUSpartans.com staff writer
ITHACA, N.Y. – The Danton Cole Era of Michigan State hockey is a year and nearly seven months old and covers one full season and four games this year.
There's been a few special victories and moments in the early stages of Cole and his staff's quest to lift the Spartan program back into national prominence.
But none as memorable and satisfying as this weekend's road sweep of No. 8-ranked Cornell at historic Lynah Rink, long considered one of the toughest places to win in college hockey.
The Spartans on Saturday completed their first road sweep in three seasons with a nail-biting 4-3 non-conference victory in a colorful atmosphere provided by raucous crowd of 3,855. On Friday, MSU topped the Big Red, 5-2.
"This is really big for this team and our program, to show the nation what we can do,'' said junior left Taro Hirose who had a goal and two assists in both Friday's and Saturday's victories.
"This is the sort of energy we need at the beginning of the season, and I think that will keep us going for the rest of the year.''
The last time MSU (3-1) swept a road series against a ranked opponent was seven years ago when the Spartans won back-to-back games (3-2, 4-2) at Western Michigan, then ranked No. 5 in one of the two major polls and No. 6 in the other.
Michigan State's last road sweep was at Wisconsin in 2015-16. The Spartans defeated a struggling Badgers team, 4-3, 3-1, on Feb. 19-20, 2016. Wisconsin finished 8-18-8 overall and 3-13-4 in the Big Ten (6th place) that season.
Winning two games against Cornell (0-2) in different ways – blowing the game open on Friday with four straight goals and then on Saturday having to battle to the last shot at the last second to hold on for a one-goal win – was especially rewarding to the players and coaches. They've worked hard together to get a young Spartan team able to not only compete but win when faced with challenges like this road trip.
"It really a good feeling to come in here, especially in this environment, and pull off what we did,'' said junior goalie John Lethemon, who had the best back-to-back games of his career with outstanding games on Friday (32 saves) and Saturday (36 saves, including 16 in the third period).
"This could be a turning point for us, but coming into the seasons, this is what we expected we could do. We've set a pretty high standard.''
During Cole's first season, Michigan State swept two series – one at home vs. Lake Superior State late last October and a home and road victories against Ferris State in mid-November.
However, the 2017-18 team set a tone for the future with solid road victories the last two months of the season - at No. 20 Wisconsin, No. 5/6 Ohio State and No. 5/3 Notre Dame. But all three series ended in splits.
"Our guys played hard in many good parts of this game and it was probably the best we've played so far this year,'' Cole said of Saturday's victory, in which MSU fell behind 1-0 in the first period and erupted for three quick goals in the second period, added another early in the third and then held off Cornell's late surge.
"We were skating, moving the puck, our forecheck was good, the backcheck was good. There were some weird things that happened to get us back to 4-3, but even at the end, I thought we were in control. I Liked the confidence of the guys when it was 4-3.''
Cornell made it 4-2 at 3:43 and 4-3 with a power-play goal with 5:03 left. But Lethemon was solid in goal and MSU won the late battle of two desperate teams – one pushing to get the tying goal and the other working hard and players throwing their bodies around to block shots to earn a coveted series sweep.
"This is a tough building to play in and win, and we came in and played two really good games,'' Cole said. "I'm proud of the guys.
"We're trying to get ready for the Big Ten. Every weekend is like this in the Big Ten. Not a lot of easy ice out there this weekend. The pressure, the crowd is right on top of you and it's a great experience to play in these situations, and if you can go do that and win, it's even a better experience.''
The Spartans received productive performances from Lethemon, their penalty killers, the line of Patrick Khodorenko, Hirose and Mitchell Lewandowski and a defense that was under pressure most of the third period.
For the second straight game against the Big Red, Lethemon was a major force for MSU. He was under siege in the third period and handled it like a veteran. He gave up three goals overall, two coming on Cornell power plays and shots from the point by defenseman Yanni Kaldis, and the other goal came from the slot after some sloppy play by the MSU defense ended with a loose puck in the slot – a goal that ignited the Big Red comeback.
