Following a frustrating series against the Penn State Nittany Lions, the Michigan State Spartans and Ohio State Buckeyes matched up in a two-game set at Munn Ice Arena. The Buckeyes took the first game 5-1, while the second game was won by the Spartans by a final score of 2-0.

Game 1:

There was only one line change prior to the first game, and it was at forward. Charlie Combs, who was banged up at the end of the second game last weekend, is scratched in favor of Jake Smith, but the lines were shuffled up due to where Combs normally plays, first-line left-wing. The matchup in goal was Drew DeRidder, who has started every game this season, for the Spartans and Tommy Nappier for the Buckeyes.

15 stops for Drew DeRidder in the 1st pic.twitter.com/uQWfyURptH

— Michigan State Hockey (@MSU_Hockey) January 23, 2021

Just over a minute in, Mitchell Lewandowski had a great chance off of a feed from Nico Muller, but put rang it off the pipe. Ohio State had the injury trouble early, as Eugene Fadyeyev went odd into the end wall, and needed to be helped off the ice. Just under nine minutes in, the Buckeyes’ Collin Peters was slow to the bench. Drew DeRidder made his first big stop of the game on Jaedon Leslie who had a wide-open net on a rebound chance. DeRidder and Nappier were the stars of the period and the Spartans and Buckeyes ended the first tied at zero with Ohio State leading in shots, 15-7.

The second period started just like the first one ended, with the Buckeyes pressuring, but the first goal was courtesy of the Spartans. Dennis Cesana played the puck off the boards, and Jagger Joshua put it home to make it 1-0 about four minutes into the period. With about nine minutes to go in the period, Travis Treloar found a loose puck with a wide-open net, and he potted it home to tie the game at one. With just under four minutes to go, Mitchell Lewandowski and Quinn Preston both headed to the box, and there was four-on-four hockey until the Spartans got called for a too many men on the ice penalty, and there was a four-on-three power play for the Buckeyes. The Michigan State penalty kill, which has had a strong season, successfully killed off the four-on-three and the five-on-four power plays. After two periods, Michigan State and Ohio State were locked in a 1-1 tie, but the Buckeyes were leading in the shot total, 40-15.

The start of the third period was all Buckeyes. CJ Regula, Tate Singleton, and Patrick Guzzo all scored in the span of 2:05 to give Ohio State a 4-1 lead. Just over halfway through the period, the Spartans headed to the penalty kill as Kyle Haskins went to the box for slashing, but they successfully killed the penalty. With just under five minutes to go, Collin Peters buried a rebound of the draw to make it 5-1. That ended up being the final score, as Drew DeRidder gives up a season-high five goals on 56 shots, while Tommy Nappier gave up one on 22 shots.

After the game, Head Coach Danton Cole and defenseman Tommy Miller addressed the media.

Cole started with an opening statement. “Bit of a tough one there. I guess there are certain things that we as a team we’re going to hang our hat on, one of them is working hard, another one is winning some battles, we do those things, usually, you get a little confidence, we muddled around a bit. Jagger had a decent game, gets us a 1-0 lead, we found a little life out of that and did some decent things and worked… we don’t finish our backcheck. One of the things we’re usually good at is reading things off the rush and covering our three-on-threes, something we hang our hats on… we hung Drew DeRidder out to dry. We didn’t work hard enough and didn’t deserve to win, and that’s what happens.”

With Charlie Combs out of the lineup, the Spartans lost some of their offensive firepower, but Cole said the biggest thing that they missed with the absence of Combs was his energy. “He plays on the edges and drives to the net and put pucks on net, and we missed a little bit of that zip. A couple guys had the chance to step up and look to get some ice time, and they did tonight… guys that play hard, you miss.”

Miller said that Ohio State took advantage of what the Spartans gave them. “I don’t think it was something that changed going into the third, I think it was a mental breakdown within five minutes, and that’s what will happen in the Big Ten, there are a lot of good teams that will capitalize on those breakdowns, and they did. Once we stepped back and collected ourselves, things started to get back to the normal hockey game, it’s just that the breakdown, whether it’s one or two steps or a mental decision, that’s what will happen and that’s what did happen.”

Game 2:

Ahead of the second game of the series, there was one line change for Michigan State as Powell Connor entered the lineup for Jake Smith, giving the Spartans seven defensemen against the Buckeyes. Drew DeRidder started in goal for Michigan State, while Tommy Nappier started for Ohio State.

