Neil’s Notebook: Green-White Game Another Step in Preparation for 2018-19

Neil’s Notebook: Green-White Game Another Step in Preparation for 2018-19

10/4/2018 9:18:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey

By Neil Koepke
MSUSpartans.com staff writer

EAST LANSING – Michigan State opens the season in nine days. The build-up to the first regular-season game continued Wednesday night with the Green and White intrasquad scrimmage at Munn Arena.

It was the Spartans' first appearance of 2018-19 under game conditions and the first ever at MSU for seven freshmen – goalie Drew DeRidder, defensemen Dennis Cesana, Cole Krygier and Christian Krygier and forwards Wojciech Stachowiak, Adam Goodsir and Mitchell Mattson.

And the rookies made impacts in various ways as the White team, coached by assistant coach Joe Exter, defeated the Green, guided by assistant coach Chris Luongo, 2-0, in a two-period game featuring power-plays, 4-on-4 and 3-on-3 segments.

Stachowiak scored 38 seconds into the game from the side of the net after Cesana's shot from the point was deflected in front and then off the boards and winding up at the side of the net for a tap-in by Stachowiak.

Stachowiak also earned an assist on senior defenseman Zach Osburn's goal on shot from the point during a 5-on-3 power play in the second period.

"I thought the freshmen did fine,'' MSU coach Danton Cole said. "With the defensemen, they're kind of like referees. If you don't notice them too much, they probably had a good game.

"They managed the puck well and defended well. Dennis (Cesana), on the power play, you noticed him a little bit. The guys up front did a good job. They have a decent understanding of what we're trying to do. They played big and did some good stuff.''

Goodsir and Mattson played on a line with senior Cody Milan on the Green team. Rookie defensemen and identical twins Cole and Christian Krygier played on the Green Team and had some solid shifts.

White goalie John Lethemon didn't allow a goal, making 12 saves. During the shootout segment after the first period, Lethemon stopped all three members of MSU's high-scoring line of Patrick Khodorenko, Taro Hirose and Mitchell Lewandowski.

Freshman goalie Drew DeRidder gave up two goals and made 15 saves.

"I thought Drew in net was good. It was unfortunate he gave up the one right off the bat but other than that, the goaltending was solid,'' Cole said. "Drew and Johnny looked sharp. So, that makes coaches happy.''

Cole was happy about what he saw overall.

"It was good. There were a lot of situations – we've been going at it since school started and you're playing against the same guys all the time and kind of the same situations,'' he said. "So, you try to create a game-lime atmosphere with a little bit of zip.''

The Spartan coach was impressed with Stachowiak, 19, a 6-foot, 197-pound forward from Gdansk, Poland, who played right wing Wednesday on a line with junior center and captain Sam Saliba and junior left wing Logan Lambdin.

"He did a nice job. He hounded the puck and got the nice goal early, and when you score early, sometimes that makes you feel really good,'' Cole said. "I liked his puck pressure. He has a lot of jump and he can create some separation. He's been getting better and better as practice has gone on.

"You hope the freshmen can contribute in different ways, whether it's penalty killing or giving you depth. And if you get lucky and a guy can come in right away and score, like (Lewandowski) did last year, that's great. I don't know if we'll get that type of situation but we'd take it.

"We're looking at our second-and-third line scoring, so we're hoping he can do that. He's shown he can do it. He's playing with Sammy and doing a good job.''

The only goal of the shootout, in which each team had three players shoot, was scored by Lambdin.

UP NEXT: The Spartans face the University of Windsor in an exhibition game at 4 p.m. Sunday at Munn Arena. The Lancers are 2-3 overall and 1-0 in Ontario Universities Athletics play. Windsor also played on Wednesday, defeating Western Ontario, 4-2, in an OUA contest.

The Lancers lost their first three games – two at Carlton University, 4-1 and 7-1, on Sept. 21-22, and at the University of Guelph, 3-2, last Thursday. But Windsor rebounded with a 5-2 victory at home vs. Guelph last Saturday and have now won two straight starting with its success against Western Ontario.

Michigan State is 2-0-1 all-time vs. Windsor, with all games in East Lansing. The Spartans won 6-0 in 2003 and 6-1 in 2012. The last time the teams met – Oct. 7, 2014 – the teams played to a 2-2 tie.

"We want to build up the intensity. In a little over a week, we're playing a good Northern Michigan team here, so we want to get our lines going, with a little more pace,'' Cole said about his emphasis for Sunday's final tune-up for the regular season.

"It's just pace, get a little better, get more feedback and lead us into practice next week to get ready for Northern.''

The Spartans open the season with a two-game non-conference against the Wildcats Oct. 12-13 at Munn Arena.

NMU, under first-year coach Grant Potulny, came within one win of making the NCAA Tournament last season. The Wildcats finished second in the WCHA with a 19-7-2 record and were 25-15-3 overall. NMU won two conference playoff series before losing 2-0 to Michigan Tech in the WCHA championship game.

NEW-LOOK OVERTIME: The Big Ten last week approved a new format for overtime to determine the extra point in the conference standings. Under the new plan, if a game is tied after three periods, a normal 5-minute sudden-death overtime will be played involving the usual 5 skaters a side. If the game is still tied, the teams will play a 3-on-3 sudden-death OT for five minutes, and if the game is still tied, there will be a shootout.

If the game is tied after the first overtime, the game is officially a tie in a team's overall record and for NCAA Pairwise considerations, but the Big Ten, along with two other Western conferences, use the 3-on-3 and shootout to decide a winner and award an extra point in league standings.

The 3-on-3 OT and shootout will not apply to non-conference games. In regular-season tournament games that require a winner, a 20-minute overtime can be implemented instead of the traditional 5-minute OT. The tournaments may also use the 3-on-3 and shootout, but the game would be officially a tie if deadlocked after the 5-minute or 20-minute overtime.

The National Collegiate Hockey Conference has used this format for the last three seasons, the WCHA has used it for the past two, and it's been extremely popular with administrators, coaches, players and fans.

In Big Ten, NCHC and WCHA standings, a victory in regulation or in sudden-death overtime is worth three points, a 3-on-3 overtime victory earns two points, while the losing team in a 3-on-3 overtime or shootout skates away with one point. A team losing in the first OT does not receive a point.

The three conferences in the East – Hockey East, Eastern College Athletic Conference and Atlantic Hockey – do not use the 3-on-3 overtime or shootout. If a game is tied, they go to the NCAA-regulated 5-minute overtime, and if no one scores, the game ends in a tie.

IN THE BIG TEN: Michigan and Minnesota are the only conference teams playing regular-seasons games this weekend, and the Gophers are starting out facing defending NCAA champion Minnesota-Duluth, ranked No. 1 in both major preseason polls.

Minnesota plays at Minnesota-Duluth on Saturday and the teams complete the non-conference series on Sunday in Minneapolis.

The Wolverines, meanwhile, play Vermont on Saturday in Ann Arbor and then play the University of Waterloo in an exhibition game on Sunday.

In addition to the Spartans, three other Big Ten teams are involved in exhibition play this weekend. Penn State plays host to Brock University on Saturday, while the University of Victoria plays at Wisconsin on Sunday and Notre Dame is home against the U.S. Under 18 Team on Sunday.

Ohio State is idle this weekend. The Buckeyes open their season next weekend with a non-league series at Arizona State.

Across the nation, there are nine non-league games scheduled for Saturday and five on Sunday.