"When you win a game, there's always two or three saves that make a difference and he had two or three when it was 4-3 that were really good,'' Cole said. "Cornell was coming down the ice and throwing everything at him.
"But he was nice and tidy. There was a backdoor play where he made the save and one shot hit him in the helmet. But he earned it. He was outstanding.''
MSU's penalty killers worked overtime on Saturday as they faced eight Cornell power plays, including four in the second period. The Big Red went 2-for-8 with 17 shots on goal. MSU was 1-for-3 with four shots.
At the other end of the ice, Khodorenko tied the game 1-1 on a power play midway through the second period, starting MSU's three-goal surge in 5 minutes and 45 seconds. Logan Lambdin scored on a rebound from close in at 14:40 to give the Spartans the lead for good, and Lewandowski scored off a dazzling passing play with his linemates to make it 3-1 at 16:09.
When Hirose beat Cornell goalie Matthew Galadja with a wrist shot from low in the left circle 48 seconds into the third period, boosting the lead to 4-1, it looked like the Spartans had locked up the victory. And it chased Galajda from the net for second straight night.
But the Big Red didn't give up. They kept working and competing, and just three minutes after Hirose's goal, Cam Donaldson scored unassisted to cut his team's deficit to two goals.
MSU skated off a penalty midway through the third period, but another penalty set up Cornell's third goal, by Kaldis at 14:57, forcing the Spartans to scramble and battle to hold on to their lead.
The victory wasn't secure until Lethemon stopped a desperate bit harmless-looking shot from the right point just before the buzzer sounded to officially give Michigan State its most satisfying road trip in many, many seasons.
"Of all the things we've been working on and in trying to teach the game and how the game of hockey works over 200 feet, it's about how you have to work and you want the guys to trust what's going on and to play in a certain way,'' Cole said. "Last year there were times when we were trying to emphasize, when they came in on Monday, we said hey, we did a lot of things right, but we still lost. But that's part of it
"So you gain a lot from something like this but what you can't lose is how hard you have to work to do it. That was a battle for us for two games.''
BIZARRE SECOND PERIOD: Michigan State players spent almost half of the second period in the penalty box. So, it's not surprising that Cornell fired 10 shots on goal during eight power plays.
But what is surprising is that despite being shorthanded at 3:11, 5:50, 10:40 and 16:38, the Spartans came out of the period scoring three goals, giving up none, converting on one power-play chance and going from trailing 1-0 to taking a 3-1 lead on the Big Red.
There were 11 penalties called in the feisty, chippy middle period – seven on MSU and four on Cornell.
Spartan penalty killers and goalie John Lethemon were busy fighting off power-play pressure by the Big Red, and basically up MSU's second-consecutive victory over the Big Red.
There were only four penalties handed out in the first period – two to each team – and four in the third – three to MSU and one to Cornell.
"Our penalty killing really showed up tonight. We took a couple of undisciplined penalties and there were some that we disagreed with, but that's how it goes,'' junior left wing Taro Hirose said. "Our (penalty killers) were really good in the clutch, blocking lot of shots.''
Sophomore right wing Mitchell Lewandowski had special praise for the player who was under the most pressure during MSU's eight-minutes of penalty killing in the second period – goalie John Lethemon.
"He was awesome tonight. He definitely outplayed their goalie,'' Lewandowski said. "Johnny deserves it. He's a hard-working guy, so it's good to see him have success.
"He was solid and our penalty killing did a great job, too.''
Michigan State killed one of two Cornell power plays in the first and third periods, respectively.
KHL LINE IN SYNC: Michigan State's high-scoring, entertaining No. 1 forward line of junior Patrick Khodorenko at center between junior left wing Taro Hirose and sophomore right wing Mitchell Lewandowski had its best game of the season on Saturday night.
Each player had one goal and two assists and combined for the most dazzling goal of the night late in the second period, reminding Spartan followers of many of the highlight-reel goals they scored last season.
