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Spartan Recap: Michigan State Hockey Splits Series With Notre Dame

Spartan Recap: Michigan State Hockey Splits Series With Notre Dame
SEF College Hockey

To end the first half of the Big Ten men’s hockey season, Michigan State and Notre Dame faced off in a two-game set at Compton Family Ice Arena, the home of Fighting Irish hockey. The first game was determined in the shootout as Notre Dame got the extra point, while MSU took the second game by a score of 4-3 in overtime.

Game 1:

When the lines were announced prior to the first game of the two-game set, there were some noticeable changes. First off was the aforementioned return of Kristof Papp to the lineup that Michigan State Head Coach Danton Cole alluded to during Tuesday’s press conference. Forwards Jake Smith and Gianluca Esteves were removed from the lineup, as freshman Kyle Haskins moved back to the fourth line. The Spartans used 12 forwards and seven defensemen instead of 13 and six in Friday’s game, and with that came the season, Spartan, and NCAA debut of freshman defenseman Powell Connor. The final lineup change was the change of pairs for the Krygier twins, as Christian played with Dennis Cesana, while Cole played with Aiden Gallacher. Ryan Bischel got the start for the Fighting Irish after Dylan St. Cyr started both games last weekend against Ohio State.

After a couple penalties were handed out through the first 14 minutes of the first period, it took until 5:44 remaining in the first for the goal light to turn on, albeit for a goal that had to be challenged. During a four-on-four situation, captain Tommy Apap was swarming around, forcing a Notre Dame turnover in their defensive zone. The puck was sent out to Cesana who purposely sent the puck off the board and back to Apap to make it a 1-0 game. The goal was challenged for goaltender interference but was called a good goal after further review. Apap’s first of the season was assisted by Cesana and Mitchell Lewandowski. The shots finished 11-9 in favor of MSU after the first with a 1-0 Spartans lead.

The second period was a little sluggish to start aside from a goaltender interference penalty that sent the Spartans to another power-play that had no result, until with just under six minutes to go in the second period, Alex Steeves scored on a beautiful cross-ice pass from Graham Slaggert to tie the game at one. The secondary assist on the goal was given to Nick Leivermann. The shots were 22-15 Notre Dame after two.

The third period was not an ideal period for the Spartans, but their penalty-kill did get a lot of work. About six minutes into the third, Christian Krygier was handed a five-minute major and a game misconduct for checking from behind, and the Spartans ended the third with two minor penalties and a 41-20 shot differential. Goaltender Drew DeRidder was an x-factor for Michigan State Friday night, and he was not only the reason the game went to overtime but even past that.

After giving up seven shots in the overtime period, and going to the penalty kill, the Fighting Irish took the extra point in the shootout, as Max Ellis and Leivermann scored in the shootout, while Bischel stopped Lewandowski and Kyle Haskins. DeRidder finished 47-48 on the night and had one of his best performances with the Spartans to date.

Game 2:

Heading into Game 2, there was one change, with Papp getting scratched once again. Jagger Joshua moved up to play with Muller and Lewandowski, while Jake Smith was inserted on the third line.

Game 2 had a much different feel than the previous night. At 1:13 in the first period, Josh Nodler lost the puck, which led to a Fighting Irish turnover and a goal for Graham Slaggert, assisted by Alex Steeves and Trevor Janicke. Just after, about 3:30 into the period, Nodler was on the other side. Powell Connor’s shot from the point led to a Nodler rebound that hit off of Charlie Combs and went in, tying the game at the same score, 1-1, that the same teams played at after 65 minutes in Game 1. Connor got the secondary assist, marking his first NCAA point in his second game.

Then came the penalties. First, there were coincidental minors, then Cole Krygier gets called for the same thing his brother was called for last night- a five-minute major and a game misconduct. The Spartans then took multiple minors, including a “too many men” minor, but Michigan State’s penalty kill as well as goaltender Drew DeRidder shut the door. Shots may have been 15-4 Notre Dame after one, but it was a 1-1 tie.

The second period started off with a few minutes of pure dominance by the Fighting Irish, but that didn’t last long. About five minutes into the second period, Mitchell Lewandowski potted one home in the slot through Ryan Bischel’s five-hole. That was Lewandowski’s second of the season, and 45th career NCAA goal, good for second out of all players in the NCAA. The goal was set up by Nico Muller and Dennis Cesana. With 1:45 left in the second, Colin Theisen was sprung wide open on a breakaway but was stopped by DeRidder. At the end of two, the Spartans had a 2-1 lead, with Notre Dame outshooting them 31-8.

About 4:30 into the third period, Alex Steeves went down hard and had to get help going back to the bench, but there was no penalty awarded. Mitchell Lewandowski was not able to keep the puck at the blue line, and the Fighting Irish tied the game up on a goal scored by Grant Silianoff, assisted by Michael Graham and Spencer Stastney, but the main aspect of the goal that put it in was that it went off of Christian Krygier’s skate. The period did not get much better for the Spartans, as about halfway into the period, Brody Stevens had a tough time clearing the puck which led to an easy goal for Michael Graham, assisted by Jesse Lansdell and Charlie Raith.

The third period was quiet until the end. With 22.9 seconds left in the third period, Tommy Apap tied it up, tipping it through Bischel’s five-hole off of a strong play from Nodler and Tommy Miller. At the end of the third, it was a 3-3 game, but the shots were 45-26 Notre Dame. For the second straight night, the Spartans and Fighting Irish played free hockey.

Overtime was much more eventful than in Game 1. At the 1:26 mark in OT, defenseman Tommy Miller was sent forward by Nico Muller, walked around Steeves, and tucked it past Bischel for the 4-3 Spartans victory. MSU picked up the extra point as the Spartans wrapped up the first half on a positive note.

Michigan State Head Coach Danton Cole spoke to the Spartan Radio Network following the game. When talking about Miller’s goal, he brought up the old-school “Cam Neely power-drive, take it to the far post. We don’t see those much anymore.”

He said “We (the team) just got done talking in there, covered a lot of things, but it was a great win. Got a lot of points out of this weekend, in a tough spot. Just walking through it all, Christmas, testing, coming back, we had a lot to cover, but the overriding one was one, how hard we worked, which was just great, but two, once we got down 3-2, all of a sudden we decided to start playing hockey and get moving.”

He was impressed with the play of Powell Connor in Game 2. “He was outstanding. His poise was great, he moved the puck, he’s a physical presence, he’s calm. He’s played his first two games and played six minutes and he’s looked like he’s played every other day for the last couple of months. I was very impressed with him, he’s held the line and hung in there in practice. He made some great plays for us and defended well, he blocked shots, played in penalty kill, and in practice, he’s just been outstanding.”

Michigan State resumes its season on January 3rd, 2021 against Penn State at Munn Ice Arena, home of Spartan hockey.

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