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Spartan Recap: Michigan State Spartans Split Series With Michigan

Spartan Recap: Michigan State Spartans Split Series With Michigan
SEF College Hockey

Following a series split against Penn State less than a week ago, the Michigan State Spartans geared up for a two-game, home-and-home series with the ninth-ranked Michigan Wolverines. The first game ended with a 9-0 Wolverines shutout, while the Spartans took the second game, 3-2.

Game 1:

Line changes were very minimal prior to the first game of the series. A.J. Hodges and Tommy Apap, who were both not in the lineup of the second game, were still scratched. On the other hand, Adam Goodsir, who had been out of the lineup in both games against Penn State, drew into the lineup, replacing defenseman Nash Nienhuis, moving Austin Kamer to the extra skater spot. With Nienhuis out, Powell Connor would slide into his spot next to Tommy Miller, leading the Spartans to use 13 forwards and six defensemen in Game 1. Drew DeRidder will continue to man the pipes, which makes it 11 Spartans’ hockey games, and 11 starts for DeRidder. For the University of Michigan, 2021 World Juniors gold medalists Cam York, Matthew Beniers, and Brendan Brisson will be in the lineup, while Strauss Mann, who has started every game for the Wolverines, mans the pipes.

Michigan began the game, pressuring towards DeRidder, and after an icing, Michigan State took possession in the offensive zone. Just over two minutes in, defenseman Jacob Truscott got called for a holding penalty, which sent the Spartans to the power play. Michigan State’s power-play continued to have a tough time, as they were held without a shot, and with 21 seconds left, Michigan’s Thomas Bordeleau had a nice shorthanded chance that DeRidder stopped. With 14:52 left in the period, Bordeleau was camped in front of the net with no Spartans around him, and he tucked it through DeRidder’s legs. With 12:22 left, Brody Stevens was called for a roughing minor, and the Michigan State penalty kill, who was off to a 30-36 start, got to work. Despite the kill being successful, the momentum continued into five-on-five play, and Nick Blankenburg shot the puck from the point, it was deflected before going past DeRidder, making it 2-0 Wolverines with 10:06 left in the first period.

Michigan’s domination continued, as with 8:26 left, John Beecher came down, beat DeRidder five-hole, and made it 3-0. For the first time this year, DeRidder was pulled and was replaced by freshman goaltender Pierce Charleson, getting his first NCAA action. He made some big saves after coming in, including on a mini-breakaway from Garrett Van Whye and a skate save on Nick Granowicz, and it easily could have been a four or five-goal difference towards the end of the first period. Brendan Brisson and Adam Goodsir took coincidental minors, and the four-on-four produced most of the same, Michigan having possession of the puck in the offensive zone. After one, the Wolverines were leading, 3-0, and the shots on goal were 16-3 Michigan.

The second period started off slow until Jagger Joshua and Phillip LaPointe headed to the box for coincidental unsportsmanlike conduct minors. A few bad giveaways for the Spartans lead to Michigan chances, and they eventually put one in the back of the net when Nico Muller gave the puck away, and Michael Pastujov put it home to make it 4-0 with 16:22 left in the second. Adam Goodsir then went to the box for a slashing minor, and the Wolverines took advantage as, during a delayed call on Cole Krygier, Garrett Van Wyhe made it 5-0. With 8:12 remaining in the second period, Charlie Combs burst on a breakaway but was stopped by Strauss Mann, who has not had a hard night. The Spartans had some life towards the end of the second, but it made no difference as the Wolverines took a 5-0 lead and a 32-10 shot advantage heading into the third period.

About a minute into the third period, Bordeleau hit Mitchell Lewandowski as was slow to get up, but after review, he was only given a minor penalty for tripping, but the Spartans were unsuccessful on the power play. The Spartans had a chance about five minutes in when a Powell Connor led to a rebound try for Adam Goodsir, which was stopped by Mann. Just a minute later, Jack Becker was parked in front of Charleson and banged it home for a 6-0 lead. Less than a minute after, Matthew Beniers made it 7-0. With 10:37 left, Kyle Haskins went to the box and set up another Wolverines power play. With seven minutes left, Cole Krygier took a minor penalty, sending Michigan to the power play once again. A minute in, Kent Johnson made it 8-0. With 2:11 left, Jay Keranen scored his first NCAA goal to make it 9-0. That ended up being the final score, and shots ended up being 44-21 Wolverines.

Following the game, Head Coach Danton Cole spoke to the media. When it came to what went wrong defending Michigan, Cole said “I think it was more on our forwards just not doing a good job with the puck and getting on the wrong side of things and our third guy not having a great angle. It wasn’t horrible…I think most of the odd-man situations actually came out of some bad changes, which is something we can definitely address. There were about nine million things, but the guys have to play with the right intensity and when you play a team like Michigan with some of the players they have it can get away from you quickly.”

Without Tommy Apap, the face-off battle was not in the Spartans’ favor. “We missed him on the ice – especially faceoffs and penalty killing. He’s heavy and can give us some good matchups. We had a few other guys out as well tonight and you have to battle through those things. Everybody goes through it.”

Game 2:

Coming off of a difficult result in Game 1, the Michigan State Spartans made one lineup change, and that was the return of Tommy Apap, with Austin Kamer getting scratched. There were, however, line changes, with Brody Stevens playing with Apap and Gianluca Esteves, Jagger Joshua playing with Nico Muller and Jake Smith, Adam Goodsir playing with Mitchell Mattson and Kyle Haskins, while Kristof Papp served as the extra skater, and Powell Connor and Tommy Miller switched sides on the third pair. Drew DeRidder, despite getting pulled in the first game, started the second game and was opposed by Michigan’s Strauss Mann.