With the Spartans up 2-1 on second-period goals by Khodorenko at 10:24 and Logan Lambdin at 14:40, the KHL Line put on a passing and shooting clinic in the Cornell zone. The puck went quickly from Khodorenko to Hirose in the middle to the right circle where a wide-open Lewandowski one-timed it into a wide-open net at 16:09.
The three goals came in a span of 5:45.
"Patty got the puck, cut into the middle and Taro grabbed it, and as soon as he got it, I kind of opened up and I knew (the puck) was coming,'' said Lewandowski, who has two goals and five assists for nine points in seven games. "They don't get any easier than that.
"I think we were moving better tonight, finding each other and finding the open seems, and Taro and Patty were unreal.''
Hirose has a team-leading four goals and five assists for nine points in four games this season. Khodorenko's goal was his second. He also has three assists for five points.
"They looked good. They've been putting up points, and they're going to do that regardless but overall, they were a lot more straight-lined. They got more forechecking tonight,'' Coach Danton Cole said of the KHL line. "That was probably Lewandowski's best game. He's good on the perimeter but when he gets into the interior, he's really, really good.
"He did that more last year and we've been talking to him about that, and I think he did a better job tonight. Everybody has a bit of a role on that line and he's a guy that drives. Last year, there were times when he had more hits on the forecheck than anybody else. That's when he's going well.
"Hopefully, he'll get back into that again. He's playing well now but that's when he's really dangerous.''
LINEUP ADJUSTMENT: Sophomore forwards Jake Smith and Gianluca Esteves were in the lineup for the first time this season on Saturday. Esteves centered a line with Smith on left wing and senior Cody Milan on the right side.
Freshmen center Adam Goodsir and freshman left wing Mitchell Mattson were scratches after playing in the first three games of the season.
The Spartans continue to dress seven defensemen. Butrus Ghafari, a junior, is listed on MSU's line chart as the extra defenseman but saw a lot of ice time on Saturday, especially on the penalty-killing units.
UP NEXT: The Spartans play a home-and-home non-conference series against Ferris State – at 7 p.m. Friday at Munn Arena and at 7 p.m. Saturday in Big Rapids.
The Bulldogs finished their weekend with a sweep of Alaska Anchorage, winning 3-2 on Saturday after earning a 4-0 victory in the WCHA series opener on Friday.
Ferris State (3-3, 2-0 WCHA) opened its season by getting swept by Western Michigan, 4-3 at home and 5-0 in Kalamazoo. Last weekend, the Bulldogs split a home series with Mercyhurst (1-5-1), winning the non-conference series opener, 3-1, and losing the second game, 4-0.
IN THE BIG TEN: Notre Dame's one-week run as the No. 1 team in the nation will end this week after the Irish (3-2-1) were swept by No. 2/3 Minnesota Duluth, 3-2, 3-1, on Friday and Saturday in Notre Dame, Ind.
No. 4 Ohio State also had a tough weekend in non-conference play The Buckeyes were routed by No. 15 Bowling Green, 8-2, on Friday in Columbus, and the teams played to a 2-2 tie on Saturday in Bowling Green. No. 12 Michigan (3-2) swept St. Lawrence, 3-0 and 3-1, in Ann Arbor.
No. 13/14 Wisconsin (4-2) split its non-conference series with Michigan Tech, losing 6-2 on Friday and rebounding for a 6-2 victory on Saturday in Madison.
In the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Game in Las Vegas, No. 17 North Dakota (2-2-1) edged No. 5 Minnesota (1-1-1), 3-1. The Fighting Hawks broke a 1-1 tie on defenseman's Colton Poolman's power-play goal at 10:14 of the third period and added an empty-net goal with 42 seconds left.
No. 9/10 Penn State defeated Princeton, 4-2, on Friday but was idle on Saturday.
Next weekend, Notre Dame and Ohio State open Big Ten play with a two-game series at Notre Dame on Friday and Saturday. In other Friday-Saturday series, Michigan is at Lake Superior State, Wisconsin visits North Dakota, Penn State plays host to Arizona State, and Minnesota plays a home-and-home series with Minnesota State – Friday in Minneapolis and Saturday in Mankato.
