Saturday, March 7
7 P.M.
Michigan State University
16-18-2
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Michigan
17-15-4
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Michigan State
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Michigan
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Photo by: Rey Del Rio
Spartans' Season Ends in Big Ten Tournament
3/7/2020 10:30:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey
ANN ARBOR – The Michigan State hockey team's 2019-20 season came to an end on Saturday with a 3-0 loss to Michigan in game two of the best-of-three Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal series at Yost Ice Arena. The Wolverines broke a 0-0 tie with two goals in the second period and added an empty-netter in the final minute of the game.
"It was another tough one. I thought through the whole game we battled and did a lot of good things," MSU head coach Danton Cole said. "We needed a couple bounces and weren't able to get them and they made a couple plays.
"I'm not disappointed in our effort at all, or anything we did. We just needed to score a couple goals. It's a great bunch of guys in there and they've done a great job."
Michigan made it 1-0 just over five minutes into the second period on a power-play goal by Will Lockwood. Defenseman Nick Blankenburg's shot from the middle of the point got through a screen and off the stick of Lockwood in front of goaltender John Lethemon.
Johnny Beecher pushed the UM lead to 2-0 with 1:32 to go in the second when he carried the puck into the MSU zone, curled around the net and let go a low wrister from the right circle that found the back of the net.
The Spartans had a trio of power-play chances in the game and a handful of opportunities in the slot, but could never solve goaltender Strauss Mann, who made 20 saves.
An empty-net goal with 47 seconds to go in the third made it 3-0.
The Spartans increased their win total for the third consecutive year under Cole, ending the season with a 15-19-2 record. Saturday's game was the last for the Spartans' nine seniors.
"They did a great job," Cole said. "They worked and they wanted to a part of this thing moving forward and look at their body of work from their freshman year to their senior year. It's been a real positive thing, but not just wins and losses but culturally they've done a nice job and those seniors have to do those things. I'm real proud of them. They're done playing hockey for Michigan State, but they're not done being Spartans."
"It was another tough one. I thought through the whole game we battled and did a lot of good things," MSU head coach Danton Cole said. "We needed a couple bounces and weren't able to get them and they made a couple plays.
"I'm not disappointed in our effort at all, or anything we did. We just needed to score a couple goals. It's a great bunch of guys in there and they've done a great job."
Michigan made it 1-0 just over five minutes into the second period on a power-play goal by Will Lockwood. Defenseman Nick Blankenburg's shot from the middle of the point got through a screen and off the stick of Lockwood in front of goaltender John Lethemon.
Johnny Beecher pushed the UM lead to 2-0 with 1:32 to go in the second when he carried the puck into the MSU zone, curled around the net and let go a low wrister from the right circle that found the back of the net.
The Spartans had a trio of power-play chances in the game and a handful of opportunities in the slot, but could never solve goaltender Strauss Mann, who made 20 saves.
An empty-net goal with 47 seconds to go in the third made it 3-0.
The Spartans increased their win total for the third consecutive year under Cole, ending the season with a 15-19-2 record. Saturday's game was the last for the Spartans' nine seniors.
"They did a great job," Cole said. "They worked and they wanted to a part of this thing moving forward and look at their body of work from their freshman year to their senior year. It's been a real positive thing, but not just wins and losses but culturally they've done a nice job and those seniors have to do those things. I'm real proud of them. They're done playing hockey for Michigan State, but they're not done being Spartans."
Team Stats
MSU
MICH
Shots
20
26
PPG
0
1
SHG
0
0
Penalties
5
4
Penalty Mins
10
8
Faceoffs Won
32
26
Game Leaders
+/-
0
Goals
0
Sh
3
A
0
+/-
-1
Goals
0
Sh
3
A
0
+/-
-1
Goals
0
Sh
3
A
0
+/-
0
Goals
0
Sh
2
A
0
Players Mentioned
G
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