Gino with the setup, Tommy with the finish 🎯 pic.twitter.com/pUPcOAslAM

— Michigan State Hockey (@MSU_Hockey) January 24, 2021

The start of the first period was built on Drew DeRidder’s saves as the Spartans’ star goalie had to defend a lot of Buckeyes’ pressure. 7:43 into the first period, Ohio State’s Evan McIntyre cross-checked Mitchell Lewandowski, and Michigan State went to the power play for the first time in the series. The power play was unsuccessful, but one second over the midpoint of the period, Tommy Apap game the Spartans the lead. Just after the goal, Aiden Gallacher took a tripping minor so the Buckeyes got their first power play of the game but were unsuccessful. With just under three minutes left, Kyle Haskins drew a minor penalty from Kamil Sadlocha for holding the stick. The Spartans could not score on the power play, but after one period, it was a 1-0 Spartans lead and they had the shot advantage, 14-9.

22 seconds into the second period, Mitchell Lewandowski was sent to the box for a tripping minor, but the strong Spartans’ penalty kill was successful once again. About nine minutes into the period, Gustaf Westlund was called for high-sticking, and Michigan State headed to the power play for the third time in the game. Ohio State immediately cleared the puck at the start and the Spartans were never able to recover. The Spartans had another chance as Collin Peters was called for a hooking minor. Halfway through, Nico Muller had a great opportunity but Tommy Nappier came across and made the stop. About 20 seconds after, Jagger Joshua crashed into the net and hit Nappier, and both seemed a little banged up. Nappier did not leave the game, and Joshua stayed on the ice. With 4:30 left, Christian Krygier went to the box for a hooking minor. The penalty kill had another successful attempt as Drew DeRidder made some big saves and the NCAA’s leader in blocks per game, Tommy Miller, had two big blocks. The score was the same after two, but the Spartans had a shot lead of 22-15.

Four minutes into the third period, Jagger Joshua was called for a charging penalty, giving the Buckeyes another power play. The Spartans, however, did what they have done all season, and that is they killed the penalty off, but not without Ohio State’s Gustaf Westlund taking a slashing minor, so Michigan State had 1:58 of power-play time. Shorthanded, Mitchell Lewandowski gave up the puck and Ohio State was unable to convert on the two-on-one, and the Spartans couldn’t convert on the power play. With 11:22 remaining in the period, Brody Stevens buried a rebound past Tommy Nappier to make it 2-0 Spartans. With three minutes to go, the Buckeyes emptied the net. With 1:22 left, Lewandowski tried to seal the deal rink-wide, but the puck went just wide and it was called an icing. With 1:02 left, Dennis Cesana was called for handling the puck, and the Buckeyes went to the power play with an empty net, giving them a two-man advantage. 2-0 ended up being the final score, with the Spartans outshooting the Buckeyes, 35-28, and Drew DeRidder earning his second shutout of the season.

Brody cleaning up in front! pic.twitter.com/wvzAOgqm57

— Michigan State Hockey (@MSU_Hockey) January 24, 2021

After the game, Head Coach Danton Cole, forward Brody Stevens, and goaltender Drew DeRidder addressed the media.

Cole started with an opening statement. “A lot better feeling tonight, but the one thing we talked about last night, did video this morning and then before the game was just the level of intensity… in terms of having to battle and skate and move and make plays, a completely different team… let’s not be a team that’s driven by adversity, let’s be a team that builds on success. We have a tough matchup with Wisconsin on the road, we’re going to have to be ready to skate, ready to battle, and compete for pucks all across the ice. Everything we didn’t do last night we did tonight, it’s not a big secret, it’s what we want to be, that was a Spartan effort right there.”

Coach Cole said that he liked the play of the Lewandowski, Joshua, and Muller line, and said that Cole Krygier was hurt in tonight’s game, and he didn’t play in the third period. Dressing seven defensemen rather than 13 forwards turned out to be big as Powell Connor played big minutes.

“He’s (Connor) a good penalty killer. He blocks shots, his anticipations good, he’s got good poise with the puck for a freshman, he goes to the corner, doesn’t panic, and chuck it away. He’s a lot like Jerad Rosburg was in terms of secondary blocks. He does a lot of good things and we talked to him about a month ago and said if you’re going to hang your hat on something and find your way to some ice time, be really good at killing penalties.”

Stevens said that getting the second goal was big for the momentum of the Spartans. “On the bench and in the locker room, you take a deep breath when you get that second goal, and I think that it’s not that we know we are struggling, it’s just that it will come with time, we have a lot of young guys in the lineup, it’s something that comes with playing more college hockey games… Tonight showed that we are taking strides in the right direction.”

DeRidder said that practicing a man down definitely helps with the dominant penalty kill. “The penalty kill, you practice more than say normal defensive zone five-on-five. We’ve got a system and you’re able to scout exactly what the other team will do so it’s a unique situation. Everyone has their roles including me. We’ll point out certain things we want to do and we will label guys, you’ve got to take away this pass, or you’ve got to block this shot, with goalies it’s sometimes you’ve got to take away the blue, or you’ve got to make this save and that save. We did a really good job of that.”

The Michigan State Spartans face the Wisconsin Badgers on Friday and Saturday at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin.

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