MSUSpartans.com staff writer
ITHACA, N.Y. – The Danton Cole Era of Michigan State hockey is a year and nearly seven months old and covers one full season and four games this year.
There's been a few special victories and moments in the early stages of Cole and his staff's quest to lift the Spartan program back into national prominence.
But none as memorable and satisfying as this weekend's road sweep of No. 8-ranked Cornell at historic Lynah Rink, long considered one of the toughest places to win in college hockey.
The Spartans on Saturday completed their first road sweep in three seasons with a nail-biting 4-3 non-conference victory in a colorful atmosphere provided by raucous crowd of 3,855. On Friday, MSU topped the Big Red, 5-2.
"This is really big for this team and our program, to show the nation what we can do,'' said junior left Taro Hirose who had a goal and two assists in both Friday's and Saturday's victories.
"This is the sort of energy we need at the beginning of the season, and I think that will keep us going for the rest of the year.''
The last time MSU (3-1) swept a road series against a ranked opponent was seven years ago when the Spartans won back-to-back games (3-2, 4-2) at Western Michigan, then ranked No. 5 in one of the two major polls and No. 6 in the other.
Michigan State's last road sweep was at Wisconsin in 2015-16. The Spartans defeated a struggling Badgers team, 4-3, 3-1, on Feb. 19-20, 2016. Wisconsin finished 8-18-8 overall and 3-13-4 in the Big Ten (6th place) that season.
Winning two games against Cornell (0-2) in different ways – blowing the game open on Friday with four straight goals and then on Saturday having to battle to the last shot at the last second to hold on for a one-goal win – was especially rewarding to the players and coaches. They've worked hard together to get a young Spartan team able to not only compete but win when faced with challenges like this road trip.
"It really a good feeling to come in here, especially in this environment, and pull off what we did,'' said junior goalie John Lethemon, who had the best back-to-back games of his career with outstanding games on Friday (32 saves) and Saturday (36 saves, including 16 in the third period).
"This could be a turning point for us, but coming into the seasons, this is what we expected we could do. We've set a pretty high standard.''
During Cole's first season, Michigan State swept two series – one at home vs. Lake Superior State late last October and a home and road victories against Ferris State in mid-November.
However, the 2017-18 team set a tone for the future with solid road victories the last two months of the season - at No. 20 Wisconsin, No. 5/6 Ohio State and No. 5/3 Notre Dame. But all three series ended in splits.
"Our guys played hard in many good parts of this game and it was probably the best we've played so far this year,'' Cole said of Saturday's victory, in which MSU fell behind 1-0 in the first period and erupted for three quick goals in the second period, added another early in the third and then held off Cornell's late surge.
"We were skating, moving the puck, our forecheck was good, the backcheck was good. There were some weird things that happened to get us back to 4-3, but even at the end, I thought we were in control. I Liked the confidence of the guys when it was 4-3.''
Cornell made it 4-2 at 3:43 and 4-3 with a power-play goal with 5:03 left. But Lethemon was solid in goal and MSU won the late battle of two desperate teams – one pushing to get the tying goal and the other working hard and players throwing their bodies around to block shots to earn a coveted series sweep.
"This is a tough building to play in and win, and we came in and played two really good games,'' Cole said. "I'm proud of the guys.
"We're trying to get ready for the Big Ten. Every weekend is like this in the Big Ten. Not a lot of easy ice out there this weekend. The pressure, the crowd is right on top of you and it's a great experience to play in these situations, and if you can go do that and win, it's even a better experience.''
The Spartans received productive performances from Lethemon, their penalty killers, the line of Patrick Khodorenko, Hirose and Mitchell Lewandowski and a defense that was under pressure most of the third period.
For the second straight game against the Big Red, Lethemon was a major force for MSU. He was under siege in the third period and handled it like a veteran. He gave up three goals overall, two coming on Cornell power plays and shots from the point by defenseman Yanni Kaldis, and the other goal came from the slot after some sloppy play by the MSU defense ended with a loose puck in the slot – a goal that ignited the Big Red comeback.