54 seconds in, the puck went behind Mann’s net, and Mitchell Lewandowski found Charlie Combs in the middle, who potted in to make it 1-0 quickly. Less than six minutes in, Michigan was called for a too many men on the ice penalty, and Nick Granowicz served the penalty. The Michigan State power play, which has not found much success to start the year, had control of the puck for the last half but was not able to convert. After the Michigan penalty kill expired, John Beecher scored to make it 1-1. Following that, Mann denied Goodsir on a shot in the slot.

Michigan was controlling play for about five minutes, with DeRidder needing to make some big saves, but with 4:26 left in the period, Brody Stevens got called for an interference minor, which gave Michigan their first power play of the game. After the penalty expired, Kyle Haskins was hit with the primary target being the head by Michigan’s Keaton Pehrson and had to go to the locker room, and the hit, after not originally being called a penalty, was reviewed. After the review, Pehrson was called for a five-minute major and a game misconduct for a hit to the head. The period would end without a goal, but the first 3:49 of the second period would be a Spartans’ man advantage. After one, it was a 1-1 tie and Michigan had the lead in shots, 16-12.

Photo credits to @MSU_Hockey on Twitter

To begin the second period, the Spartans were unable to convert on the remainder of the power play. The period had been quiet, but with 12:16 left, Gianluca Esteves was called for a high sticking minor, and the Wolverines headed to the power play. The penalty was killed, but Cole Krygier was immediately called for an interference minor. The Krygier penalty was killed off, but the momentum was still in Michigan’s favor. DeRidder had to make multiple strong saves. With 2:30 left, Thomas Bordeleau was called for a faceoff infraction and the Spartans headed to the power play. John Beecher started it off with a shorthanded break, but couldn’t score. Michigan State had trouble keeping it in the zone, and when they did, either Mann made a save or the Wolverines killed it. After two, it was still a 1-1 game, but shots are 26-22 Michigan.

Just under five minutes into the third period, Christian Krygier was called for a holding penalty, and Michigan’s power play went to work again. The Spartans’ penalty kill was successful again, not allowing Michigan to score on DeRidder. The period had been slow, but at 4:39, two members of the gold medal-winning Team USA in Cam York and Brendan Brisson combined to make it a 2-1 game. York’s wraparound was saved by DeRidder but Brisson poked home the rebound. That would not be the score for long as with 2:02 left, Cole Krygier hammered a shot from a point that got past Mann to make it 2-2. The referees and linesmen reviewed the goal in case there was an offside entry, but the goal was ruled good. Once again, the score would not stay for long, as Mitchell Lewandowski, Dennis Cesana, Christian Krygier, and Josh Nodler combined for Nodler’s first of the season from an angle.

That would be the final score, as the Spartans took the second game of the series, 3-2, while the Wolverines had the shot advantage, 40-27.

Following the game, Coach Cole, Cole Krygier, and Josh Nodler spoke to the media.

Cole started with his opening statement. “Everything was a little better. Really impressed with our guys, we were really disappointed after last night, that’s a tough one to handle, pretty bad taste in your mouth. Sports are an interesting thing, it’s how you respond to things… last night wasn’t the team we want to be, tonight we worked a lot harder, and we were rewarded. Proud of our guys, good Spartans todey, they bounced back.”

With regards to the play of his top line of Lewandowski, Nodler, and Combs, Cole said that those three guys are guys that need to produce, and the top scorers on the team are all hovering around the 5-7 point mark, so the scoring is around the lineup.  They played together last week and this week, and “those are guys we need to apply pressure, and if they score, it’s even better.” He said that Nodler, being a true sophomore in the Big Ten, they felt good for him to get on the scoresheet with a goal for the first time this year.

Cole was impressed with the penalty kill, especially focusing on the back-to-back penalties in the second period. “They did a good job. Getting Tommy (Apap) back out there levels some things out. Nico Muller did a great job, jumped in, he’s a good hockey player, finding more and more ice time. (Mitchell) Mattson and (Jagger) Joshua were outstanding as a pair tonight. (The defense) was blocking shots, sticks were really good tonight, put them in spots where we wanted to be.”

Cole Krygier thought that the biggest difference between the two games was the overall play. “Last night, we had a tough time getting on the forecheck, we had a tough time on the backcheck too, all those guys were coming in late, getting shots. Tonight, we just battled harder, finished hits more, shot the puck more. Winning faceoffs tonight was huge too, it evened out the game.”

The defense had a better night, preventing the Wolverines to score on the power-play and convert on their chances. “I think we were just locked down deeper in our defensive zone. I think last night we got away from it, had too many guys floating around at times, and no one was really on their man, but tonight, getting back, and I think our wingers did a nice job backchecking in the middle. Guys were just more aggressive tonight.”

Nodler said there was definitely a change in momentum in the last five minutes of the game. “Obviously, I thought we played a really good game the whole way through, it was 1-1 the majority of the game, everyone was battling, then they scored that goal, it was a bit deflating, takes a little bit of momentum away, but we did a great job, sticking together as a team. Cole had the great shot to tie it up, and I think momentum swung back to us and we used it, we got a hard forecheck in, and we were able to win that game.”

The Michigan State Spartans travel to University Park next Friday and Saturday to face the Penn State Nittany Lions, the same team they split a series with less than a week ago.

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