"When you win a game, there's always two or three saves that make a difference and he had two or three when it was 4-3 that were really good,'' Cole said. "Cornell was coming down the ice and throwing everything at him.
"But he was nice and tidy. There was a backdoor play where he made the save and one shot hit him in the helmet. But he earned it. He was outstanding.''
MSU's penalty killers worked overtime on Saturday as they faced eight Cornell power plays, including four in the second period. The Big Red went 2-for-8 with 17 shots on goal. MSU was 1-for-3 with four shots.
At the other end of the ice, Khodorenko tied the game 1-1 on a power play midway through the second period, starting MSU's three-goal surge in 5 minutes and 45 seconds. Logan Lambdin scored on a rebound from close in at 14:40 to give the Spartans the lead for good, and Lewandowski scored off a dazzling passing play with his linemates to make it 3-1 at 16:09.
When Hirose beat Cornell goalie Matthew Galadja with a wrist shot from low in the left circle 48 seconds into the third period, boosting the lead to 4-1, it looked like the Spartans had locked up the victory. And it chased Galajda from the net for second straight night.
But the Big Red didn't give up. They kept working and competing, and just three minutes after Hirose's goal, Cam Donaldson scored unassisted to cut his team's deficit to two goals.
MSU skated off a penalty midway through the third period, but another penalty set up Cornell's third goal, by Kaldis at 14:57, forcing the Spartans to scramble and battle to hold on to their lead.
The victory wasn't secure until Lethemon stopped a desperate bit harmless-looking shot from the right point just before the buzzer sounded to officially give Michigan State its most satisfying road trip in many, many seasons.
"Of all the things we've been working on and in trying to teach the game and how the game of hockey works over 200 feet, it's about how you have to work and you want the guys to trust what's going on and to play in a certain way,'' Cole said. "Last year there were times when we were trying to emphasize, when they came in on Monday, we said hey, we did a lot of things right, but we still lost. But that's part of it
"So you gain a lot from something like this but what you can't lose is how hard you have to work to do it. That was a battle for us for two games.''
BIZARRE SECOND PERIOD: Michigan State players spent almost half of the second period in the penalty box. So, it's not surprising that Cornell fired 10 shots on goal during eight power plays.
But what is surprising is that despite being shorthanded at 3:11, 5:50, 10:40 and 16:38, the Spartans came out of the period scoring three goals, giving up none, converting on one power-play chance and going from trailing 1-0 to taking a 3-1 lead on the Big Red.
There were 11 penalties called in the feisty, chippy middle period – seven on MSU and four on Cornell.
Spartan penalty killers and goalie John Lethemon were busy fighting off power-play pressure by the Big Red, and basically up MSU's second-consecutive victory over the Big Red.
There were only four penalties handed out in the first period – two to each team – and four in the third – three to MSU and one to Cornell.
"Our penalty killing really showed up tonight. We took a couple of undisciplined penalties and there were some that we disagreed with, but that's how it goes,'' junior left wing Taro Hirose said. "Our (penalty killers) were really good in the clutch, blocking lot of shots.''
Sophomore right wing Mitchell Lewandowski had special praise for the player who was under the most pressure during MSU's eight-minutes of penalty killing in the second period – goalie John Lethemon.
"He was awesome tonight. He definitely outplayed their goalie,'' Lewandowski said. "Johnny deserves it. He's a hard-working guy, so it's good to see him have success.
"He was solid and our penalty killing did a great job, too.''
Michigan State killed one of two Cornell power plays in the first and third periods, respectively.
KHL LINE IN SYNC: Michigan State's high-scoring, entertaining No. 1 forward line of junior Patrick Khodorenko at center between junior left wing Taro Hirose and sophomore right wing Mitchell Lewandowski had its best game of the season on Saturday night.
Each player had one goal and two assists and combined for the most dazzling goal of the night late in the second period, reminding Spartan followers of many of the highlight-reel goals they scored last season.
With the Spartans up 2-1 on second-period goals by Khodorenko at 10:24 and Logan Lambdin at 14:40, the KHL Line put on a passing and shooting clinic in the Cornell zone. The puck went quickly from Khodorenko to Hirose in the middle to the right circle where a wide-open Lewandowski one-timed it into a wide-open net at 16:09.
The three goals came in a span of 5:45.
"Patty got the puck, cut into the middle and Taro grabbed it, and as soon as he got it, I kind of opened up and I knew (the puck) was coming,'' said Lewandowski, who has two goals and five assists for nine points in seven games. "They don't get any easier than that.
"I think we were moving better tonight, finding each other and finding the open seems, and Taro and Patty were unreal.''
Hirose has a team-leading four goals and five assists for nine points in four games this season. Khodorenko's goal was his second. He also has three assists for five points.
"They looked good. They've been putting up points, and they're going to do that regardless but overall, they were a lot more straight-lined. They got more forechecking tonight,'' Coach Danton Cole said of the KHL line. "That was probably Lewandowski's best game. He's good on the perimeter but when he gets into the interior, he's really, really good.
"He did that more last year and we've been talking to him about that, and I think he did a better job tonight. Everybody has a bit of a role on that line and he's a guy that drives. Last year, there were times when he had more hits on the forecheck than anybody else. That's when he's going well.
"Hopefully, he'll get back into that again. He's playing well now but that's when he's really dangerous.''
LINEUP ADJUSTMENT: Sophomore forwards Jake Smith and Gianluca Esteves were in the lineup for the first time this season on Saturday. Esteves centered a line with Smith on left wing and senior Cody Milan on the right side.
Freshmen center Adam Goodsir and freshman left wing Mitchell Mattson were scratches after playing in the first three games of the season.
The Spartans continue to dress seven defensemen. Butrus Ghafari, a junior, is listed on MSU's line chart as the extra defenseman but saw a lot of ice time on Saturday, especially on the penalty-killing units.
UP NEXT: The Spartans play a home-and-home non-conference series against Ferris State – at 7 p.m. Friday at Munn Arena and at 7 p.m. Saturday in Big Rapids.
The Bulldogs finished their weekend with a sweep of Alaska Anchorage, winning 3-2 on Saturday after earning a 4-0 victory in the WCHA series opener on Friday.
Ferris State (3-3, 2-0 WCHA) opened its season by getting swept by Western Michigan, 4-3 at home and 5-0 in Kalamazoo. Last weekend, the Bulldogs split a home series with Mercyhurst (1-5-1), winning the non-conference series opener, 3-1, and losing the second game, 4-0.
IN THE BIG TEN: Notre Dame's one-week run as the No. 1 team in the nation will end this week after the Irish (3-2-1) were swept by No. 2/3 Minnesota Duluth, 3-2, 3-1, on Friday and Saturday in Notre Dame, Ind.
No. 4 Ohio State also had a tough weekend in non-conference play The Buckeyes were routed by No. 15 Bowling Green, 8-2, on Friday in Columbus, and the teams played to a 2-2 tie on Saturday in Bowling Green. No. 12 Michigan (3-2) swept St. Lawrence, 3-0 and 3-1, in Ann Arbor.
No. 13/14 Wisconsin (4-2) split its non-conference series with Michigan Tech, losing 6-2 on Friday and rebounding for a 6-2 victory on Saturday in Madison.
In the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Game in Las Vegas, No. 17 North Dakota (2-2-1) edged No. 5 Minnesota (1-1-1), 3-1. The Fighting Hawks broke a 1-1 tie on defenseman's Colton Poolman's power-play goal at 10:14 of the third period and added an empty-net goal with 42 seconds left.
No. 9/10 Penn State defeated Princeton, 4-2, on Friday but was idle on Saturday.
Next weekend, Notre Dame and Ohio State open Big Ten play with a two-game series at Notre Dame on Friday and Saturday. In other Friday-Saturday series, Michigan is at Lake Superior State, Wisconsin visits North Dakota, Penn State plays host to Arizona State, and Minnesota plays a home-and-home series with Minnesota State – Friday in Minneapolis and Saturday in Mankato.
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